No. V-0074 (1947).

• Case Date: March 06, 1947
• Court: Texas

Texas Attorney General Opinions 1947. No. V-0074 (1947). 1March 6, 1947Hon. Ernest O. Thompson, ChairmanRailroad Commission of TexasAustin, TexasOpinion No. V-74Re: Application of Attorney General's Opinion No. 0-3181 dated March 24, 1941, to facts of pending Rule 37 case in Hawkins Townsite.Dear Sir:This is in response to the request contained in your letter of February 10, 1947, for an opinion of this office whether the general rule set forth in answer to question "9" of Attorney General's Opinion No. 0-3181, dated March 24, 1941, applies to the facts of a pending Rule 37 (well spacing) case involving lands in the Hawkins Townsite. In answer to question "9", this office held in Attorney General's Opinion No. 3181 that as a general rule, where an individual owns lands on each side of a public street or road "dedicated as such (for) many years", ownership extends to the minerals under the street or road. To quote from the opinion:

"A conveyance of a lot bordering on a street or alley ordinarily passes title to the center of the street or alley, subject to the public's easement, unless a contrary intention is expressed in plain and unequivocal terms. * * * Since the two lots and the street together constitute one continuous tract, so far as the ownership of the minerals is concerned, the street and the two lots must be considered together in determining whether "A" is entitled to a permit to drill a well to prevent the confiscation of his property."

You have underscored that portion of the opinion pointing out that:2

"Exceptional cases may arise where the grantor did not own any interest in the land covered by the road or street, and in such cases, of course, the purchaser of the lot would not by such conveyance acquire any title in the land covered by the road or street."

The rule of the Attorney General's opinion of March 24, 1941, assumes importance in the instant case in determining whether the Commission's rule against subdivisions of May 29, 1934, applies. The Commission's spacing rule for the Hawkins Field, and the rule against subdivisions provide:

"No well shall be drilled hereafter for oil and gas or either of them nearer than nine hundred thirty-three (933) feet to any other completed or drilling well on the same or adjoining tract or farm, and no well shall be drilled nearer than four hundred sixty-six (466) feet to any property line, lease line or subdivision line; provided that, subject to the further provisions hereof, the Commission, in order to prevent waste or to prevent the confiscation of property, will grant exceptions to permit drilling within shorter distances than above prescribed whenever the Commission shall determine that such exceptions are necessary either to prevent waste or to prevent the confiscation of property. * * *" (Emphasis supplied)

"IT IS ORDERED by the Railroad Commission of Texas, that in applying Rule 37 (Spacing Rule) of State-wide application and in applying every rule with relation to spacing in every field in this State, no subdivision of property made subsequent to the adoption of the original spacing rule will be considered in determining whether or not any property is being confiscated within the terms of such spacing rule, and no subdivision of property will be regarded in applying such spacing rule or in determining the matter of confiscation if such subdivision took place subsequent

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to the promulgation and adoption of the original spacing rule."

In the case pending before you, applicant's lessor owns Lots 9 and 10 in Block 7 of the Hawkins Townsite, the land upon which a well permit is applied for under the confiscation exception to the spacing rule, and...