which will necessitate better headwork as the arcanum of success in practice, must as a corollary, improve the coherence of judicial dicta. Given a bar in which the best workers become the prominent lawyers, the bench will respond to the improvement of its source. This end can be attained only by a recurrence to the old fashioned bill of costs. If a litigant knows he will, if unscccessful, be compelled to pay his opponen't attorney's fees, he will choose the worker in preference to the bluffer. Under that system the Sydnny Cartons are rare, though they may exist, while here they are "plentiful as blackberries." As it is, the people, judicans ab ore, ne a capite, select the lawyer with the mouth, regardless of the theory of cerebral convolutions, with the result that the typical prominent lawyer of today is mainly vox sonans et peæterea nihil. Under the practice of compelling the loser in litigation to pay all costs, including attorneys' fees, more attention will be paid to sense and less to sound. An able bench presupposes an able bar, and where bluster is the chief ingredient essential to a successful professional career, the selection is necessarily reflected in an oversupply of Dogberrys-no, that is hardly fair to the poet, as the latter only made Dogberry a justice of the peace, while the writer has seen his type, mutatis mutandis, presiding over a court of record. A MODEL INDICTMENT. (The following Indictment was drafted by Hon. H. N. Boardman, County Attorney of Blaine County. It stood the scrutiny of the trial courts and was approved by the Criminal Court of Appeals. Upon this Indictment the notorious Alf Hunter was tried, convicted and executed.) State of Oklahoma, Blaine County, SS. In the District Court of the 17th Judicial District in and for the County of Blaine and State of Oklahoma. State of Oklahoma, Plaintiff, V8. Alf Hunter, alias James Kingsbery, Defendant. In the August term of the District Court of the 17th Judicial District of Oklahoma, begun and held within and for Blaine County, in said State, at Watonga, in said County and State, on the 3d day of August, in the year of our Lord One Thousand Nine Hundred Eight, The Grand Jurors, duly summoned, chosen, empannelled, sworn and charged at the term aforesaid of said District Court within and for the body of Blaine County, State of Oklahoma, to inquire into and true presenment make of all public offenses against the State of Oklahoma, committed or triable within the County of Blaine, in said State of Oklahoma, in the name of, and by the authority of the State of Oklahoma, upon their oaths, present that on the 5th day of June, in the year One Thousand Nine Hundred and Eight in said County of Blaine and State of Oklahoma Alf Hunter, alias James Kingsbery, a person then and there being, did then and there, purposely, wilfully, feloniously and with malice aforethought, and without authority of law and with a premeditated design, then and there to effect the death of one G. W. Garrison, did then and there, at and within the County of Blaine and State of Oklahoma, make an assault on the said G. W. Garrison with a certain gun or rifle, which said gun or rifle, was then and there loaded and charged with gun powder and leaden bullets, and by him, the said Alf Hunter alias James Kingsbery, then and there held in his hands, and he the said Alf Hunter, alias James Kingsbery did then and there unlawfully, wilfully, feloniously and with malice aforethought, and without authority of law, and with the premeditated design to then and there effect the death of the said G. W Garrison, discharge, and shoot off said gun or rifle at, upon, and against the said G. W. Garrison, thereby shooting said leaden bullets into the neck and through the body of him the said G. W. Garrison, and thereby inflicting upon the neck and body of him the said G. W. Garrison a mortal wound, of which said mortal wound, so inflicted in manner and form aforesaid, and so inflicted with intent and purpose as aforesaid that the said G. W. Garrison in the said County of Blaine and State of Oklahoma, on the 5th day of June, A. D., 1908, did then and there immediately die, and so in manner and form as charged, the said Alf Hunter alias James Kingsbery, did then and there murder and kill said G. W. Garrison, contrary to the statute in such case made and provided, and against the peace and dignity of the State. H. N. Boardman, County Attorney. CURRENT DECISIONS OF THE SUPREME D. ROBERTS, Plaintiff in Error VS. J. A. MARKHAM, Defendant in Error. Rendered May 10th, 1910. No. 498 Error from District Court of Muskogee County. Hon. Jas. R. Tolbert, Trial Judge. Affirmed 1. Same as paragraph 1 of the syllabus in McCann vs. McCann et al., 103 (Okla.) Pac. 694. 