Bardhill v. Sellers

CULLEN, Commissioner.

The circuit court held that a certain instrument of conveyance of oil and gas under a tract of 152 acres in Webster County, executed in 1889, was a “lease” rather than a “deed,” to the extent that there was an implied condition of reasonable development of the oil and gas. There not having been any development for a period of more than 50 years, the court adjudged that the rights conveyed by the instrument had been abandoned and forfeited, and that the successors in interest to the original grantee in the instrument had no title to the gas and oil. Those successors in…