195 So. 518 | La. | 1940
[EDITORS' NOTE: THIS PAGE CONTAINS HEADNOTES. HEADNOTES ARE NOT AN OFFICIAL PRODUCT OF THE COURT, THEREFORE THEY ARE NOT DISPLAYED.] *1000
[EDITORS' NOTE: THIS PAGE CONTAINS HEADNOTES. HEADNOTES ARE NOT AN OFFICIAL PRODUCT OF THE COURT, THEREFORE THEY ARE NOT DISPLAYED.] *1001 The plaintiffs, owning a tract of land having an area of 200 acres, on which the defendants claim certain mineral rights, brought this suit to have the defendants' rights declared forfeited by the prescription of ten years, liberandi causa. The rights claimed by the defendants consist of a fourth interest in whatever oil, gas or other minerals may be produced from the 200 acres of land. The suit is founded upon articles 789, 3528, 3529, 3544, 3546 and 3549 of the Civil Code, and the jurisprudence on the subject, maintaining that such a right, owned by one who is not the owner of the land, is a real right, of the nature of a servitude upon the land, and therefore lapses by effect of the prescription of ten years, liberandi causa, if not exercised within that time. The defendants pleaded in their answer to the suit that, because of certain stipulations in the deed by which the plaintiffs' author in title sold the mineral rights to the defendants' author in title, the rights were not *1003 subject to prescription, and that, for other reasons stated in the answer, the prescription was interrupted or suspended, if in fact the rights were ever subject to prescription. The judge, after hearing the evidence, gave judgment for the plaintiffs sustaining the plea of prescription and declaring the land free from the mineral rights claimed by the defendants. They are appealing from the decision.
The plaintiffs acquired title to the 200 acres of land by inheritance from William T. Hightower, who died in 1927. The defendants acquired a fourth interest in the mineral rights in the land from Allen P. Findling, who bought from William T. Hightower on February 26, 1925, "One-fourth (1/4) of all the oil, gas and other minerals on, in or under" the 200 acres of land. It is well settled, and is not disputed, that a deed purporting to convey the oil or gas in or under a tract of land conveys only the right to become the owner of whatever oil or gas may be found and reduced to possession. Such a right, being a real right, and of the character of a servitude on the land, is extinguished by the prescription of ten years, liberandi causa, if not exercised within that time. Rev.Civ. Code, arts.
The reason for which the defendants contend that the mineral rights which Findling bought from Hightower on February 26, 1925, were not subject to the prescription of ten years, liberandi causa, is that it was stipulated in the deed that Findling or his assigns should not share in any rentals that might be paid thereafter to maintain in force an oil and gas lease on the land, or share in the price of any subsequent lease that might be placed upon the land; and that Hightower alone should have authority to lease the land, and to collect the bonus or rentals. The defendants argue that by these stipulations Findling appointed Hightower his agent to lease the land for the production of oil or gas, and to receive the price and rentals therefor. Hence they invoke the doctrine that one who holds possession of property as the agent for the owner cannot acquire title by prescription, or adverse possession. That doctrine has reference to prescription acquirendi causa, and is founded upon the fact that possession of property held by an agent for the benefit of the owner is not adverse possession. The doctrine has no application to this case, — not only because we are dealing now with prescription liberandi causa, but also because the stipulations referred to, in the deed from Hightower to Findling, did not purport to make Hightower the agent of Findling for the purpose of leasing the land for the production of oil or gas or other minerals. It has been decided that such stipulations *1005
in a sale or reservation of the mineral rights in a tract of land do not constitute a mandate or power of attorney. Mt. Forest Fur Farms of America v. Cockrell,
The next plea urged in defense of this suit is that the stipulation in the deed from Hightower to Findling, that Hightower should have the exclusive right to lease the land for the production of oil or gas, established an obstacle in the way of Findling's exercising his real right on the land, and therefore, according to article
The next plea of the defendants, being an alternative plea, is that, if their rights were subject to the prescription of ten years liberandi causa, the prescription was interrupted by an acknowledgment made by the plaintiffs in a deed by which they sold the 200 acres of land and three-eighths of the mineral rights to one S.G. Shaw, on November 27, 1928, and again in the sheriff's deed by which the plaintiffs repurchased the property, on November 19, 1932. In the deed from the plaintiffs to Shaw, immediately after the description of the 200 acres of land, this stipulation or acknowledgment appears: "It is especially agreed and understood by all of the parties hereto that at this time 1/4 of all the minerals in and under the above described land has been sold, and that the vendors herein expressly reserve to themselves, their heirs and assigns, 1/2 of all the oil, gas and other minerals in and under the above described land that they now own in same, and this reservation is especially considered in fixing the price of this sale."
The purpose and effect of that stipulation was to recognize the right which the *1008 present defendants then had to a fourth of the mineral rights, and to reserve to the present plaintiffs three-eighths, or half of their three-fourths, of the mineral rights in the land. In the sale to Shaw the plaintiffs reserved a mortgage and vendor's lien to secure an unpaid part of the price, and when the mortgage was foreclosed and the plaintiffs repurchased the property, it was recognized in the sheriff's deed that Shaw had only a three-eighths mineral right. The recognition was made immediately following the description of the land, thus: "less and except five-eighths of the minerals underlying said land, heretofore sold and reserved by the plaintiffs." That meant that William T. Hightower had sold two-eighths of the mineral rights to Findling, and that the plaintiffs had reserved three-eighths from the sale to Shaw.
These acknowledgments by the plaintiffs, that their land was subject to the defendants' right to have a fourth of the oil, gas or other minerals that might be produced from the land, did not interrupt the prescription of ten years, liberandi causa. In order for an acknowledgment by a landowner that his land is subject to certain mineral rights in favor of a person named in the acknowledgment to have the effect of interrupting the prescription by which such rights are extinguished the intention that the acknowledgment shall have that effect must be expressed in unmistakable terms. Nabors Oil Gas Co. v. Louisiana Oil Refining Co.,
The next plea urged by the defendants-being also an alternative plea-is that the term of prescription was extended by effect of two joint leases and pooling agreements made by the plaintiffs and the defendants, jointly with other landowners and owners of mineral interests, for a primary term extending beyond the expiration of the ten-year period of prescription. The plea is founded upon the decision in Mulhern v. Hayne,
The next and last defense urged against the plea of prescription is that, at the time when William T. Hightower sold the one-fourth mineral interest to Allen P. Findling, — on February 26, 1925, — Hightower's wife had died, and her heirs, who are the plaintiffs in this suit, had inherited her half interest in the 200 acres of land, which had belonged to the matrimonial community. Hence it is contended that the right to exercise the servitude or mineral right which Hightower sold to Findling was suspended until the heirs of the deceased wife of Hightower, as co-owners of the land, ratified the granting of the servitude or mineral rights. The ratification is said to have taken place when the heirs of Hightower and of his wife recognized the outstanding one-fourth interest in the mineral rights, in selling the land to S.G. Shaw, on November 27, *1013
1928, — which was less than ten years before this suit was filed, — and again in repurchasing the land at the sheriff's sale, on November 19, 1932. This plea is founded upon article
Inasmuch as William T. Hightower had title for a half interest in the 200 acres of land, with the same interest in the mineral rights in the land, at the time when he sold a fourth interest in the mineral rights to Allen P. Findling, the sale was valid; but, in so far as the sale gave Findling the right to go upon the land and explore for oil and gas, or other minerals, the sale was governed by articles 738, 740, 741, and 792 of the Civil Code, relating to servitudes. There is nothing contrary to this opinion in Superior Oil Producing Co. v. Leckelt,
The judgment is affirmed. *1015