Lawrence E. Tierney Coal Co. v. Smith's Guardian

Opinion of the Court by

Judge Carroll

Reversing.

This case presents the important question, whether a circuit court, pursuant to legislative authority so to do, has the power to lease the mineral land of infants for a term of years beyond their minority, and brings before us the validity of the legislative act, attempting to confer upon the circuit court the power exercised in this case.

The question comes up in this way: In 1916 the legislature enacted a statute providing in section 1: “That the guardian of an infant, curator or the committee of a person of unsound mind may lease the real…