Court Opinion

ID: 9576311
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:23:07.111381+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:05:27.753312
License: Public Domain

SHENK, J.
I concur in the dissenting opinion of Mr. Justice Spence and deem it unanswerable. A further word seems desirable from my standpoint.
When Boone v. Kingsbury was decided by this court in 1928 [206 Cal. 148 (273 P. 797)] I expressed the view as the sole dissenter that permits proposed to be issued by the state for exploration and production of oil and gas from tidelands of the state would be inconsistent with the trust under which the state held those lands, namely, for commerce, navigation and fisheries. That ease involved tidelands of the state outside of any municipality. It was there decided by the majority that the state owns those lands in fee subject only to the limited trust and that the granting of permits there sought to be issued by the state on a royalty basis for the production of oil and gas would not be inconsistent with the trust. The holding in that case has been the law of the state without deviation since that time. It has also been the laiv of the state that in granting to municipalities the tidelands within their borders the state conveyed the fee subject only to the same trust under which the state owned them. If leasing directly by the state for oil and gas production is not inconsistent with the trust the same rule should apply to a municipality occupying the same position as its grantor, the state. The case of City of Long Beach v. Morse, 31 Cal.2d 254 [188 P.2d 17], specifically left the way open for further legislation on the subject. That legislation was supplied by the Act of 1951 (Stats. 1951, p. 2443). By that enactment there is a legislative finding that the use of the proceeds from oil and gas production by the city of Long Beach is not in any way affected by the terms of the trust. If the city of Long Beach is bound by the terms of the trust, as the majority holds, the state likewise is bound by the same trust. The only logical deduction to be drawn from the majority opinion is that the trust relationship now de*224dared is also fastened on the state’s title and right to the use of the proceeds from oil and gas development and production on tidelands.
Following the ease of United States v. California in 1947 (332 U.S. 19 [67 S.Ct. 1658, 91 L.Ed. 1889]) the United States granted to the several states bordering tidelands and to their grantees the right, title and interest of the federal government in and to such tidelands (Public Law No. 31, 67 Stats, p. 29, approved May 22, 1953). By that enactment the government reserved from the grant the right to exercise its constitutional powers over commerce and navigation and particularly stated in section 6 of the act that the reservation should “not be deemed to include, proprietary rights of ownership, or the rights of management, administration, leasing, use, and development of the lands and natural resources which are specially recognized, confirmed, established, and •vested in and assigned to the respective States and others by section 3 of this Act.” If the title of the city of Long Beach is encumbered by the trust, as the majority holds, the title of the State of California is also subject to the trust, and falls within the reservations of the act of Congress. The only way to avoid this conclusion is to declare, as we should, that the proceeds from oil and gas development here involved fall within the proprietary classification of the property of the city of Long Beach in accordance with the statutory and decisional law of the state and as contemplated by the recent act of Congress.
The petition of Respondent City of Long Beach for a rehearing was denied May 4, 1955. Shenk, J., Schauer, J., and Spence, J., were of the opinion that the petition should be granted.