§ 19-61. Jurisdiction and powers of Supreme Court - Summons - Scope of inquiry.

Original and exclusive jurisdiction is hereby conferred upon the Supreme Court to hear and determine any action that may be brought for the purpose of equitably dividing and distributing the property, assets and liabilities, derived through the process of taxation, bonds, warrants or other evidences of indebtedness, of any county formerly existing in the Territory of Oklahoma, between such county and any new county or counties created by the Constitution in whole or in part out of the territory of such county; and for the purpose of rendering and enforcing complete justice in any such action, the Supreme Court shall have the power to make and render all necessary orders, judgments and decrees, and to issue and enforce all necessary process, mesne, and final:

Provided, that the Supreme Court shall have exclusive original jurisdiction of all actions involving the custody of, or the right to transcribe the tax rolls or other records of any such county or counties, and the ownership and distribution of the taxes assessed and collectable therein:

Provided further, that, for the purpose of hearing and receiving evidence and reporting findings of law and fact, the Supreme Court may appoint a special master in chancery in such case.

The Clerk of the Supreme Court shall issue summons which shall be served on the defendants in any such action in the same manner as is provided by law for the issuance and service of summons in the district courts of this state:

Provided, that the Supreme Court shall inquire into and determine whether or not public property, derived through public or private donation or otherwise, shall be subject to division under the terms of this article; and unless the court so determine, it shall not take into consideration, in dividing the property, assets and liabilities, any property so derived, and, in the event the court so determines, it shall have jurisdiction to, and shall take all such property into consideration in dividing the property, assets and liabilities aforesaid; provided, that the provisions of this act shall apply to counties created, or attempted to be created, as provided by law, and subsequently dissolved by judicial decree; and provided further, that such property, assets and liabilities acquired by any such county created and dissolved shall be divided between or among such counties as were affected by the creation and dissolution of such new county; and provided further, that where a portion of such territory formerly embraced in any such new county is now a portion of some county other than the county from which it was originally proposed to be taken to form such new county, then such other county now embracing such territory shall be construed to have been affected by the creation and dissolution of such new county as provided herein.

R.L. 1910, § 1512.  Amended by Laws 1917, c. 142, p. 226, § 1.