THE LAW

OF

MINES AND MINERALS.

CHAPTER I.

THE DEFINITION OF MINERALS, AND THE MANNER OF
ACQUIRING THEM.

THE subject matters of the following pages are the mineral productions of the earth.

A mineral has been defined to be a fossil, or what is dug out of the earth. The term may, however, in the most enlarged sense, be described as comprising all the substances which now form, or which once formed, part of the solid body of the earth, both external and internal, and which are now destitute of, and incapable of, supporting animal or vegetable life. In this view, it will embrace as well the bare granite of the high mountain as the deepest hidden diamonds and metallic ores (a). In deeds and other documents the term may be explained in its larger or restricted sense, according to the intention (b).

These various productions are differently found: in small nests, bunches, or isolated deposits; in large irregular masses; in detached fragments; in alluvial and fluvial streams; in lodes or veins; and in a regular course of stratification.

(a) Earl of Rosse v. Wainman, 14 M. & W. 859; 2 Exch. 800; 15 L. J., Exch., 67.

(b) Davvell v. Roper, 24 L. J., N. S., C. C., 779.

B