Eminent Domain — Interest of the Condemnee in Mineral Rights

In 1920 the Oklahoma Legislature passed an act authorizing condemnation of forty acres of land for State Capitol building purposes. Defendant condemnee was paid $80,000 for land condemned pursuant to the Act. Sixteen years later, defendant condemnee executed an oil and gas lease to the defendant Jones. The question of whether the mineral rights passed from the condemnee to the state immediately came of issue. In an action brought by the State to quiet title it was held that the State acquired a full fee title when the land was condemned, so the defendant condemnee retained no· rights in the mineral deposits. Analogous situations present the important problem of whether the interest taken by the condemner is such as to exclude any claim the condemnee might have to mineral rights. An examination of the nature of title acquired in eminent domain proceedings and its effect upon disposition of mineral rights, with particular attention to protection of the condemnee\u27s interests, is the purpose of this note