Parris v. Butler County Oil Co.

Citations

• 108 Kan. 330
• 195 P. 879
• 1921 Kan. LEXIS 41

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Oil and Gas Lease — Action to Quiet Title — Lease Assigned — New Pleadings Filed — Issues in Ejectment Raised — Right of Trial by Jury. Where a plaintiff who is in the exclusive possession of a tract of land sues to quiet title as against an oil and gas lease alleged to have expired, and thereafter the defendant takes possession and files an answer pleading that fact and asking a decree affirming the validity of the lease, and thereupon the plaintiff in a reply asks for possession, no objection being made to either answer or reply because of its stating facts occurring after the suit was begun, the action is substantially one in ejectment brought by the plaintiff, who is entitled to a jury trial as a matter of right.</p> <p>2. Same — Lease Assigned — Right of Assignor to Make Effective Tender of Rents Under Terms of Lease. Where the owner of an oil and gas lease, which requires the payment of a semi-annual rental to keep it in force, executes an assignment thereof absolute on its face but in fact intended as security for a loan and accompanied by a separate contract for a reassignment in case of its prompt payment, the assignment but not the defeasance being recorded, a tender of the rent made in behalf of such assignor is not rendered ineffective by such conditions, on the theory of his being at the time a stranger to the lease so far as the lessor knew.</p>