Permission Granted: The Requirement of Consent Under the Louisiana Mineral Code

• Author: Patrick S. Ottinger
• Position: L.L.C., Lafayette, Louisiana
• Pages: 1287-1333

Louisiana Law Review Louisiana Law Review

Volume 80

Number 4

Summer 2020

Article 8

11-11-2020

Permission Granted: The Requirement of Consent Under the Permission Granted: The Requirement of Consent Under the

Louisiana Mineral Code Louisiana Mineral Code

Patrick S. Ottinger

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Patrick S. Ottinger,

Permission Granted: The Requirement of Consent Under the Louisiana Mineral Code

,

80 La. L. Rev. (2020)

Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.lsu.edu/lalrev/vol80/iss4/8

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________________________________________________________________

Permission Granted: The Requirement of Consent

Under the Louisiana Mineral Code

Patrick S. Ottinger*

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction ................................................................................ 1286

Scope of Article.......................................................................... 1288

I. Relevant Codal Articles Requiring or Dispensing

with the Consent of Another ...................................................... 1289

A. Article 50 ............................................................................. 1290

B. Article 85 ............................................................................. 1292

C. Article 112 ........................................................................... 1295

D. Article 146 ........................................................................... 1296

E. Article 147 ........................................................................... 1297

F. Consent Among Owners in Indivision—

Articles 164, 166, and 175................................................... 1299

1. Introduction ...................................................................1299

2. Article 164..................................................................... 1300

3. Article 166..................................................................... 1301

4. Article 175..................................................................... 1302

5. Commentary on Common Features of

Articles 164, 166, and 175 ............................................ 1303

a. Consent Threshold ..................................................1303

b. Codal Proviso ......................................................... 1303

c. Worth of a Mineral Right to Which

Consent to Operate Not Granted............................. 1305

d. Limited Responsibility of Non-Consenting

Co-Owner for Costs................................................ 1306

G. Articles 176 and 177............................................................ 1309

1. Codal Articles................................................................ 1309

2. An Exception to the Required Level of Consent........... 1310

Copyright 2020, by PATRICK S. OTTINGER.

* Ottinger Hebert, L.L.C., Lafayette, Louisiana; Member, Louisiana and

Texas Bars; Adjunct Professor of Law, Paul M. Hebert Law Center, Louisiana

State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Reporter, Mineral Law Committee of

the Louisiana State Law Institute. Chairman, Advisory Council, Mineral Law

Institute.

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1286 LOUISIANA LAW REVIEW [Vol. 80

H. Article 165 ........................................................................... 1317

I. Article 170 ........................................................................... 1318

J. Article 171 ........................................................................... 1319

K. Article 190(B)...................................................................... 1321

L. Article 195 ........................................................................... 1323

II. The Form of Consent and the Standards for

Granting or Withholding It......................................................... 1324

A. Meaning of Consent............................................................. 1324

B. Implications of Public Policy as a Limitation

on Rights of Contracting Parties.......................................... 1325

C. Form of Consent .................................................................. 1326

D. Filing of Consent for Recordation ....................................... 1328

E. Temporal Feature of Granting or Obtaining Consent ..........1328

Conclusion.................................................................................. 1329

INTRODUCTION1

The adoption of the Louisiana Mineral Code represents the

culmination of a decades-long effort to codify the law of Louisiana

pertaining to mineral rights, including oil and gas, as such legal rules and

precepts had been developed judicially for seven and a half decades after

bringing in the first commercial well in Louisiana.2 Until the Mineral Code

was enacted,3 the Louisiana Legislature had adopted very few statutes

addressing the needs or exigencies of this important industry.4

1. Portions of this Article are taken from PATR ICK S. OTTINGER, LOUISIANA

MINERAL LEASES: A TREATISE (Claitor’s Law Books & Publishing Division, Inc.

2016) [hereinafter OTTINGER, MINERAL LEASE TREATISE], principally by way of

adaptation, reorganization, and supplementation.

2. See Patrick S. Ottinger, From the Courts to the Code: The Origin and

Development of the Law of Louisiana on Mineral Rights, 1 LSU J. ENERGY LAW

& RESOURCES 5 (2012).

3. Title 31, Louisiana Revised Statutes, enacted by Act No. 50, 1974 La.

Acts Vol. III, effective January 1, 1975.

4. See, e.g., Rives v. Gulf Ref. Co., 62 So. 623, 624 (La. 1913) (“The

Legislature up to this time has been silent upon the subject of mineral rights and

contracts.”); Spence v. Lucas, 70 So. 796, 798 (La. 1916) (“Until the Legislature

shall have passed laws specially applicable to the industry of mining, which is a

new one in this state, the parties engaged in those pursuits and the courts of the

state will adhere to the jurisprudence on the subject, and treat mineral contracts as