ABSTRACT
Because much of the common law is inherently hostile to sound conservation practices in the production of oil and gas, states enacted legislation to override this law and appointed regulatory agencies to administer and enforce the new statutory regimes. Court decisions reviewing a conservation agency's orders are another extremely important determinant of the course of unitization. Judicial review of an agency's acts generally centers on two issues: (1) whether the agency is acting within the statutory authority delegated to it by the legislature, and (2) whether the agency's order is reasonable. In both cases, the courts have a mighty influence on the amount of power and discretion accorded to the regulatory commission in its efforts to prevent waste and to protect correlative rights.
