Minerals, Mineral servitude in the United States

In the common law, the owner of land generally owns the minerals underneath it, if the mineral estate has not been severed. In Louisiana, the owner of land generally owns only the right to produce minerals underneath the land. Under common law, the minerals may be severed from the surface, creating separate surface and mineral estates. In Louisiana, the landowner can convey the right to produce minerals to another, creating a mineral servitude. A principal difference is that the mineral servitude will be extinguished, through LIBERATIVE PRESCRIPTION, after ten years of nonuse, whereas a mineral estate is a (perpetual) estate in land.