Source: http://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/249/337
Timestamp: 2013-12-21 23:31:58
Document Index: 189085912

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 4636', '§ 1214', '§ 4614', '§ 4635', '§ 910', '§ 1533', '§ 2', '§ 4524', '§ 4637']

UNION OIL CO. OF CALIFORNIA v. SMITH. | Supreme Court | LII / Legal Information Institute
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249 U.S. 337 (39 S.Ct. 308, 63 L.Ed. 635)
Decided: March 31, 1919.
[HTML] Messrs. Lewis W. Andrews and Thomas O. Toland, both of Los Angeles, Cal., for plaintiff in error.
Argument of Counsel from pages 338-341 intentionally omitted
This case presents, for the first time in this court, the question of the meaning and effect of an act of Congress approved February 12, 1903 (
32 Stat. 825, c. 548 Comp. St. § 4636), which reads as follows:
The superior court of the county, and, on appeal, the Supreme Court of the state, overruled this contention and gave judgment in favor of the plaintiff (Smith v. Union Oil Co., 166 Cal. 217, 135 Pac. 966), and the case was brought here by writ of error under section 237, Judicial Code (Act March 3, 1911, c. 231, 36 Stat. 1156), prior to the amendment of September 6, 1916 (
39 Stat. 726, c. 448 Comp. St. § 1214).
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.
By section 2319, Rev. Stat. U. S. (Comp. St. § 4614), all valuable mineral deposits in lands belonging to the United States are declared to be
By section 2322 (sec. 4618) locators of mining locations on the public domain
Section 2325 (section 4622) and section following permit a patent to be obtained for a mineral claim, and regulate the procedure. By section 2325 the applicant for patent is required (among other things) to file 'a certificate of the United States surveyor general that five hundred dollars' worth of labor has been expended or improvements made upon the claim by himself or grantors,' and, upon his compliance with this and other requirements, if after publication of notice for 60 days no adverse claim is filed, or (section 2326 section 4623) such claim, having been filed, has proceeded to adjudication in a court of competent jurisdiction with result favorable to the applicant, upon a payment of $5 per acre and proper fees a patent is issued for the claim or such portion thereof as has been decided to be in the rightful possession of the applicant. By section 2329 (section 4628) placer claims are made subject to entry and patent under like circumstances and conditions and upon similar proceedings as are provided for vein or lode claims; the purchase price of placer claims being fixed by section 2333 (section 4632) at $2.50 per acre.
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, 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 (
29 Stat. 526, c. 216 Comp. St. § 4635), 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. R. Co., 234 U. S. 669, 678, 34 Sup. Ct. 907, 58 L. Ed. 1527.
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. Stat.; Waskey v. Hammer, 223 L. S. 85, 90, 32 Sup. Ct. 187, 56 L. Ed. 359. Nevertheless, section 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 discoy ery, is entitledat least for a reasonable timeto be protected against forcible, fraudulent, and clandestine intrusions upon his possession. Zollars v. Evans (C. C.) 5 Fed. 172, 173; Crossman v. Pendery (C. C.) 8 Fed. 693, 694; Johanson v. White, 160 Fed. 901, 88 C. C. A. 83; Hanson v. Craig, 161 Fed. 861, 863, 89 C. C. A. 55; s. c., 170 Fed. 62, 65, 95 C. C. A. 338; Gemmell v. Swain, 28 Mont. 331, 335, 72 Pac. 662, 98 Am. St. Rep. 570; New England, etc., Oil Co. v. Congdon, 152 Cal. 211, 92 Pac. 180; Whiting v. Straup, 17 Wyo. 1, 19, 23, 95 Pac. 849, 129 Am. St. Rep. 1093; Phillips v. Brill, 17 Wyo. 26, 38, 95 Pac. 856.
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. Stat. § 910 Comp. St. § 1533), and it is capable of transfer by conveyance, inheritance, or devise (Forbes v. Gracey, 94 U. S. 762, 763, 767, 24 L. Ed. 313; Belk v. Meagher, 104 U. S. 279, 283, 285, 26 L. Ed. 735; Del Monte Mining Co. v. Last Chance Mining Co., 171 U. S. 55, 78, 18 Sup. Ct. 895, 43 L. Ed. 72; Elder v. Wood, 208 U. S. 226, 232, 28 Sup. Ct. 263, 52 L. Ed. 464).
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 32, chapter 6, Revised Statutes, therein referred to, embraces the sections we have cited. And it is not to be doubted that the terms 'assessments' and 'annual assessment labor' refer to the annual labor required by section 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 (
28 Stat. 6, c. 12), and July 2, 1898 (
30 Stat. 651, c. 563). See El Paso Brick Co. v. McKnight, 233 U. S. 250, 255, 256, 258, 34 Sup. Ct. 498, 58 L. Ed. 943, L. R. A. 1915A, 1113.
'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 section 5 of the act of May 10, 1872, (
17 Stat. 92, c. 152), now section 2324, Rev. Stat., 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 this naturally arese, 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, 655, 26 L. Ed. 875; Jackson v. Roby, 109 U. S. 440, 444, 3 Sup. Ct. 301, 27 L. Ed. 990; Chambers v. Harrington, 111 U. S. 350, 353, 4 Sup. Ct. 428, 28 L. Ed. 452; Anvil Hydraulic Co. v. Code, 182 Fed. 205, 206, 105 C. C. A. 45.
Two recent acts of Congress contain recognition of the status of a bona fide occupant of oil-bearing lands in the public domain prior to discovery. Act June 25, 1910 (
36 Stat. 847, c. 421, § 2 [Comp. St. § 4524], first proviso); Act March 2, 1911 (
36 Stat. 1015, c. 201 [Comp. St. §§ 4637, 4637a]). See Consolidated Mutual Oil Co. v. United States, 245 Fed. 521, 524, 527, 529, 157 C. C. A. 633.