Dickey v. Coffeyville Vitrified Brick & Tile Co.

Citations

• 69 Kan. 106
• 76 P. 398
• 1904 Kan. LEXIS 217

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Mines and Mining—Termination of Lease. A gas and oil lease is not void for uncertainty because its duration extends “so long as gas or oil may be found in paying quantities.”</p> <p>2. - Termination Clause in a Oas and Oil Lease Construed—JExereise of Option. A stipulation in a gas and oil lease that “if wells are put in operation, and at any time in the future the party of the second part [the lessee] shall become satisfied that it is not paying, he shall surrender this lease, and remove all machinery, pipes and fixtures from the premises, and be released from, all further obligations,” does not put the lessee in the position of a tenant at will. The lease is not terminable at his option, after the production of gas or oil, upon his assertion that a well is unprofitable, when the contrary is true.</p> <p>3. - Clause Held to Mean the Unprofitable Well Only. The clause in the lease set out in paragraph 2 means that if the lessee become satisfied that a particular well is not paying, and • such fact exists, the lease is terminated with respect to the unprofitable well only.</p> <p>4. -Gas and Oil Leases Defined— Vested Bights of Lessee. Gas and oil leases are in a class by themselves: they are not ‘1 leases ’ * in the ordinary sense; they are in the nature of a license, with a grant conveying'the grantor’s interest in the gas- or oil-well, conditioned that gas or oil be found in paying quantities. When gas or oil is found, the right to produce it becomes a vested right, and the lessee will be protected in exercising it agreeably to the terms of the contract.</p>