Law Commons^™

“Oil, Gas, And Other Minerals” Clauses In Texas: Who’S On First?, Laura H. Burney

Faculty Articles

Stability and certainty of land titles encourages development of mineral resources and means individuals need not resort to judiciary for interpretation. Unfortunately, uncertainty prevails because Texas courts complicate the interpretive process and frequently need the assistance of nonlegal sources for comparison, explanation, and enlightenment. Clarity demands that courts adopt a definition of the “ordinary and natural meaning” test similar to that proposed by Dean Eugene Kuntz; burying the surface destruction test by retroactively applying the former.

The surface destruction test produced a title examiner’s nightmare. Despite the Texas Supreme Court’s determination to rectify this in Moser v. United Steel Corp. …

A New Tort For Texas: Breach Of The Duty Of Good Faith And Fair Dealing., Evelyn T. Ailts

St. Mary's Law Journal

The concept of good faith and fair dealing as a general derivative contractual obligation remains unrecognized in Texas. However, in English v. Fischer the Texas Supreme Court recognized a duty of good faith and fair dealing exists in some contracts. Subsequent courts, including the Texas Supreme Court, have refused to apply a purely contractual obligation of good faith and fair dealing in every case. Instead, courts have recognized a good faith duty as arising out of “special” relationships of the contracting parties rather than being inherent in the contract itself. The courts focus on “special relationships” as a determinative of …