Leavers v. Cleary

Citations

• 75 Ill. 349

Syllabus

<p>1. Contract—in regard to mining, construed. The owners of coal lands entered into a contract with a coal company, by which they sold, all the coal, coal oil and other minerals contained in the lands, to the company, and were to convey to the company ten acres of the land for about half its value, and in which the company agreed to sink a shaft to the depth of 230 feet, for the purpose of mining the coal, the owners agreeing that, if a good vein of coal was not found within that depth, of sufficient thickness, and of such quality as to justify mining the same, the land should be reconveyed to them, the price thereof refunded, and the owners should pay the entire expense of sinking the shaft ; but, if the coal was found, the company was to pay the owners ten cents for each ton raised. After operating the mine under the contract for some time, the company sold out to another) who bought lands near the shaft and proceeded to cut through to reach his own lands, intending, after that, to quit mining on those where the shaft was sunk: Held, on bill filed by the owners to restrain such purchaser from running entries from the shaft to his own lands, and to protect their rights, that the intention of the parties was, that the mining should be confined to the lands embraced in the contract, and that the purchaser, having notice of the contract, could not be allowed to abandon the complainant’s land, and use the property conveyed and the shaft for the sole purpose of mining other lands, from which complainants would derive no profits.</p> <p>2. Same—in construing, courts will look at the construction gimen by the parties. The construction given to a written contract by the parties themselves, as shown by their acts under it, may be resorted to as a means of determining the true intention they had in view in entering into the same.</p>