Electric City Land v. West Ridge Coal Co.

Citations

• 187 Pa. 500
• 41 A. 458
• 1898 Pa. LEXIS 833

Syllabus

<p>[Marked to be reported.]</p> <p>Mines and mining — Surface and coal — Deed—Reservation and condition ih deed — Covenant running with the land.</p> <p>Neither express words of covenant nor any particular technical word, nor any special form of words is necessary to charge a party with covenant.</p> <p>Words of proviso and condition will be construed into words of covenant when such is the apparent intention and meaning of the parties, which will be ascertained by resorting to the words of the instrument, read in the light of the surroundings and parties and the subject of the grant.</p> <p>The owners conveyed a tract of land to a land and impr-ovement company, “ excepting and reserving to the parties of the first part, their heirs and assigns, all the coal and minerals beneath the surface of said land and belonging thereto, with the sole right and privilege to mine and remove the same by any subterranean process incident to the business oí mining. . . . Provided, that no mine or air shaft shall be intentionally opened or any mining fixtures established on the surface of said land.” The grantors knew that the land was to be subdivided, improved and sold as city lots. After such subdivision a mining company, having subsequently succeeded to the rights of the grantors in the minerals and mining rights, bought five of the surface lots, and proceeded to sink a shaft and establish mining fixtures on the surface lots which they had bought. The mining operations were an annoyance to tlie owners of the other lots. Held, (1) that the proviso in the deed was intended to operate as a restriction in the nature of a covenant running with the land, prohibiting the grantors, their heirs and assigns, from opening any “mine or air shaft” or establishing any mining fixtures on the surface of any part of the land conveyed to the land company; (2) that equity would enjoin the mining' company from conducting mining operations on the lots purchased by it.</p>