PREFACE. THE author, who has lived in mining camps, has practiced law in the mining law states of Colorado and Utah, and has supplemented practical experience with several years of teaching mining law, hopes that this book will prove a help to practicing lawyers, as well as to law students. He acknowledges his indebtedness to the many meritorious works on the subject of American mining law, and in particular to the very serviceable "Morrison's Mining Rights" of Messrs. Morrison and De Soto, and the excellent two-volume treatise on Mines by Mr. Lindley. No book on American mining law yet written, however, meets the joint need of student and of practitioner which this Hornbook seeks to satisfy. The title American Mining Law has been chosen because of its simplicity and because the law chiefly dealt with, while it affects only a comparatively small part of the United States and its possessions, is so national in its character as deservedly to be spoken of by all writers on the subject as American Mining Law. In the notes the cases which for one reason or another are suggested as best for students to consult are printed in large type. As is true of other Hornbooks, an exhaustive citation of cases has not been attempted, but the endeavor has been to give a comprehensive, well proportioned, and up-to-date treatment of the subject. Because, within a few months after a book on mining law is published, state or federal legislation or land department regulations may render obsolete various forms suggested in such a book, no attempt is made herein to offer forms for the practitioner. The last edition of Morrison's Mining Rights, a book which has rapidly succeeding revised editions, should be consulted for the latest and best forms. In the text of the present book only such forms are printed as elucidate particular points, while in one of the appendices, for the purpose of assisting students to understand the various steps in patent proceedings, certain of the forms for patent proceedings contained in the 13th edition of Morrison's Mining Rights are inserted by the generous permission of Messrs. Morrison and De Soto. Another of the appendices contains also forms of leases prescribed by the United States for the leasing of certain Indian lands. In the appendices will be found the various federal statutes and departmental rules and regulations relating to mining. These include (v) the United States statutes and departmental regulations governing mineral lands in Alaska and in the Philippines, as well as those applicable to such lands in the mining law states. Except in the case of Texas, the statutes of which on mining are of general interest, because they constitute a system of laws independent of federal control or interference, state statutes on mining matters are not inserted in the appendices. Lack of space, if nothing else, would forbid such insertion; but, apart from that difficulty, it is believed that nothing of importance would be gained by the printing of such statutes. A basis for the comparison of the various important state statutory provisions on matters covered by the text is furnished at appropriate places in the text itself, and, for the rest, no mining law book can relieve the practicing lawyer from the necessity of consulting the mining law sections of the statute books of his own state. The author wishes to express his thanks to one and all who have contributed information or suggestions for this book. GEO. P. COSTIGgan, Jr. Lincoln, Neb., Sept. 1, 1908. 11. The Attitude of the Courts Toward the Land Department... 51-54 |