Okla. Stat. tit. 19, § 19-61

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:

Oklahoma Statutes - Title 19. Counties and County Officers Page 49

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.