practical similarity in the laws governing mining operations in the several States. Safety, efficiency, and conservation alike require that miners be familiar with the governing statutes. These results can be best attained by a uniform mining law. Pennsylvania, by reason of its importance in mining, the large number of its operators and miners, and because of its approved mining statutes, has been selected as the third State whose mining statutes have been collected and annotated for the benefit of the many persons and communities interested. This bulletin is submitted to the miners, the mine owners and operators, and all others of the Commonwealth and of other States interested in mining industries, in the hope that it will prove a valuable aid in practical mining operations, and that it will help to bring about the ultimate adoption of a uniform mining code by all the States. FREDERICK G. COTTRELL, Director. AUTHOR'S EXPLANATION. This bulletin is intended to include every legislative enactment of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania relating to the mining and mineral industries. The entire body of mining laws is set out for these obvious reasons: (1) To show the progress and advancement made, and the changes through which the enactments have passed; (2) an author may not assume the determination of what particular laws are in fact in effect, as this is within the jurisdiction of the courts alone; (3) it was at least necessary to set out all acts that had at any time been construed by the courts. In not a few instances laws have been changed and entire new ones enacted by reason of the construction given them by the courts and have been made to cover defects pointed out or to render valid a statute held invalid. The several successive statutes on a given subject, or those covering entirely some phase of mining, are not given complete under a single title. It was deemed advisable to group the parts of the several acts relating to different subjects, such as fire bosses, inspection districts, inspectors and inspection, mine foreman, miners' examining boards, mining operations, etc. Single acts and the parts of the several acts on each of such subjects are collected and grouped under the appropriate separate titles, so that any given subject can be followed from the first to the last enactment and each subject is thus made complete in a single collection. The cross references under each act or each separate part of the several acts indicate where the several and the appropriate parts are inserted and give a ready means of locating the entire act without reference to the contents or index. In connection with each section, part, or act are presented abstracts of the decisions of all courts that have placed a construction on any such part or act. A compilation of statutes, although complete, would be of far less value without such annotations. These holdings have created a judicial system that has become a part of the statutory system otherwise largely unreliable. The author has endeavored to make these holdings complete and so clear and free from legal phraseology that the practical operator and miner may readily understand and follow the statute after its interpretation by the courts. The headings and subheadings are so numbered and ar ranged as to point out readily the location of any desired holding on the construction of a given statute. So far as clearly appears either by the statutes themselves or as shown by the courts, the laws that have become obsolete, repealed, or held invalid are indicated by a suitable word showing the fact and by reference to a statute showing the amendment or repeal of any former act. For convenience in locating any statute, any general subject, any subdivision of any such general subject, or any part of a statute or the substance of any holdings of the courts, and in order to make ready and accurate reference to any part of the work, there are given: (1) A list of the general subjects treated; (2) a complete table of contents; (3) a list of the session laws with page and date of each; (4) a list of the session laws as collected in Brightly's Purdon's Digest; (5) a list of the session laws as collected in Pepper & Lewis's Digest; (6) a list of the session laws as collected in Purdon's Digest; (7) a complete word index alphabetically arranged. There is also given a table of all cases decided by the Pennsylvania courts and by foreign courts in which any of the Pennsylvania mining statutes have been construed. The value of such a work depends upon its accuracy and completeness, and great care has been taken to accomplish these desired. ends. The object has been to make exact reproductions of all the statutes as enacted from time to time by the State legislature. The verbal inaccuracies, misprints, and omissions have been followed, with some parenthetical corrections, in order to make perfect reproductions of the originals and to make the work reliable for the use of attorneys and courts in the construction of any of these statutory enactments. The author is pleased to express appreciation for assistance rendered and suggestions kindly made by the Department of Mines, the Legislative Reference Bureau, and the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. J. W. THOMPSON. |