Hays v. Forest Oil Co.

Citations

• 213 Pa. 556
• 62 A. 1072
• 1906 Pa. LEXIS 529

Syllabus

<p>Oil and gas lease — Covenants—Royalties—Condition precedent.</p> <p>An oil and gas lease provided as follows: “This lease to be null and void and no longer binding on either party if a well is not completed on the premises within three months from this date, unless the lessee shall thereafter pay monthly to the lessor five hundred dollars per month for each month’s delay in completing said well; each payment to extend the time for completion for one month and no longer.” Held, that the lessee did not covenant to pay a rental of $500 per month until a well should be completcd, or the lease surrendered and canceled, but that the monthly payment was only a condition precedent and necessary to maintain the vitality of the lease until a well should be completed. Glasgow v. Chartiers Gas Co., 152 Pa. 48, followed.</p> <p>Where the lessor of an oil and gas lease has treated a well as completed and has accepted royalties for two years and a half, he cannot be heard to say that the well was not completed in the first instance.</p>