Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/93082/union-oil-co-california-vs-smith
Timestamp: 2020-01-18 08:48:35
Document Index: 26385860

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 2324', '§ 2319', '§ 2324', '§ 2322', '§ 2324', '§ 910', '§ 2324', 'art, 210', '§ 2324', '§ 5', '§ 2324', '§ 2324']

Union Oil Co of California Vs Smith - Citation 93082 - Court Judgment | LegalCrystal
Union Oil Co. of California Vs. Smith - Court Judgment
LegalCrystal Citation legalcrystal.com/93082
Case Number 249 U.S. 337
Appellant Union Oil Co. of California
..... syllabus in order to create valid rights or initiate a title as against the united states under the mining laws, a discovery of mineral within the location is essential. p. 249 u. s. 346 . for the purpose of exploring for mineral, a qualified person who has entered peaceably upon vacant public land is treated as a licensee or tenant at will of the united states and allowed, as of necessity, a right of possession, the extent of which, i.e., whether confined to pedis possessio or coterminous with the boundaries of his inchoate location -- is not here decided. id. the right of possession before discovery may be maintained only by continued actual occupancy by a qualified locator or his representatives engaged in persistent and diligent.....
Union Oil Co. of California v. Smith - 249 U.S. 337 (1919)
U.S. Supreme Court Union Oil Co. of California v. Smith, 249 U.S. 337 (1919)
In order to create valid rights or initiate a title as against the United States under the mining laws, a discovery of mineral within the location is essential. P. 249 U. S. 346 .
The right of possession before discovery may be maintained only by continued actual occupancy by a qualified locator or his representatives engaged in persistent and diligent prosecution of work looking to the discovery of mineral. P. 249 U. S. 348 .
Discovery may follow the marking and recording of a mining claim, and perfect the location as of the time of discovery, provided no rights of third parties have intervened. P. 249 U. S. 347 .
The terms "assessments," "annual assessment labor," and "assessment work" in acts of Congress, as in the practice of miners, have nothing to do with the locating or holding of a claim before discovery, but refer to the annual labor required by Rev.Stats. § 2324,
as a condition subsequent, to preserve the exclusive right of possession of a perfected location, based upon prior discovery. P. 249 U. S. 350 .
The Act of February 12, 1903, c. 548, 32 Stat. 825, providing that the annual assessment labor may be done upon any one of a group of contiguous oil land locations not exceeding five, in the same ownership, provided it will tend to their development or to determine their oil-bearing character, refers to locations based each on a discovery of oil within its limits, and evinces no purpose to break down in any way the distinction between the mere pedis possessio of the prospector before discovery and the rights resulting from discovery and perfected location. P. 249 U. S. 351 .
" Be it enacted, etc., that, where oil lands are located under the provisions of title thirty-two, chapter six, Revised Statutes of the United States, as placer mining claims, the annual assessment labor upon such claims may be done upon any one of a group of claims lying contiguous and owned by the same person or corporation, not exceeding five claims in all: Provided, that said labor will tend to the development or to determine the oil bearing character of such contiguous claims."
Defendant asserted a superior right of possession under a mineral land location of the same ground under the name of the "Rawley claim," made by eight qualified associates in the year 1883, many years before plaintiff's location. No discovery of oil or other minerals had ever been made upon the ground by either of the claimants or by any other person. But, at the time plaintiff and his associates located it, defendant, although not then
Page 249 U. S. 343
actually occupying this ground, was in actual occupation of a contiguous claim of 160 acres known as the "Sampson claim," upon which it then was drilling and afterwards continued to drill a well for the discovery of oil, the well being 1,000 feet distant from the boundary line of the disputed claim. Defendant claimed the right of possession of five contiguous claims, including the "Rawley-Schley" and the "Sampson," under locations regularly made in all respects save discovery. Defendant pleaded and proved these facts, and also introduced evidence warranting a finding that its boring work on the "Sampson claim" tended to determine the oil bearing character of the "Rawley-Schley claim."
It will be observed that both parties are in the position of prospectors or explorers upon the public domain -- locators without discovery -- and, in order to appreciate correctly what effect, if any, the Act of 1903 has upon their rights, it is important to have in mind what is meant by "annual assessment labor," and the part it plays in the operations of miners under the mining laws of the United States.
Page 249 U. S. 344
"The miners of each mining district may make regulations not in conflict with the laws of the United States, or with the laws of the state or territory in which the district is situated, governing the location, manner of recording, amount of work necessary to hold possession of a mining claim, subject to the following requirements: the location must be distinctly marked on the ground so that its boundaries can be readily traced. . . . On each claim located after the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, and until a patent has been issued therefor, not less than one hundred dollars' worth of labor shall be performed or improvements made during each year. On all claims located prior to the tenth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-two, ten dollars' worth of labor shall be performed or improvements made by the tenth day of June, eighteen hundred and seventy-four, and each year
Page 249 U. S. 345
thereafter, for each one hundred feet in length along the vein until a patent has been issued therefor; but where such claims are held in common, such expenditure may be made upon any one claim, and upon a failure to comply with these conditions, the claim or mine upon which such failure occurred shall be open to relocation in the same manner as if no location of the same had ever been made, provided that the original locators, their heirs, assigns, or legal representatives have not resumed work upon the claim after failure and before such location."
