[Rockhounds] Fossils - Is Ownership Governed by Surface Rights or Mineral Rights ?

[Tim Fisher]

I've been following this since it was first reported a couple years ago. I would caution that this is a very state-specific issue, the law as applied to private property varies state to state and even default ownership changed based on dates within a state. Much like water appropriation law, "first in time first in right" often trumps current law. Many of these disputes predate the 1872 mining law where the first attempt to "legally" define a mineral at least at the federal government level was made (to my knowledge). Unlike the concurrent Marsh-Cope "bone wars", oil wars were a thing of the future and that's where subsurface rights got real tricky and real state-specific. Someone will inevitably try to make generalizations but the eventual decision won't be applicable everywhere, and not at all on federal land.

Tim Fisher
Orerockon.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Rockhounds [mailto:rockhounds-bounces at rockhounds.drizzle.com] On Behalf Of Paul
Sent: Tuesday, November 20, 2018 3:41 PM
To: Rockhound List
Subject: [Rockhounds] Fossils - Is Ownership Governed by Surface Rights or Mineral Rights ?

This is an interesting legal battle about whether surface rights or 
mineral rights determines fossil ownership.

Fight over dinosaur fossils comes down to what’s a mineral
  By Amy Beth Hanson, AP, Washington Post, November 16, 2018
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/fight-over-dinosaur-fossils-comes-down-to-whats-a-mineral/2018/11/16/6025a23a-e9e7-11e8-8449-1ff263609a31_story.html

The article states:

"Ownership of two fossilized dinosaur skeletons found on a
Montana ranch in 2006 are the subject of a legal battle over
whether they are part of a property’s surface rights or mineral
rights. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued  a split
decision saying fossils are minerals under mineral rights laws."

Yours,

Paul H.


_______________________________________________
Rockhounds mailing list
Subscription Services:  http://rockhounds.drizzle.com/mailman/listinfo/rockhounds_rockhounds.drizzle.com
List Usage Policy: http://Tomaszewski.net/Kreigh/Rockhounds/Rockhounds.shtml