## Facts

- The Sniders sold approximately 145 acres in Calvert County, Maryland, to Calvert Joint Venture #140 under a land installment contract later followed by a deed.
- The transaction documents reflected that Calvert purchased the property to develop a residential subdivision, and the Sniders were aware of that intended use.
- The Sniders reserved “all oil, gas, or other mineral rights” in the property.
- Neither the contract nor the deed expressly reserved any easement or right for the Sniders to enter, use, or disturb the surface to explore for or extract minerals.
- At the time of conveyance, the Sniders owned adjacent land that could potentially provide access to minerals beneath the conveyed property without using the subdivision surface.
- Calvert sought declaratory relief concerning the scope and effect of the mineral reservation in relation to subdivision development.

## Issues

1. Whether a mineral-rights reservation implies an easement allowing the mineral owner to enter and use the surface for extraction when the instruments contain no express surface-access right and the land’s known intended use is a residential subdivision.
2. Whether the reservation of “all oil, gas and other mineral rights” created a fee simple (perpetual) mineral estate under Maryland law.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals of Maryland held that, under these circumstances, the mineral-rights owners were precluded from using or disturbing the surface to access the minerals.
- The court concluded that any implied surface easement for mineral extraction must be both reasonable and necessary at the time of conveyance, and those requirements were not met.
- The court held that the reservation of “all oil, gas and other mineral rights” created a fee simple mineral estate.
- The court reversed the lower courts to the extent their rulings were inconsistent with denying an implied right of surface entry in conflict with subdivision use, while recognizing the validity of the reserved mineral estate.

## Legal Principles

- A mineral estate may carry an implied easement to use the surface for access only when such use is both reasonable and necessary at the time of the conveyance.
- An implied surface right will not be recognized when it would conflict with the parties’ known and intended surface use (such as residential subdivision development).
- Lack of necessity at the time of conveyance defeats an implied surface easement, including where the mineral owner had alternative means of access through other property it owned.
- Under Maryland Real Property Article § 4-105, a reservation of mineral rights is construed as fee simple unless the instrument clearly indicates a lesser estate.

## Conclusion

Maryland’s highest court held that a fee simple mineral reservation did not, on these facts, include an implied right to enter and disrupt the surface, because surface mining access would be unreasonable in light of the contemplated residential subdivision and unnecessary given alternative access available at the time of conveyance.


Calvert Joint Venture #140 v. Snider, 816 A.2d 854 (Md. 2003)