Under this legislation, petroleum for many years was regarded as a mineral, although not specially mentioned as such, and claims to oil lands were disposed of by the Land Department under the provisions of law relating to placer claims, with a single exception afterwards overruled. Union Oil Co., 23 L.D. 222, decided August 27,
Page 249 U. S. 346
1896; Union Oil Co. (on review) 25 L.D. 351, decided November 6, 1897. It was in order to obviate the effect of the former of these two decisions that Congress passed the Act of February 11, 1897, c. 216, 29 Stat. 526, which declared:
with a proviso saving petroleum land theretofore filed upon, claimed, or improved as mineral but not yet patented. See House Rep. No. 2655, 54th Cong.2d Sess.; 29 Cong.Rec. pt. 2, p. 1409; Burke v. Southern Pacific R. Co., 234 U. S. 669 , 234 U. S. 678 .
Aside from the suggested effect of the Act of 1903, it is clear that, in order to create valid rights or initiate a title as against the United States, a discovery of mineral is essential. Section 2320, Rev.Stats.; Waskey v. Hammer, 223 U. S. 85 , 223 U. S. 90 . Nevertheless, § 2319 extends an express invitation to all qualified persons to explore the lands of the United States for valuable mineral deposits, and this and the following sections hold out to one who succeeds in making discovery the promise of a full reward. Those who, being qualified, proceed in good faith to make such explorations and enter peaceably upon vacant lands of the United States for that purpose are not treated as mere trespassers, but as licensees or tenants at will. For since, as a practical matter, exploration must precede the discovery of minerals, and some occupation of the land ordinarily is necessary for adequate and systematic exploration, legal recognition of the pedis possessio of a bona fide and qualified prospector is universally regarded as a necessity. It is held that, upon the public domain a miner may hold the place in which he may be working against all others having no better right, and, while he remains in possession, diligently working towards discovery,
Page 249 U. S. 347
is entitled, at least for a reasonable time, to be protected against forcible, fraudulent, and clandestine intrusions upon his possession. Zollars v. Evans, 5 F. 172, 173; Crossman v. Pendery, 8 F. 693, 694; Johanson v. White, 160 F. 901; Hanson v. Craig, 161 F. 861, 863; s.c., 170 F. 62, 65; Gemmell v. Swain, 28 Mont. 331, 335; New England, etc., Oil Co. v. Congdon, 152 Cal. 211; Whiting v. Straup, 17 Wyo. 1, 19, 23; Phillips v. Brill, 17 Wyo. 26, 38. *
And it has come to be generally recognized that, while discovery is the indispensable fact and the marking and recording of the claim dependent upon it, yet the order of time in which these acts occur is not essential to the acquisition from the United States of the exclusive right of possession of the discovered minerals or the obtaining of a patent therefor, but that discovery may follow after location and give validity to the claim as of the time of discovery, provided no rights of third parties have intervened. Mining Co. v. Uinta Tunnel Mining Co., 196 U. S. 337 , 196 U. S. 345 , 196 U. S. 348 -352; Weed v. Snook, 144 Cal. 439, 443.
In the California courts, the right of a locator before discovery while in possession of his claim and prosecuting exploration work is recognized as a substantial interest, extending not only as far as the pedis possessio but to the limits of the claim as located, so that it a duly qualified person peaceably and in good faith enters upon vacant lands of the United States prior to discovery but for the purpose of discovering oil or other valuable mineral deposits, there being no valid mineral location upon it, such person has the right to maintain possession as against
Page 249 U. S. 348
violent, fraudulent, and surreptitious intrusions so long as he continues to occupy the land to the exclusion of others and diligently and in good faith prosecutes the work of endeavoring to discover mineral thereon. Miller v. Chrisman, 140 Cal. 440, 447 (case affirmed 197 U. S. 197 U.S. 313); Weed v. Snook, ubi supra; Merced Oil Mining Co. v. Patterson, 153 Cal. 624, 625; s.c., 162 Cal. 358, 361; McLemore v. Express Oil Co., 158 Cal. 559, 562.
But, by the provisions of the Revised Statutes above cited, a discovery of mineral by a qualified locator upon unappropriated public land initiates rights much more substantial as against the United States and all the world. If he locates, marks, and records his claim in accordance with § 2324 and the pertinent local laws and regulations, he has, by the terms of § 2322, an exclusive right of possession
Page 249 U. S. 349
to the extent of his claim as located, with the right to extract the minerals, even to exhaustion, without paying any royalty to the United States as owner, and without ever applying for a patent or seeking to obtain title to the fee, subject, however, to the performance of the annual labor specified in § 2324, for, upon his failure to do this, the claim is open to relocation by others at any time before resumption of work upon it by the original locator.
