Hawkins v. Texas Oil and Gas Corp.

OPINION

THOMAS, Justice.

This is an appeal from a summary judgment in a declaratory judgment and inter-pleader proceeding. The controversy involves the interpretation of a 1930 deed which conveyed oil and gas interests under 54.2 acres “subject to” a Humble oil and gas lease that has since expired. The principal question is whether the grantees owned a royalty interest or a mineral interest after the lease’s expiration. Treating the instrument as unambiguous, the court interpreted the deed as conveying a permanent royalty interest. The “two-grant theory” and the decision in Alford v. Krum, 671…