on such veins are not all measured by one method. For in some places the
Bergmeister gives them shapes similar to the shapes of the meers on venae
profundae, in which case the head-meer is composed of three double
measures, and the area of every other mine of two measures, as I have
who work dumps of scoria, etc., and provides for payment to the administrator of the mines
of a capitation on the slaves employed. It does not, however, so far as we can determine,
throw any light upon the actual regulations for working the mines. (Those interested will
find ample detail in Jacques Flach, " La Table de Bronze d'Aljustrel : Nouvelle Revue Historique de Droit Francais et Etranger, 1878, p. 655 ; Estacio da Veiga, Memorias da Acad. Real
das Ciencias de Lisbon, Nova Serie, Tome V, Part II, Lisbon, 1882.) Despite the systematic
law of property evolved by the Romans, the codes contain but small reference to mines, and this
in itself is indirect evidence of the concept that they were the property of the State. Any
general freedom of the metals would have given rise to a more extensive body of law. There
are, of course, the well-known sections in the Justinian and Theodosian Codes, but the former
in the main bears on the collection of the tithe and the stimulation of mining by ordering
migrant miners to return to their own hearths. There is also some intangible prohibition
of mining near edifices. There is in the Theodosian code evident extension of individual
right to mine or quarry, and this " freeing " of the mines was later considerably extended.
The Empire was, however, then on the decline ; and no doubt it was hoped to stimulate the
taxable commodities. There is nothing very tangible as to the position of the landlord with
regard to minerals found on his property ; the metals were probably of insufficient frequency
on the land of Italian landlords to matter much, and the attitude toward subject races was
not usually such as to require an extensive body of law.
In the chaos of the Middle Ages, Europe was governed by hundreds of potentates,
great and small, who were unanimous on one point, and this that the minerals were their
property. In the bickerings among themselves, the stronger did not hesitate to interpret
the Roman law in affirming regalian rights as an excuse to dispossess the weaker. The rights
to the mines form no small part of the differences between these Potentates and the more
important of their subjects ; and with the gradual accretion of power into a few hands, we find
only the most powerful of vassals able to resist such encroachment. However, as to what
position the landlord or miner held in these rights, we have little indication until about the
beginning of the 13th century, after which there ajppear several well-known charters, which
as time went on were elaborated into practical codes of mining law. The earliest of these
charters are those of the Bishop of Trent, 1185 ; that of the Harz Miners, 1219 ; of the town
of Iglau in 1249. Many such in connection with other districts appear throughout the 13th,
14th, and 15th xenturies. (References to the most important of such charters may be found
in Sternberg, Umrisse der Geschichte des Bergbaues, Prague, 1838 ; Eisenhart, De Regali
Metalli Fodinarium, Helmestadt, 1681 ; Gmelin, Beyträge zur Geschichte des Teutschen
Bergbaus, Halle, 1783 ; Inama-Strenegg, Deutsche Wirlhschaftsgeschichte, Leipzig, 18791901 ; Transactions, Royal Geol. Soc. Cornwall vi, 155 ; Lewis, The Stannaries, New
York. 1908.) By this time a number of mining communities had grown up, and the charters
in the main are a confirmation to them of certain privileges ; they contain, nevertheless, rigorous reservation of the regalian right. The landlord, where present, was usually granted some
interest in the mine, but had to yield to the miner free entry. The miner was simply a
sort of tributer to the Crown, loaded with an obligation when upon private lands to pay a
further portion of his profits to the landlord. He held tenure only during strenuous operation. However, it being necessary to attract skilled men, they were granted many civil
privileges not general to the people ; and from many of the principal mining towns " free
cities " were created, possessing a measure of self-government. There appear in the Iglau
charter of 1249 the firstt symptoms of the " apex " form of title, this being the logical
development of the conception that the minerals were of quite distinct ownership from
the land. The law, as outlined by Agricola, is much the same as set out in the Iglavian
Charter of three centuries before, and we must believe that such fully developed conceptions
as that charter conveys were but the confirmation of customs developed over generations.
In France the landlord managed to maintain a stronger position vis-à-vis with the
Crown, despite much assertion of its rights ; and as a result, while the landlord admitted the
right to a tithe for the Crown, he maintained the actual possession, and the boundaries were
defined with the land.
In England the law varied with special mining communities, such as Cornwall, Devon,
the Forest of Dean, the Forest of Mendip, Alston Moor, and the High Peak, and they exhibit
a curious complex of individual growth, of profound interest to the student of the growth
of institutions. These communities were of very ancient origin, some of them at least preRoman ; but we are, except for the reference in Pliny, practically without any idea of their
legal doings until after the Norman occupation (1066 a.D.). The genius of these conquerors
for systematic government soon led them to inquire into the doings of these communities,
and while gradually systematising their customs into law, they lost no occasion to assert the