But, even without patent, the possessory right of a qualified locator after discovery of minerals upon the claim is a property right in the full sense, unaffected by the fact that the paramount title to the land is in the United States (Rev.Stats. § 910), and it is capable of transfer by conveyance, inheritance, or devise. Forbes v. Gracey, 94 U. S. 762 , 94 U. S. 763 , 94 U. S. 767 ; Belk v. Meagher, 104 U. S. 279 , 104 U. S. 283 -285; Del Monte Mining Co. v. Last Chance Mining Co., 171 U. S. 55 , 171 U. S. 78 ; Elder v. Wood, 208 U. S. 226 , 208 U. S. 232 .
Actual and continuous occupation of a valid mining location based upon discovery is not essential to the preservation of the possessory right. The right is lost only by abandonment, as by nonperformance of the annual labor required by § 2324. Belk v. Meagher, 104 U. S. 279 , 104 U. S. 283 -284; Black v. Elkhorn Mining Co., 163 U. S. 445 , 163 U. S. 450 ; Farrell v. Lockhart, 210 U. S. 142 , 210 U. S. 147 ; Bradford v. Morrison, 212 U. S. 389 , 212 U. S. 394 .
After this brief review of the mining laws, there is little danger of mistaking the true intent and meaning of the act of Congress of February 12, 1903. Title thirty-two, chapter six, Revised Statutes, therein referred to, embraces the sections we have cited. And
Page 249 U. S. 350
it is not to be doubted that the terms "assessments" and "annual assessment labor" refer to the annual labor required by § 2324, that being commonly called by miners the "annual assessment" or the "assessment work," and so described in many judicial opinions and in at least two acts of Congress, passed respectively November 3, 1893, c. 12, 28 Stat. 6, and July 2, 1898, c. 563, 30 Stat. 651. See El Paso Brick Co. v. McKnight, 233 U. S. 250 , 233 U. S. 255 .
"Group assessment work" did not originate with the Act of 1903. From an early period, the economy of operating contiguous mines or claims by a single system was recognized. In § 5 of the act of May 10, 1872, c. 152, 17 Stat. 92, now § 2324 Rev.Stats., it was provided with respect to the annual labor that "where such claims are held in common, such expenditure may be made upon any one claim." Questions as to the precise meaning of
Page 249 U. S. 351
this naturally arose, and it was determined that it applied only to contiguous claims, and that the work must be done for the common benefit or for the purpose of developing all the claims. Smelting Co. v. Kemp, 104 U. S. 636 , 104 U. S. 655 ; Jackson v. Roby, 109 U. S. 440 , 109 U. S. 444 ; Chambers v. Harrington, 111 U. S. 350 , 111 U. S. 353 ; Anvil Hydraulic Co. v. Code, 182 F. 205, 206.
It is plain that the draftsman of the Act of 1903 had this settled rule in mind, for the bill as introduced, with enacting clause in the same form as finally passed, had this proviso: " Provided, that said labor will benefit or tend to the development of such contiguous claims." By committee amendment in the House, the words "benefit or" were struck out, and after the word "development" the following were inserted, "or to determine the oil bearing character," presumably regarded as peculiarly appropriate to oil lands. House Rep. No. 2657, 57th Cong. 1st Sess.; Senate Rep. No. 2756, 57th Cong.2d Sess.; 36 Cong.Rec., Pt. 1, p. 83; Pt. 2, pp. 1561, 1682. The committee report contains this explanation of the object of the bill:
"The law now requires that upon each mining claim there shall be performed each and every year at least $100 worth of work. The courts have held with reference to lode mining claims that this annual labor may be done upon any one of a group of mining claims, provided the said work tends to benefit the entire group, but the Land Department of the government seems to be of opinion that the annual labor upon placer mining claims must be done upon each of said claims. There is good reason for this holding when applied to the ordinary placer claim containing deposits of gold, because in such case the gold lies upon the surface or near the surface, and general development work being upon and near the surface does not tend to benefit other claims than the one upon which the work is actually done, but, in the case of oil mining claims, the situation is different. It is necessary
Page 249 U. S. 352
to bore wells for great depths in order to determine whether or not oil exists in paying quantities. These wells are expensive, and it is the opinion of the committee that the industry itself will be more benefited by permitting the owner to spend his means in sinking a single well in order to demonstrate the possibilities of the property than it would to require him to distribute his means among several claims. In other words, it is better that $500 should be spent in one place until the character of the oil deposit has been demonstrated than it is to require the same amount of money to be spent in five different places."
Nor is there great force in the suggestion that, with respect to oil claims upon which discovery already had been made, there was no need to encourage the doing or work tending to determine their oil bearing character, because this would already have been established by the antecedent discovery. It hardly is necessary to say that
Page 249 U. S. 353
the discovery of oil upon several contiguous claims does not render it wholly unimportant that assessment work thereafter done by the common owner upon one of the claims, in order to be credited to him as if it had been distributed among the several claims, shall be of general benefit to the group. This is the object of the act, and except as the proviso specifically declares "determination of oil bearing character" to be of benefit to the contiguous claims, little is added to the effect of § 2324 Rev.Stats. respecting group assessment work. But we cannot declare a determination of the "oil bearing character" of a claim upon which oil already has been discovered to be a matter so idle as to require us to seek a strained construction of the statute.