Sturdevant v. Thomson

Citations

• 280 Pa. 233
• 124 A. 434
• 1924 Pa. LEXIS 498

Syllabus

<p>Mines and mining — Lease—Sale—Culm—Title to culm.</p> <p>1. A mining lease constitutes a sale of all coal in place, where the grant is of all the coal remaining on the land, without fixing the maximum time of taking, although it is provided that a certain amount should be removed or paid for, each year.</p> <p>2. Even if a limitation of time is provided, it will not have the effect of changing the character of the transaction, although such limitation will be considered in determining the intent of the parties.</p> <p>3. Where a mining lease, providing for a term designated, specifies that culm which passed through a screen should not be paid for unless sold, and the lessee ceases operations during the period and quits the property, leaving culm deposited on the property and upon adjacent land, such culm remains the property of the lessee and may be levied on, after the period of the lease, by a judgment creditor of the latter.</p> <p>4. In such case the question of the payment of royalty on the culm is not involved, and will not arise until the culm is sold, or an attempt is made to remove it.</p> <p>Practice, G. P. — ~Trial by court — Finding of facts — Act of April W, 1871), P. L. 109.</p> <p>5. Where a case is tried by the court without a jury under the Act of April 22, 1874, P. L. 109, the facts found by the court on sufficient evidence must be accepted as true by the appellate court.</p>