The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 44, July 1940 - April, 1941 Page: 305
546 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Oil, the Courts, and the Railroad Commission
adopted by the convention and later included in and printed
as a general provision of the Constitution. Thus by an ordi-
nance designed primarily to confirm the title of private owners
in a salt lake in Hidalgo County, the State gave away the
ownership of all minerals under lands which had theretofore
been patented by the State.
By successive constitutional provisions and legislative acts
since 1866, the State has relinquished its claim to minerals in
land which has been patented by the State. Article X, Section 9,
of the Constitution of 1869, contains substantially the same
language as that quoted above from the Constitution of 1866.
In 1876, when the Constitution now in force was adopted, it
was provided by Article XIV, Section 7, of that Constitution:
The State of Texas hereby releases to the owner or
owners of the soil all mines and minerals that may
be on the same, subject to taxation as other property.
Similar provisions were contained in the Revised Civil Stat-
utes of 1879,' and also in the Revised Civil Statutes of 1895.10
By these laws the State has relinquished to the owners of
lands patented prior to those dates the title to oil and gas, as
well as other minerals under the land.
These constitutional provisions and statutory provisions have
been interpreted by the courts as being only retrospective in
effect, and not prospective. That is, these provisions have been
held not to apply to lands which had not been patented prior
to the effective date of these provisions." Under the laws which
have been in effect since 1895, the State, in general, has re-
served at least a portion of the minerals under the mineral
lands which it has patented,'2 and, of course, retains the title
to oil and gas in vacant or unpatented lands.
Assuming that a person "owns" the legal title to a tract
of land, including all mineral rights, the question for the courts
to determine was what specific powers and rights went with
such ownership. The chief handicap under which the courts
labored in the early days was that there was no exact scientific
knowledge as to the characteristics or behavior of oil and gas
in their subterranean reservoirs. The location and extent of
9Revised Civil Statutes, 1879, Article 3800.
lOIbid., 1895, Article 4041.
"Cox v. Robison, 105 Tex. 426, 150 S. W. 1149.
"2Revised Civil Statutes, 1925, Title 85, Chapters 4 and 5.305
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 44, July 1940 - April, 1941, periodical, 1941; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146052/m1/342/: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.