Legal Definitions - doctrine of capture

The doctrine of capture, also known as the rule of capture, is a legal principle that grants ownership of certain natural resources to the first person who "captures" them. This doctrine typically applies to resources that are considered "fugitive" or migratory, meaning they are not fixed to a specific piece of land and can move freely, such as wild animals, oil, natural gas, and groundwater. Under this doctrine, a landowner generally acquires ownership of such resources once they are brought under physical control on their property, even if those resources originated from or migrated from beneath a neighbor's land.

Here are some examples illustrating the doctrine of capture:

• Wild Game Hunting: Imagine a hunter who legally hunts on their own private land. They track and shoot a deer that had been grazing in a nearby forest, which is public land or belongs to another private owner. Under the doctrine of capture, once the hunter successfully brings down and takes possession of the deer on their property, they become its rightful owner. The deer, being a wild animal, was not owned by anyone until it was captured.

• Oil and Gas Extraction: Consider an oil company that owns a parcel of land and drills a well to extract crude oil. The underground oil reservoir extends beneath several adjacent properties owned by different individuals. According to the doctrine of capture, the oil company owns all the oil and gas it successfully pumps to the surface through its well, even if a significant portion of that oil and gas originally migrated from beneath a neighbor's property. The act of extracting and possessing the resource establishes ownership for the capturing party.

• Groundwater Pumping: A farmer drills a deep well on their agricultural land to irrigate their crops. This well taps into a large underground aquifer that also supplies water to wells on neighboring farms. Under the traditional doctrine of capture for groundwater, the farmer gains ownership of all the water they pump from their well, provided it is extracted on their own property. This is true even if the pumping significantly lowers the water table and reduces the amount of water available to their neighbors from the same shared aquifer.