he question of privity between the original lessor and the assignor or sublessee. That distinction is not believed to be applicable to oil and gas leases, which in this state are not really "leases," but conveyances of a determinable fee. 3 Summers Oil and Gas, p. 612; Earl A. Brown, "Assignments of Interests in Leases," 5th Annual Institute on Oil and Gas Law and Taxation, at p. 31. An assignment of an oil and gas lease reserving an overriding royalty, as far as the state law is concerned, is an assignment; and an assignment containing provisions of its own commonly found in oil and gas leases is nonetheless an assignment. While it is true that in Hamblen v. Placid Oil Co., 279 S.W.2d 127. 131, the Texas Court of Civil Appeals held that an assignment reserving an overriding royalty "technically created a sublease and not an assignment" (citing cases, only two of which related to an oil ad gas lease), this case was reversed and rendered on other grounds by the Supreme Court, sub nom. Mecom v. Hamblen, 155 Tex. 494, 289 S.W.2d 553. Turning now to the federal cases:
Normally, it is roughly synonymous with "compensation." Mecom v. Hamblen, 155 Tex. 494, 289 S.W.2d 553, 557 (1956). We conclude, therefore, that defendants' motion for summary judgment did not present to the trial court the issue of lack of delivery.