Opinion ID: 770800
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Creation of State Trust Under the Utah Constitution

Text: 39 The Miners argue in the alternative that a trust was created in the Utah Constitution, and we agree. 40 The Constitution of the State of Utah states explicitly that the Lands are held in trust and establishes strict limitations on the use that may be made of them: 41 [The Lands] shall be held in trust for the people, to be disposed of as may be provided by law, for the respective purpose for which they have been or may be granted . . . 42 Utah Const., art. XX, 1. 43 The Utah Supreme Court has emphasized in a number of cases that the state of Utah accepted the lands granted to it by Congress under the Utah Enabling Act and agreed to hold those lands in trust pursuant to the Utah Constitution. See Consolidation Coal Co. v. Utah Div. of State Lands & Forestry, 886 P.2d 514, 525 (Utah 1994); National Parks & Conservation Ass'n v. Board of State Lands, 869 P.2d 909, 917-20 & n. 7 (Utah 1993); Plateau Mining Co. v. Utah Div. of State Lands & Forestry, 802 P.2d 720, 729 (Utah 1990); Duchesne County v. State Tax Comm'n, 140 P.2d 335, 338 (Utah 1943). 44 Given the explicit trust language in the Utah Constitution and Utah's construction of its Constitution as imposing a trust on land received under the Utah Enabling Act, we conclude that these Lands are held in trust pursuant to the Utah Constitution. 45