Dabney

This is an appeal from a judgment adverse to plaintiff in an action to quiet title to certain lands situated in Orange County which were held by the defendant under an oil-drilling lease.

The lots owned by this company were leased to the defendant Dabney by written lease dated October 24, 1921, for a term of twenty years. In this lease the company was designated as the “lessors” and the “parties” of the first part. By the terms of the lease these lessors gave permission to the lessee to enter into subsequent leases with the owners of other lots which were separately described in the original lease and these lessors covenanted that in the event such subsequent leases were made they would agree to share the royalties to be paid under their lease with any or all lots included in the subsequent leases in the proportion which such lots bear to the total number of lots included in the original lease. Subsequent leases were made with the owners of 13 lots and in each of said leases the owners of these lots were described as the lessors thereof and they separately agreed to be bound by the terms of the original lease executed by the Bayside Land Company.

The trial court found that the…