Millard v. Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad

Citations

• 240 Pa. 234
• 87 A. 601
• 1913 Pa. LEXIS 656

Syllabus

<p>Contracts — Coal lease — Mines and mining — Construction—Liability for taxes — Implied contracts — Money paid for another’s use —Voluntary and involuntary payments — Full knowledge of facts— Dual agent.</p> <p>1. A coal lease demising and letting “all the merchantable anthracite coal in, upon or under” certain described tracts, and further providing that the lease was intended to include “all the veins of coal on said premises which are of such thickness and quality as will after paying for mining and transporting the same to the New York market, yield a profit to the said party of the second part equal to the average profit made for the time being by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company upon the coal by said company mined in the townships of Blakely and Providence in said County of Luzerne” constitutes a sale of the coal in place and operates as a severance of the same from the surface, thereby creating a divided ownership 'between the surface and the minerals.</p> <p>2. In such case the lessee, who becomes the owner of the coal in place, is chargeable with taxes on said coal from the date of the sale, unless otherwise agreed. As between vendor and vendee, the owner, legal or equitable, of real estate is liable for taxés assessed subsequent to the sale.</p> <p>3. Where in such case the lease covered two tracts of land, a larger and a smaller tract, the mere fact that the lease provided that the lessee should pay all taxes assessed on the larger tract, and also all taxes assessed on the works or improvements made under the lease on other land embraced in the lease, and all United States Government or State imposts or duties imposed on the coal mined and sent away under the lease, and was silent as to the payment of taxes on coal in place in the smaller tract, does not overcome the presumption of law that the taxes on coal underlying such smaller tract are to be paid by the lessee as owner thereof. The principle expressio unius est exclusio alteri