Brown v. Humble Oil & Refining Co.

Decision Date27 November 1935
Docket NumberMotion No. 12043; No. 6728.
Citation87 S.W.2d 1069
PartiesBROWN et al. v. HUMBLE OIL & REFINING CO.
CourtTexas Supreme Court

J. W. Wheeler, of Austin, and Hamilton, Hamilton & Turner, of Dallas, for plaintiffs in error.

E. E. Townes, Rex G. Baker, Hines Baker, and R. E. Seagler, all of Houston, and Ben H. Powell and J. A. Rauhut, both of Austin, for defendant in error.

SHARP, Justice.

This cause is now before us on a motion for rehearing filed by plaintiffs in error.

In the original opinion rendered in this cause, (Tex. Sup.) 83 S.W.(2d) 935, 940, the following language was used:

"It is now, however, recognized that when an oil field has been fairly tested and developed, experts can determine approximately the amount of oil and gas in place in a common pool, and can also equitably determine the amount of oil and gas recoverable by the owner of each tract of land under certain operating conditions. * * *

"Conditions may arise where it would be proper, right, and just to grant exceptions to the rule so as to permit wells to be drilled on smaller tracts than prescribed therein. Also, conditions may arise where it would be proper, right, and just to permit tracts to be subdivided and such subdivisions drilled after the adoption of the rule; but in all such instances it is the duty of the commission to adjust the allowable, based upon the potential production, so as to give to the owner of such smaller tract only his just proportion of the oil and gas. By this method each person will be entitled to recover a quantity of oil and gas substantially equivalent in amount to the recoverable oil and gas under his land."

It appears that the first quotation above and a part of the second have been construed by some to mean that this court has undertaken to prescribe them as rules and standards by which to determine property rights and as standards to control the Railroad Commission in promulgating conservation rules and orders relating to oil and gas. Others have construed the language, or part of the language, above quoted from the opinion to amount to a ruling that acreage must be used as the sole or controlling factor in determining how many oil and gas wells may be drilled on, or how much oil or gas may be taken from, a tract of land, or to hold in effect that whenever a well or wells...

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78 cases
  • Burford v. Sun Oil Co Sun Oil Co v. Burford
    • United States
    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • May 24, 1943
    ...37 or to make exceptions to it is seldom seriously challenged, Brown v. Humble Oil & Ref. Co., 126 Tex. 296, 307, 83 S.W.2d 935, 87 S.W.2d 1069, 99 A.L.R. 1107, 101 A.L.R. 1393, the validity of particular orders from the standpoint of statutory interpretation may present a serious problem, ......
  • Colorado Interstate Gas Co. v. State Corp. Commission
    • United States
    • Kansas Supreme Court
    • November 2, 1963
    ...an order.' (142 Tex. pp. 306, 307, 177 S.W.2d p. 950.) (See also, Brown et al. v. Humble Oil Co., 126 Tex. 296, 83 S.W.2d 935, 87 S.W.2d 1069, 99 A.L.R. 1107, 101 A.L.R. 1393, and Interstate Commerce Comm. v. Illinois Cent. R. Co., 215 U.S. 452, 30 S.Ct. 155, 54 L.Ed. In connection with num......
  • Atlantic Refining Co. v. Railroad Com'n of Texas, A-7355
    • United States
    • Texas Supreme Court
    • March 8, 1961
    ...a reasonable profit. The opinion, elsewhere, however, after citing Brown v. Humble Oil & Refining Company, 126 Tex. 296, 83 S.W.2d 935, 87 S.W.2d 1069, and Corzelius v. Harrell, 143 Tex. 509, 186 S.W.2d 961, recognizes the restrictions which the conservation laws have placed upon the common......
  • Marrs v. Railroad Commission
    • United States
    • Texas Supreme Court
    • January 5, 1944
    ...v. Mahon, 260 U.S. 393, 43 S.Ct. 158, 67 L.Ed. 322, 28 A.L.R. 1321; Brown v. Humble Oil & Ref. Co., 126 Tex. 296, 83 S.W.2d 935, 87 S.W.2d 1069, 99 A.L.R. 1107, 101 A.L.R. 1393, and authorities there cited. It is sufficient to point out that the trial court here found that the drainage comp......
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2 books & journal articles
  • CHAPTER 1 BASIC CONSERVATION PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES: HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES AND BASIC DEFINITIONS
    • United States
    • FNREL - Special Institute Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Pooling and Unitization (FNREL)
    • Invalid date
    ...182 Okla. 155, 77 P.2d 83 (1938), appeal dism'd, 305 U.S. 376 (1939); Brown v. Humble Oil & Refining Co., 126 Tex. 296, 83 S.W.2d 935, 87 S.W.2d 1069 (1935). [48] Sullivan, Note 3 supra at 338-39. Gas-oil ratios were also used to justify the transfer of allowables from high ratio to low rat......
  • CHAPTER 11 LEASE MAINTENANCE CHALLENGES
    • United States
    • FNREL - Special Institute Development Issues in the Major Shale Plays (FNREL)
    • Invalid date
    ...Dev. Co., 84 S.E. 750 (W. Va. 1915). [60] 5-8 Williams & Meyers, Oil and Gas Law § 866; see also Brown v. Humble Oil & Refining Co., 87 S.W.2d 1069 (Tex. 1935); Monsanto Chemical Co. v. Sykes, 147 So. 2d 290 (Miss. 1962). But see Spurlock v. Hinton, 225 S.W.2d 203 (Tex. Civ. App. 1949) (one......

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