MINING LAWS OF THE UNITED STATES. INTRODUCTION. THE mining laws of the United States, as also those of the States and Territories, are based upon the customs and rules of miners which have existed in the mining districts from the time of the gold discoveries in California. Upon these discoveries being made in 1849 (the year following the treaty of Hidalgo Guadalope, by which California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and a part of Colorado, were ceded to the United States), large numbers of emigrants from Mexico, Peru, and the Eastern States, as well as from the old world, poured into California to work the gold mines.* These people took with them their own mining "customs," and thus sprang up that fusion of Spanish Law with English Common Law which together make up the mining customs or miners' rules of the "Districts" of the Western States. Hence, as we should expect, we must look to the Spanish mining ordinances as * In the older States mining property is held by the same tenure as other real estate, and therefore to them the provisions of the Mining Statutes of the U. S. do not apply, and in them the Miners' Customs or Rules are not found. B Gamboa's Changes intro duced by Galvez Code. Discoverer's privileges. Quantity of surface ground. the source of most of these customs. It may be well, therefore, briefly to point out a few of the most salient points in which American mining jurisprudence is indebted to the Spanish Codes. Now of these there are two; the one, known as Gamboa's, published in 1761, the other, Galvez', published in 1783. The latter Code, called the Mining Ordinances of New Spain," was at first intended for New Spain only, but was subsequently adopted by all the Spanish colonies. The principal changes introduced by Galvez were, (1) general and local tribunals of mines, to which exclusive jurisdiction over mining affairs was confided; (2) the establishment of a bank of supplies; and (3) the organization of a school of mines. The Code of 1783 left all the previous mining laws in force so far as they were not inconsistent and in conflict with its provisions. Hence Gamboa's Code continued to be law on all points which were not expressly repealed by Galvez' Code. Under these Codes, the discoverer of a mine was entitled to special privileges, amounting, in the case of a newlydiscovered mine, to three, in that of an abandoned mine to two claims; but all other locators were entitled to one claim only. A similar privilege is conceded to the discoverer by all the earlier district laws as well as by the U. S. statute of the 26th of July, 1866 (see p. 73, infra). The quantity of surface ground allowed to one person was 200 yards (varas) in length along the course of the lode, but the width of this surface was made to vary with the inclination, or dip, of the vein, so that a minimum width of 200 yards of surface ground was secured. This surface, however, was not required to be always along the course of the lode, but might be turned through any angle. The U. S. law of 1866 fixed 200 feet in length by 50 feet in width on the surface as the size of one claim, without requiring that the surface ground should directly overlie the lode along the entire length of the claim. Upon discovering a claim, the discoverer had to give Proceedings upon discovery. notice thereof to the Deputation of Miners (the Stannary Court of the district), with a full description of himself, and such a description of the vein as to fully identify it; all which particulars were thereupon recorded and posted at the church-door for three successive Sundays. notice was equivalent to the "Location certificate" of American law. This of shaft. Within ninety days from the registration of this cer- Development tificate, the discoverer was required to sink a shaft at least a yard and a half in diameter and ten yards in depth on the vein, and upon reaching it, the "mining professor" of the territory and a deputy visited the place, noted "the course, direction, and size of the vein, its delineation, nature, &c.," and entered further particulars in the records; at the same time, possession of the mine was given to the discoverer upon his marking out the boundaries of the surface ground by poles. After this, ninety days were, if Adverse necessary, granted for the purpose of adverse claims being brought forward, and a brief judicial hearing was had before the Miners' Court, by whom judgment was given in favour of him who shewed the best title. But in all cases under Spanish law a short legal pro claims. Injunction never issued. Placers. Administration of Spanish law. General Land Office has jurisdiction over titles to mines. ceeding, called a "denouncement" had to be gone through When any dispute arose as to the title, the mine was Beds of ore and deposits of gold and silver in the form of placer claims were, by Spanish Law, registered and denounced in the same manner as veins, but the same quantity of surface ground only was allowed as in the case of veins, while under American law a placer claim may equal 160 acres. The administration of the Spanish Codes was vested in the Royal Tribunal of Miners and the Deputation of Miners, which tribunals were comprised mainly of practical miners; and the claimants were not allowed to employ lawyers except in a few cases. But the interpretation of the law was not difficult; almost every case that could arise in practice is provided for in the Codes and the commentaries thereon. In the United States, however, the administration of the mining laws, so far as relates to obtaining a patent to a claim from the U. S. Government, rests with the General Land Office. This office was organized by an Act of f |