2. If, after the lot or realty is placed in the agent's hands for sale, it is brought about and procured by his advertisements or exertions, he will be entitled to his commissions; or if the agent introduces or discloses the name of the purchaser to the vendor for such purpose, and through such introduction or disclosure, negotiations for the sale of the property is begun, and then effected by the vendor, the agent is entitled to his commissions. 3. Same as paragraph 1 of the syllabus in Scully vs. Williamson, recently decided by this court but not yet reported. (Syllabus by the Court.) Mont T. Sharp for the plaintiff in error. Opinion of the Court by WILLIAMS, J. The commission for the sale of a certain lot in the city of Muskogee is involved in this action. The case having been tried by the court without the intervention of a jury, and a general finding having been made in favor of the plaintiffs, the same is a finding of every special thing necessary to be found in order to sustain the general finding, and is conclusive upon this court upon all doubtful and disputed questions of fact. McCann vs. McCann et al., 103 Pac. 694. The exclusive right to sell not being given, the owner may sell independent of the agent and in such case, he will not be liable to the agent for the commission unless he sells to a purchaser procured by the agent. Birch vs McNaught, 101 Pac. (Okla.) 1049; 1 Ballard on the Law of Real Property (4th Ed.) § 361. In the case of Taylor vs. Parr, 52 Mo. 249, it is said: "The law is well established, that in a suit by a real estate agent for the amount of his commission it is immaterial that the owner sold the property and concluded the bargain. If after the property is placed in the agent's hands, the sale is brought about or procured by his advertisement and exertions, he will be entitled to his commissions. Or if the agent introduces the purchaser, or discloses his name to the seller, and through such introduction or disclosure negociations are begun, and the sale of the property is effected, the agent is entitled to his commission though the sale may be made by the owner." See also Scott vs. Patterson & Parker, 53 Ark. 49; Graves et al v. Bains & Woodward, 78 Tex 92; 1 Ballard on the law of Real Property (4th Ed.) sec. 361, p. 491; Jones vs. Adler, 34 Md. 440; Lincoln vs. McClatchie, 36 Conn. 136; Durkee vs. Vermont Central Railw., 29 Vt. 127; Wilkinson vs. Martin, 8 Car. & P. 5. It is contended by the plaintiff in error that there was no evidence tending to establish the amount of the agent's compensation by contract. If there was evidence tending to show an express or emplied contract as to the agency and no agreement as to the amount of compensation, there being evidence introduced without objection as to the reasonable or customary value of such compensation, such evidence would be sufficient to sustain the finding of the court. In the case of Scully vs. Williamson, decided by this court, but not yet officially reported, paragraph 1 of the syllabus reads as follows: "When a real estate broker sues to recover compensation for services rendered in procuring a purchaser under a contract which fails to fix his rate of compensation, he is entitled to recover a fair and reasonable compensation for the services, rendered in compliance with his contract." It follows that the judgment of the lower court must be affirmed. All the Justices concur. THE INCORPORATED TOWN OF RYAN, et al., V8. Plaintiffs. THE TOWN OF WAURIKA, et al., Defendants. (Rendered May 10th, 1910.) Original Proceeding in Injunction. Injunction Dissolved. 1. That part of the Act of April 17th 1908, Section 12, is so far as the same provides that the voter. after having passed the chalengers and being admitted to the room before being given a ballot, "shall permit the clerks * * * to fill out an affidavit" prescribed by Section 6 of said Act, is as to time and place, and the person whom the voter is required to permit to fill out for his said affidavit, directory. And where for convenience, and without fraud, the election inspector on the morning of the election placed said blank affidavits, part of the election. supplies, in the hands of the third persons who, with the knowledge of, and without objections from the election officials, are permited by the voter to fill out for his one of said blank affidavits at a table 100 feet from the polls as he passes thereby on his way to vote and which, in the room, after passing the challengers and before being given a ticket, he signs and swears to before the special election commissioner, with knowledge of the contents, after which he was given a ticket and then and there |