Document Type
Student Comment/Note
Abstract
When dinosaur fossils are discovered, they often mystify the public by providing snapshots of a bygone age. However, the public is seldom exposed to the legal battles that occur behind the scenes regarding fossil ownership. Legal disputes over dinosaur fossils often occur after the mineral rights to a property have been severed from the rest of the property, often achieved via a mineral deed. At the time of severing the mineral from the surface estate, parties to a mineral deed rarely contemplate who should take ownership of dinosaur fossils should they be discovered. When complete specimens of rare species are discovered, these lucrative dinosaur fossils compel landowners to revisit the mineral deed and answer the question: Are dinosaur fossils a part of the surface estate or the mineral estate? The answer to this question ultimately decides who owns the dinosaur fossils, in some cases valued at millions of dollars. At present, South Dakota has yet to adopt a rule that defines the word “mineral” for the purposes of a mineral deed. Without such a rule, the ownership of dinosaur fossils found in the state hangs in the balance. Therefore, the Supreme Court of South Dakota should adopt the Murray test. Through applying this test, the court will reach the correct conclusion that dinosaur fossils are a part of the surface estate.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.70657/SDLR.V70.I2.322
Recommended Citation
Cody Hodge,
Cretaceous Calamity: Are Dinosaur Fossils Part of the Surface or Mineral Estate, and why South Dakota Courts Should Adopt the Murray Test?,
70
S.D. L. Rev.
322
(2025).
Available at:
https://red.library.usd.edu/sdlrev/vol70/iss2/9