Since the beginnings of the oil industry, production activity has been governed by the 'law of capture,' dictating that one owns the oil recovered from one's property even if it has migrated from under neighboring land. This 'finders keepers' principle has been excoriated by foreign critics as a 'law of the jungle' and identified by American commentators as the root cause of the enormous waste of oil and gas resulting from U.S. production methods in the first half of the 20th century. Yet while in almost every other country the law of capture is today of marginal significance, it continues in.

This work covers the substantive law of oil and gas and federal income taxation of oil and gas transactions. The first three chapters examine interests and transactions in the mineral estate. The fourth chapter covers surface and subsurface issues. Chapters five through eight examine in detail the oil and gas lease. Chapter nine addresses the issue of transfers by the lessor and the lessee. Chapters 10 through 12 are devoted to oil and gas taxation. Students will see that this work gives them quick access to the law of oil and gas and the law of oil and gas taxation.

The Landman Lease and Title Manual is designed to impart upon the new and lightly experienced landman the essential skills and knowledge necessary to work in the oil and gas industry. The manual is not designed as a substitute for the traditional mentor-type learning characteristic of the oil and gas industry, nor is the manual a treatise on the law of oil and gas or land titles. The Landman Field Manual, rather, is structured to aid in development of essential title research skills and in understanding Texas oil, gas and land title law as it relates to the work performed by field landmen.

This 11th edition provides accurate and concise definitions of more than 5500 oil and gas terms. There are annotations that reference statutes, cases, secondary sources, along with notation of ambiguities or regional differences in terminology. This eleventh edition contains over 100 new terms, with updates to hundreds of others and the price quoted includes three months of updates.