Wright v. Warrior Run Coal Co.

Citations

• 182 Pa. 514
• 38 A. 491
• 1897 Pa. LEXIS 836

Syllabus

<p>Mines and mining — Coal lease — Construction of by parlies — Changed condition of business — Royalties.</p> <p>A coal lease executed by plaintiffs’ ancestor in 1864 provided for a royalty of a certain amount per ton upon prepared coal, and a royalty of half the amount upon chestnut coal, which was the smallest size then marketable. At the date of the lease there were seven kinds of coal which, in the order of gradation as to size, were lump, steamboat, broken, egg, stove (No. 3), stove (No. 4) and chestnut. Lump and steamboat coal were the large pieces separated by the miner’s blast. The other kinds were obtained by screening through parallel iron bars. The production of chestnut coal was at the time of the lease about fifteen per cent of the output of the mine. Subsequently lump and steamboat coal ceased to be marketable, and the lessee was compelled to break these kinds into smaller sizes. Two new kinds of coal, both smaller than chestnut, and known as pea and buckwheat, came to have a market value, although at the date of the lease such sizes went into the culm bank as worthless. The lessees largely increased the production of chestnut coal, and sold large quantities of pea and buckwheat, the production of which was also largely increased, upon which latter sizes they refused to pay royalties. Plaintiffs’ ancestor in his lifetime made a complaint of the undue production of chestnut coal, and protested against it, but his generosity having been appealed to by the lessee, he continued to receipt in full as theretofore until his death. There was no evidence that plaintiffs knew that the production of chestnut coal had been increased, or that they had waived any rights under the lease; or that the lessee had deliberately broken coal for the primary purpose of avoiding payment of royalties. Held, that the lessor, by protesting against a construction of the lease which reduced his royalties, and at the same time receipting in full for the lesser amount, waived the r