179 Pa. 371 | Pa. | 1897
Opinion by
In Stoughton’s Appeal, 88 Pa. 198, we said “ Oil, however, is a mineral, and being a mineral is part of the realty. Funk v. Haldeman, 53 Pa. 229. In this it is like coal or any other mineral product which in situ forms part of the land.” In Gill v. Weston, 110 Pa. 312, we said of petroleum, “ It is a mineral substance obtained from the earth by a process of mining, and lands from which it is obtained may with propriety be called mining lands.” In Westmoreland Nat. Gas Co. v. De Witt, 130 Pa. 235, we said, “ Gas it is true is a mineral, but it is a mineral with peculiar attributes.” In Blakley v. Marshall, 174 Pa. 425, a lease for oil and gas purposes was made by lessors who were tenants for life and also as trustee for those in remainder. The leased premises proved to be productive. A question arose upon a case stated as to the interests respectively of the life tenants and those in remainder. The life tenants' claimed the whole of the oil, and for those in remainder the same claim was made. The court below appointed a trustee to receive all the oil due to the lessors, and to invest the pro-' céeds, and pay the interest annually realized therefrom to the life tenants during their joint lives and the life of the survivor, and at the death of the latter to pay the principal to the-
We see no difference between the present case and those cited, so far as this question is concerned. The plaintiff was but a tenant for life of the premises in question. There had never been any oil or gas operations commenced on the land before her estate for life accrued. She had no right therefore, to operate for oil or gas herself, and she could not give such a right to any lessee from her. Neither the original lessee nor the defendants, -his assignees, ever held any such right. They
It seems to us, however, in view of ■ the peculiar character of oil and gas as being fugacious in their nature, and liable to be diverted by operations upon other adjoining or nearby lands, in order to preserve the interests of both life tenants and remainder-men, it would be well for the legislature to make such enactments as would enable the owners of this class of lands to secure to themselves the benefits of such minerals as these. As it is now, the law is not efficacious to that end.
Judgment affirmed.