Originally published in 1987, John D. Leshy presents this scholarly study of the 1872 Mining Law as a legal treatise and history of mining in the West from the point of view of mineral exploration and production. This mining law governed the United States mining practice yet had never been changed. The Mining Law attempts to highlight the role of policy and government as well as the more obscure elements of the law which complicated mining practice in the eighties. This title will be of interest to students of Environmental Studies and policy makers.
Foreword; Preface;
1. Introduction
2. Origins
3. The Mining Law: An
Overview
4. Free Access: History of its Decline
5. Success, Abuse, and
Difficulty: The Up and Down Sides of Free Access in Operation
6. Of
Anachronisms, Ambiguities, and Frustration: The Mining Laws Ingenious
Machinery in Operation
7. Evolution of the Law of Discovery 8.The Law of
Discovery Today: Policy and Applications
9. The Problem of Scale: Multiple
Claims and the Mining Law
10. Regulating Mining Law Activities to Protect the
Environment
11. The Special Problem of Wilderness
12. The Split Estate:
Federal Minerals under Privately Owned Surface
13. Administering the Mining
Law: The Role of the Executive and the Courts
14. Reforming the Mining Law: A
Brief History
15. Can Two Million Potential Property Interests on the Federal
Lands Be Wrong?
16. The Leasing Alternative- and Strategic Minerals
17. The
Mining Law Today: Prospects for Change; Appendix A: The Mining Law Excerpted;
Appendix B: Outline of Typical Miners Rules; Notes by
Chapter; Acronyms Used
Frequently in the Text; Name Index; Subject Index
