Barnsdall v. Boley

Citations

• 119 F. 191
• 1902 U.S. App. LEXIS 5257

Syllabus

<p>°1. Oil Lease—Unauthorized Alteration—Waiver of Objection.</p> <p>After the execution of an oil lease for the term of five years, covering a number of tracts of land, the lessee discovered that certain heirs owned an interest in one of the tracts, and secured their signatures to the lease by making an interlineation therein giving them the right to receive their share of the royalty. The original lessor had no knowledge of the interlineation at the time, but was shortly thereafter advised of it, and made no objection, but throughout the term insisted on the performance of the contract by the lessee, and accepted the royalties thereunder. Held, that he thereby waived the right to insist on the invalidity of the lease because of the alteration.</p> <p>2. Same—Parties—Persons not Named in Body of Instrument.</p> <p>Under the law of West Virginia a person whose name is not mentioned in the body of a lease is not a party thereto, nor bound thereby as a grantor, although he signs and acknowledges it as his deed.</p> <p>8. Same—Power to Grant—Tenant by the Curtesy.</p> <p>A tenant by the curtesy cannot convey the right to a lessee to extract oil from the land, and a lease executed by him purporting to convey such right is void.</p> <p>4. Same—Right of Lessee to Extension of Term—Failure to Develop Property.</p> <p>Defendant executed to complainant’s assignor an oil and gas lease on royalty covering 74 acres of land, which was to run for the term of five years, and as much longer “as oil or gas was found in paying quantities.” It required the lessee to complete a well thereon within three months, which he did, but drilled no other wells, and made no serious effort to do so during the five years, although he was repeatedly requested to do so by the lessor. The well drilled was a small producer, and was pumped at intervals, only, during the last year or two of the term, not producing enough to pay the expense of pumping. Held, that the' lessee did not comply with the impli