Hiller v. Walter Ray & Co.

Citations

• 59 Fla. 285

Syllabus

<p>1. Where upon consideration of all the terms of a contract and its subject-matter and object, its manifest purpose is to give “the exclusive privilege” “for the purpose only of digging, mining and preparing for shipment and shipping phosphate rock,” on described lands, of the specified “quantity and quality contained in said lands,” in return for which a royalty of seventy-five cents per ton is to be paid, such contract is not one for a general or ordinary use and occupation of the lands, but the right given is special and precisely limited.</p> <p>2. Where the lessors of land for the specific purpose of taking phosphate rock of a specified character and volume therefrom do not covenant that the rock actually exists in the land, and the lessees do not covenant to actually find the rock in the land, but the contract contemplates the existence .of the rock and a search for it by the lessees, there is an implied obligation upon the lessees to make due and reasonable effort to find the rock in the land.</p> <p>3. What is due and reasonable effort to find rock of a specified quality and quantity in lands leased for the express purpose of taking such rock from the land, depends upon the fair and just requirements of the enterprise to be determined as a fact by the application of practical knowledge and experience.</p> <p>4. Where the purpose of a contract is the mining of phosphate rock of a specified character, a failure upon proper endeavor to find the rock is a good defense in an action for royalties in the absence of agreements to the contrary.</p> <p>5. Where a lease of land for mining purposes contemplates the existence of the rock to be mined, a provision for a minimum royalty in gross “whether the mining is carried on or not,” relates to a failure to mine, not to a failure to find'the required rock.</p> <p>6. In a lease of land for mining purposes the failure to find the specified rock and the character of the search made for it, being more within the knowledge