If the owner of a mineral right possesses his right by use or exercise according to its nature, he becomes entitled one year and a day from the date of commencement of his possession to assert the possessory action. Thereafter, if there has been no adverse possession sufficient to include mineral rights, his right to assert the possessory action continues for one year from the date on which his right to bring the action matured or from the last day on which he was in possession of his right by use or exercise thereof, whichever is later.
Art. 3665.When Mineral Right Owner May Assert Possessory Action
Book VII. Special Proceedings · Title II. Real Actions · Chapter 1. Actions to Determine Ownership Or Possession · Enacted 1974 · no amendments on record · Last verified July 30, 2026
In one sentenceArticle 3665 lets a mineral-right owner who possesses the right through use or exercise assert a possessory action beginning a year and a day after starting that possession, with the right to sue continuing for another year measured from either the date the claim matured or the last date of use, whichever is later.
Full Text of Art. 3665
Amendment History
Added by Acts 1974, No. 547, §2, eff. 1/1/1975.
Plain-English Summary
A mineral right is not occupied the way land is occupied; it is exercised, through drilling, extraction, or similar use consistent with the right's nature. Article 3665 adapts the possessory action's timing rules to that reality. If the owner of a mineral right possesses that right by using or exercising it, the owner's ability to bring a possessory action does not vest immediately — it matures one year and a day from the date that use-based possession began.
Once matured, the right to sue does not last indefinitely. Assuming no adverse possession sufficient to reach the mineral right has occurred in the meantime, Article 3665 gives the owner one more year to bring the possessory action, measured from whichever comes later: the date the right to sue matured, or the last date the owner was in possession through use or exercise of the right. That flexible ending point accounts for mineral rights that are used intermittently rather than continuously.
Frequently Asked Questions
When can a mineral-right owner bring a possessory action?
Once the owner's use-based possession has lasted a year and a day, per Article 3665. Before that point, the right to bring the possessory action has not matured.
How long does the mineral-right owner have to sue once the right matures?
One year, measured from whichever is later: the date the right to sue matured, or the last date the owner was in possession through use or exercise of the mineral right.
Why does mineral-rights possession work differently from possession of land?
Because a mineral right is exercised through use, such as extraction, rather than through physical occupation. Article 3665 sets timing rules suited to that use-based form of possession rather than the continuous physical presence expected on land.
Source & verification. Article text is reproduced verbatim from
the Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure (legis.la.gov). Enacted by the Louisiana Legislature.
Last verified July 30, 2026.
· Official source
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