Montana Code Annotated 2019

TITLE 1. GENERAL LAWS AND DEFINITIONS

CHAPTER 4. INTERPRETATION OF INSTRUMENTS

Part 1. General Provisions

Purpose

1-4-111. Purpose. (1) The purpose of 1-4-112, 82-1-501, and this section is to enact into law a presumptive understanding that fossils are not minerals and that fossils belong to the surface estate, unless conveyed by a clear and express grant.

(2) It is the intent of the legislature that 1-4-112, 82-1-501, and this section apply prospectively and retroactively to instruments governed by Montana law to the maximum extent possible under the constitutions of the United States and the state of Montana.

History: En. Sec. 1, Ch. 136, L. 2019.