The open mines doctrine is a term of real property. Under the open mines doctrine depletion of natural resources constitutes waste unless consumption of such resources constitutes normal use of the land, as in the case of a life estate in coal mine or a granite quarry.
The life tenant cannot open the land to search for minerals and other natural resources, but if the quarries or mines were open before the tenant took the life estate, then it is not waste for the life tenant to continue their use. Where the life tenant opens the land for new mines (i.e., voluntary waste) a remainderman can enjoin such.
The sale of harvestable crops does not constitute waste.
Famous quotes containing the words open, mines and/or doctrine:
““What care I for a goose-feather bed,
With the sheet turned down so bravely, O?
For to-night I shall sleep in a cold open field,
Along with the wraggle taggle gipsies, O!””
—Unknown. The Wraggle Taggle Gipsies (l. 33–36)
“Beautiful credit! The foundation of modern society. Who shall say that this is not the golden age of mutual trust, of unlimited reliance upon human promises? That is a peculiar condition of society which enables a whole nation to instantly recognize point and meaning in the familiar newspaper anecdote, which puts into the mouth of a distinguished speculator in lands and mines this remark:M”I wasn’t worth a cent two years ago, and now I owe two millions of dollars.””
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)
“The proposition that Muslims are welcome in Britain if, and only if, they stop behaving like Muslims is a doctrine which is incompatible with the principles that guide a free society.”
—Roy Hattersley (b. 1932)