147 Pa. 612 | Pa. | 1892
Opinion by
The paper books do not furnish us with the writ or the declaration in this case. We have no means of learning what, the plaintiff claimed, except as it may be gathered from the abstract of the docket entries. From this abstract we learn that the suit was brought to recover “ all the mineral coal lying in and under the following described tract of land .... including, also, with the coal and mining privileges, all that portion of the surface of said tract of land occupied .... with shafts, engines, railroads, and buildings of various kinds, used in operating said mine.” The part of the surface sought to be recovered has no definite description as to boundary or quantity. It is not separated from that part of the surface of the same tract which defendants held under lease, upon which a portion of their buildings were. The description, such as it is, seems to have been intended to include a body of coal in place under the tract, and such part of the surface as was used in connection with mining operations. The defendant has raised no question over the sufficiency of the description, but
Another stipulation was that the purchaser should have “ the right of way through, over or under said land to transport coal from adjoining lands, . . . and the use of five acres of land, to be designated by said first party, on which said second party may erect dwelling houses, paying said first party a fair annual rental for said five acres of ground.” These provisions are additional to those relating to the sale of the coal under the tract, and they relate to the mining and removal of the coal on adjoining lands belonging to the second parties. The rent for the five acres of surface is independent of the sale of the grantor’s coal and the necessary privileges granted for the convenient mining of it. Upon the right of way no price is fixed, presumably because its use could inflict no loss or inconvenience on the grantor. Now the learned judge did not give any definite form to his findings upon this subject, but it is evident that he must have reached the conclusion that the covenants relating to the mining of the coal on adjoining lands were dependent on those relating to the mining of the coal under the grantor’s land; and that, if the purchaser mined out that tract first, he could no longer occupy his right of way or his leasehold on the surface, for the purpose of getting out his own coal that lay beyond, unless he pretended to be still mining the grantor’s coal, and paid the royalty upon two thousand (2000) tons per annum which he did not get, because it was not there. If this was the theory on which the recovery was had, we do not think it can be sustained. These covenants have no connection with each other. They relate to subjects entirely different, and each can stand regardless of the other. Those relating to the sale of the grantor’s coal are clear, consistent, and make a contract complete in all its parts. Those relating to the grant of conveniences for the
The judgment is reversed accordingly.