Rider v. LaClair

Citations

• 77 Wash. 488
• 138 P. 3
• 1914 Wash. LEXIS 930

Syllabus

<p>Indians — Contracts—“Sales” or Cattle — Chattel Mortgages— Validity. 3 Fed. Stat. Ann. § 2127, providing that all sales of cattle by an Indian in the Indian country to others than members of his tribe are void, except with the written consent of the agent of the tribe, liberally construed in favor of the Indian, covers chattel mortgages.</p> <p>Congress — “General” Acts- — Appropriation Bills. An act of Congress cannot be said to be not general and limited in its application to the time of its passage, because it was part of a bill appropriating money for a specified year; since general acts of Congress may be tacked onto appropriation bills.</p> <p>Indians — Allotment—Personal Property — Alienation. An Indian in the Indian country cannot alienate personal property purchased by the United States for the Indian with proceeds of the sale of an allotment which was not subject to alienation, the United States having received the purchase price and retained title as trustee, thereby manifesting an intent that the proceeds of the allotment shall have the same legal status as the allotment itself; it resting with the United States to say when the trust shall be relinquished.</p> <p>Indians — Allotted Land — Contbacts — Mobtgage ob Sale oe Chops — Validity. Since the acts of Congress declaring contracts relative to, or claims growing out of, an Indian’s land void unless approved by the Indian agent, do not apply to crop mortgages, under Rem. & Bal. Code, § 3659, making a crop mortgage a chattel, an Indian may mortgage a growing crop on his allotment or sell a crop of hay stacked thereon, in view of the absence of any express statutory prohibition and the present policy of the government to encourage agriculture and business pursuits; but whether the mortgagee may enter before severance, or to foreclose, in the absence of departmental order, is not decided.</p> <p>Indians — Indian Country — “Tbadebs”—Licenses. A person engaged in the business of merchandising in a town ou