Jurisprudence Commons^™

A Unifying Doctrine Of Subsurface Property Rights, Joseph A. Schremmer

Faculty Scholarship

This Article advances the “fair opportunity doctrine,” a theory of subsurface property rights that systematizes the case law in this confused area using formal legal reasoning. This theory offers a jurisprudential approach to analyzing private law that can then be applied to the field of subsurface property. This approach emphasizes the law’s role in providing ex ante guidance to members of a community in ordering their affairs and interactions with others and the importance of coherence in that function. On this basis, the “fair opportunity doctrine” improves substantially on the current state of subsurface property law and demonstrates the potential …