Digest of the Statutory Law relating to Coal Mines PART I INTRODUCTORY CAP. I. TITLES, APPLICATION, AND COMMENCEMENT OF STATUTES, STATUTORY RULES AND ORDERS. THE earliest record of a coal mine in England is a grant made in 1259 by Henry III. to certain persons of the privilege of digging for coal in Newcastle, and seven years later the mineral, under the name of "sea coal," had become an article of export trade. It was not, however, till 1601 that the Legislature first formally recognised the existence of coal mines by including them among the various forms of property made rateable to the poor by 43 Eliz., c. 2; and no attempt was made to control their management till the passing, in 1842, of 5 & 6 Vict., c. 99, "to prohibit the employment of women and girls in coal mines, and to regulate the employment of boys, and to make other provisions relating to persons working in them." This Act was followed, in 1850, by 13 & 14 Vict., c. 100-amended in 1860 by 23 & 24 Vict., c. 151-which provided for the inspection of coal mines by inspectors appointed by a Secretary of State, and since then legislation based on experiment has been steadily progressive. The above Acts, and various others amending them, were repealed by the Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1872, which consolidated the law; while the Code of 1872, as A Coal Mines amended in 1886, was again repealed and the law recodified by the Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1887. This Act (50 & 51 Vict., c. 58), as amended by subsequent Acts of 1894, 1896 and 1900, is now the basis. of the law on the subject, and provides for appointment of inspectors, the control of mines by certificated managers, the protection of workpeople, and the definition of various acts and omissions made punishable as offences under the Acts. Though, however, the Coal Mines Regulation Acts apply to mines in the Forest of Dean, their operation is practically superseded by that of special Acts relating to that district; while they have also been supplemented with respect to the payment of wages, offences injurious to property, and the rateability of mines by certain general enactments and various statutory rules and orders made in pursuance of them. The Statutes, Statutory Rules and Orders relating to Coal Mines may therefore be grouped under the following three heads : 1. The Coal Mines Regulation Acts, 1887-1900, comprising (i.) "The Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1887," 50 & 51 Vict., c. 58. (ii.) "The Coal Mines (Check-Weigher) Act, 1894," 57 & 58 Vict., c. 52. (iii) "The Coal Mines Regulation Act, 1896," 59 & 60 Vict., c. 43. (iv.) "The Mines Prohibition of Child Labour Underground Act, 1900," 63 & 64 Vict., c. 21. These Acts, which may be cited collectively as the "Coal Mines Regulation Acts, 1887 to 1900" (59 & 60 Vict., c. 43, sect. 7), extend to the whole of the United Kingdom (50 & 51 Vict., c. 58, sects. 76, 77), and apply to mines of coal, stratified ironstone, shale and fireclay; and the word mine, unless the context otherwise requires, means a mine to which the Acts apply (50 & 51 Vict., c. 58, sects. 2, 3). |