Venture Oil Co. v. Fretts

Citations

• 152 Pa. 451
• 31 W.N.C. 432
• 25 A. 732
• 1893 Pa. LEXIS 1000

Syllabus

<p>[Marked to be reported.]</p> <p>Oil lease — Abandonment—Statute of limitations.</p> <p>A vested title cannot ordinarily be lost by abandonment in a less time than that fixed by the statute of limitations, unless there is satisfactory proof of an intention to abandon. A lease of a right to mine for oil, etc., stands on different ground. The title is inchoate and for purposes of exploration only until oil is found. If it is not found, no estate vests in the lessee, and his title, whatever it is, ends when the unsuccessful search is abandoned. If oil is found, then the right to produce becomes a vested right, and the lessee will be protected in exercising it in accordance with the terms and conditions of his contract.</p> <p>An oil lease contained a grant of a right to mine for and remove oil for a fixed period of twenty years, at a royalty of one eighth of the oil so mined and removed. Held, that the right of the lessee was to explore for, and determine the existence of oil under the land, and if none was found, his right ceased when the explorations were finished and the lot abandoned.</p>