174 Ind. 721 | Ind. | 1910
Appellee brought this suit to recover damages for the breach of a contract to furnish natural gas, and to enjoin appellant from drilling gas wells on his (appellee’s) land. The court made a special finding of facts, upon which conclusions of law were stated, and it is charged on appeal that the court erred in its conclusions of law. The special finding was, in substance, as follows: That on August 26, 1902, Josiah C. Alger and wife owned in fee simple a tract of land, particularly described, containing 200 acres, and on that day they leased said land to appellant by a written instrument, made a part of the finding, by the terms of which appellant was granted the exclusive
The contention of appellant is that the conveyance of a part of the leased land to appellee and the transfer of the lease to him released the residue of the Alger tract from the obligations of the lease. This insistence seems to us manifestly untenable. The Algers granted to appellant the exclusive right to the gas and oil under a body of land containing 200 acres, with the privilege of removing, by means of two wells, said gas and oil within a period of ten years. This instrument or lease was duly acknowledged, executed and recorded. The subsequent sale of eighty acres of the tract was necessarily made subject to the provisions of the outstanding lease. The gas for fires and lights, stipulated for in the lease, was to bé furnished either for the house on the leased lands or for the Alger residence in the city of Rushville, but not for both. In the conveyance of the eighty acres to appellee it was agreed that he should have all the rights, privileges and benefits of the lease which rested upon the entire Alger farm. It was agreed in the
The judgment is affirmed.