United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Hunter Co., Inc. v. McHugh, 320 U.S. 222 (1943)

Hunter Co., Inc. v. McHugh

No. 25

Argued October 18, 19, 1943

Decided November 8, 1943

320 U.S. 222

Syllabus

1. The only order of the State Commissioner of Conservation which was before the state courts in this case having been superseded by later orders, the cause has become moot so far as it is concerned with the original order, and this Court, in reviewing on appeal the judgment of the highest court of the State, is not free to, and will not, adjudicate the constitutionality of the later orders where the state court has had no opportunity to pass upon their validity under state law or the Federal Constitution. P. 320 U. S. 226.

2. A State has constitutional power to regulate production of oil and gas so as to prevent waste and to secure equitable apportionment among landholders of the migratory gas and oil underlying their land, fairly distributing among them the costs of production and of the apportionment. P. 320 U. S. 227.

3. Upon the record in this case, Act No. 157 of the Louisiana Acts of 1940 cannot be held invalid on its face. P. 320 U. S. 228.

Dismissed.

Appeal from a judgment, 202 La. 97, 11 So.2d 495, which, reversing a decision of a lower state court, sustained the constitutional validity, as applied to the appellant, of an order promulgated by the State Commissioner of Conservation under authority of a state statute providing for regulation of the production of oil and gas.

Page 320 U. S. 223