Opinion ID: 1862385
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Louisiana Sales Law

Text: Louisiana law determines if and when a sale of minerals occurs. See, e.g., Henry, supra (Gas is sold for purposes of determining market value at the time the gas sales contract is executed). As stated, oil and gas in place are insusceptible of ownership apart from the soil of which they form a part. Equally well-settled is the principle ownership of gas vests at possession, i.e., at the wellhead. These precepts, however, do not in any manner strike discord with the Civil Code's express recognition that future things may be the object of a contract. See La.Civ.Code art. 1976; Plaquemines Equip. & Mach. Co., Inc. v. Ford Motor Co., 245 La. 201, 157 So.2d 884 (1963); Keahey v. Osborne Ford-Lincoln-Mercury, Inc., 485 So.2d 182 (La.App. 2d Cir.1986). Indeed, the sale of a future thing is specifically provided for in Article 2450 of the Civil Code, which article states, A sale is sometimes made of a thing to come: as of what shall accrue from an estate, of animals yet unborn, or such like other things, although not yet existing. La.Civ.Code art. 2450. See H. Daggett at ง 60 (the sale of a royalty interest is the conveyance of a future thing). See also La.Civ.Code arts. 2439 [13] and 2456. [14] Such a contract is not aleatory, but certain, since the price is to be paid for a specific future object. Plaquemines Equip., 245 La. at 206, 157 So.2d at 885. Compare La.Civ.Code art. 2450 (sale of a future thing) with art. 2451 (sale of a hope). Because the sale of a future thing is subject to the suspensive condition the object of the contract actually materialize, the sale is an exception to the general rule that ownership, and risk, are immediately transferred to the vendee upon agreement as to the object and the price thereof. See La.Civ.Code arts. 1767 [15] , 2456, 2457 [16] and 2471. [17] See also Plaquemines Equipment, 245 La. at 207, 157 So.2d at 886 (For the transfer of title to be operative under [Article 2456], the object of the contract must exist in a deliverable state.); S. Litvinoff, Obligations งง 32, 33, in 7 Louisiana Civil Law Treatise (1975); 1 M. Planiol, Trait้ El้mentaire De Droit Civil Nos. 2596, 2597 (11th ed. La.St.L.Inst. trans. 1959); 2 M. Planiol at Nos. 1008 and 1368. Rather, the contract is executory, and ownership and risk remain with the vendor, until if and when the thing which is the object of the contract actually materializes. Should the thing fail to come into existence, there is a failure of cause and the parties are relieved of their respective obligations. If, however, the condition is fulfilled by the materialization of the object of the contract, the effects are retroactive to the inception of the obligation, and therefore, the transfer of ownership deemed to have taken place at the time of the contract. See La.Civ.Code art. 1775 (fulfillment of a condition has effects that are retroactive to the inception of the obligation); 4 Aubry & Rau, Droit Civil Francais ง 302 (La.St.L.Inst. trans. 1971); S. Litvinoff, Obligations ง 62. We also note one need not own a thing in order to perfect a sale. The sale of a thing belonging to another is not absolutely null, but only relatively so, and such nullity is in the interest of the purchaser. See La.Civ.Code art. 2452; Wright v. Barnes, 541 So.2d 977 (La.App. 2d Cir. 1989); S. Litvinoff, Obligations ง 36.