55 Pa. 164 | Pa. | 1867
The opinion of the court was delivered, January 17th 1867, by
— The agreement upon which the plaintiffs below rest their right to recover in ejectment is singularly obscure. The avowed motive that induced it was a desire of the owner of the land that an exploration might be made to ascertain whether it contained mineral oil. But what rights it was intended to give to Samuel Baird, the explorer, it is difficult to determine from the language used by the parties. And the difficulty is increased by the fact that the stipulations respecting the island and those respecting the farm are diverse, and yet they are mingled together. So far as it relates to the conveyance of any interest in the lands, the contract is executory. No doubt it amounts to an engagement to sell the island on a certain contingency, but there is no absolute covenant to sell. McGuire undertook to make a conveyance of the island if Baird should find oil upon it. To allow to the agreement a reasonable construction, it must, of course, be held that the discovery of oil must be made within a reasonable time. But what interest, if any, did McGuire agree to give in the body of the farm ? The plaintiff insists that the agreement amounts to a sale of the oil itself; and that the oil being a part of the land, is a corporeal hereditament, to recover
Regarding, then, the agreement, not as a conveyance of corporeal estate, but as a license, we proceed to the consideration of its effect. Generally a parol license is revocable at the pleasure of the licenser, and it is none the less revocable because a consideration has been paid for it: Wood v. Leadbitter, 13 M. & W. 838. It cannot be doubted, therefore, that Maguire might have revoked the license in this case had it been given by parol at any time before Baird had expended labor or money on the faith of it, in prosecuting the explorations. By so doing he might have subjected himself to a liability to respond in damages, but his right to withdraw the permission given would have been inseparable from the nature of the arrangement. Here, however, the license was not parol, it was given by deed. It is not so clear that a license given by deed is revocable at the pleasure of the grantor. See the Law of Mines, Minerals and Quarries, by Arundel Rogers, a late English, elementary treatise, p. 313. Without pausing to inquire how this may be, how stands the case when a license has not only been granted by deed, but acted upon, and when the licensee, on the faith of it, has made large expenditures ? It must be admitted that the license to Baird authorized him to go upon the land, to bore or sink wells and to erect the machinery and buildings necessary for obtaining oil, or at least for ascertaining whether it existed on the land. The privilege included a right to occupy so much of «the surface as was required to enable him to enjoy the main thing granted. These privileges, though not all expressly given, are plainly implied. They would be, were no reference made to them. They are, however, spoken of in such a manner as to leave no doubt that it was intended they should go with the right to sink wells. And the evidence given at the trial shows that in the enjoyment of his license Baird did occupy portions of the land, that he expended a large sum of money in sinking wells, and the verdict of the jury establishes that there has been no abandonment.
It has been held in this state that even a parol license executed may become an easement upon the land, and that when acts have been done by one party in reliance upon a license granted to another, the latter will be equitably estopped from revoking it to
If, therefore, the case stood upon this ground alone, we should be of opinion that the plaintiffs below were entitled to recover the possession of so much of the island and farm as the licensee had taken the occupancy of for the purpose of sinking wells and ascertaining whether oil is to be found. Thus far the disseisin of McGuire or his grantees would be regarded unlawful, and we should feel ourselves justified in sustaining an ejectment to restore a possession wrongfully taken away.
But this ejectment was brought by the grantees of Baird, not by himself. We are, therefore, brought to a consideration of the effect of his grant. Looking to the contract, it is plain the license
This view of the case dispenses with the necessity of considering any other than the 4th assignment of error.
The judgment is reversed.