Noss v. Hagen

Even though I agree that Chief Justice Erickstad has adequately described the pertinent events and occurrences and has correctly applied the law and precedent thereto, I find myself concurring reluctantly because the appearance of fairness is somehow lacking.

One of the teaching tools used by the late, great Dean Thormodsgard in explaining real property rights at the University of North Dakota Law School was “the bundle of sticks” theory.1 Apparently minerals can, in theory, be “severed” from the surface merely by becoming owned by one who does not own the land surface. Bilby v. Wire, 77…