Nilsen v. Tenneco Oil Co.

This is a case of first impression.

I concur with the conclusion of the majority as to non-severed mineral interests. I cannot agree with the majority in regard to its treatment of severed mineral estates.

Oklahoma, it is true, has adopted the common law doctrine of riparian rights (12 O.S.1971 § 2). Riparian in its strict sense is descriptive of the right attaching or belonging to land bordering, touching, or adjacent to a stream. Thus, lands are riparian that lie along or border a stream, and littoral if bounded by a sea, tidal water or a considerable body of water. It is fundamental that…