The discovery of gold, as is well known, brought a rush of emigrants from all parts of the United States, from European countries, from Australia, and even from the Pacific Islands and China. In addition to this heterogeneous mixture of all nationalities was the element of native Mexican or Californian population. Among these early comers, some were men of high character, intelligence, and culture, well fitted to be leaders in the community. A larger number were of less education and culture, but still were full of energy, and, coming from the United States, were inclined to be law-abiding, possessing at least some of the American feeling of respect for the law and love of justice. A third, and it must be confessed, a large class, consisted of the worst characters of the older communities, rogues, knaves, gamblers, and professional criminals, acknowledging no law, and defying all law.

The law itself of the country was unsettled. The civil law, as formulated in Spanish codes and applied to Spanish colonies, modified in few particulars by Mexican legislation, prevailed prior to the cession of California to the United States. Large tracts of land were held by grantees under concessions from Spain or Mexico; and the law in force contained provisions unlike any doctrines of the common law, concerning the organization of "pueblos" or towns, which were the basis of proprietary and municipal rights of enormous value; and it prescribed regulations for mining, and for the occupation of mineral land different from the common-law rules applicable to the same subjects.

The stream of immigrants which poured into the State brought along with them their own customs, opinions, and preferences. At home they had been familiar with a great variety of laws, and they naturally preferred to follow those legal rules to which they had been accustomed. The Eastern States had mostly been settled by a homogeneous population, all familiar with the common law, and they adopted it without a question, The same was true with respect to

the States of the Ohio and Mississippi Valleys. But such was not the case with California; no such homogeneity existed among its people. And it was perceived by intelligent and thoughtful men, that the common law of England, adopted by the first Legislature as a rule of decision in the courts, when not repugnant to the constitution and laws of the State, did not meet the exigencies and conditions of the country. Many of its most characteristic and fundamental principles and doctrines were unfitted for the new commonwealth, partly from the anomalous condition of society, partly from the effect of the pre-existing system of Spanish-Mexico, and partly from a great variety of most important proprietary interests, which had not existed in countries where the common law prevailed, or had existed under conditions essentially different from those presented by California.

The proprietary rights to which I refer, and which at that time surpassed in value all others within the State, were those growing out of the mining industries, the claims of miners to occupy portions of the public mineral land, and to extract the mineral, the works constructed by them to aid in opening and developing the mines, and the appropriation of water in the mining region for that and other beneficial purposes. No legislation, either State or national, had yet been enacted concerning these subjects. And the intricate and restrictive system of the SpanishMexican codes was as inapplicable as the doctrines of the common law. The seekers for gold, who had been drawn from all parts of the earth, were thus left to adjust their respective rights and claims as best they might.

The mineral lands, as a whole, belonged to the United States, as a part of the public domain; but different opinions prevailed with respect to the ownership of the minerals themselves while still remaining in the soil. Some persons maintained that they belonged to the United States, others that they were owned by the State, but the

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conviction was universal that neither the national nor the State government should assert any right of ownership, and that its assertion would greatly impair the development of the mineral wealth of the country. The immigrants had poured over the mineral regions, settled down in every direction, appropriated parcels of the territory to their own use, and were prospecting and mining in every mode rendered possible by their own resources, under no municipal law, and with no restraint except the danger of conflict with other and more powerful parties who could wield a greater physical force. As justly observed by one who, at the time, was observant of the conduct of the miners," the situation was a grave one, and it demanded statesmanlike treatment. To do nothing was to leave the peace of the State at the mercy of those whose fierce thirst for gold might outrun their respect for fair dealing. Honest misunderstandings as to facts were oftenest settled by immediate appeal to brute force. The world has probably never seen a similar spectacle-that of extensive gold-fields suddenly peopled by masses of men from all States and countries, restrained by no law, and not agreed as to whence the laws ought to emanate by which they would consent to be bound."

In this condition of the country the miners had taken some most important steps, which illustrate in the clearest manner the love of order and justice, and respect for law which characterize American-born citizens of all classes, and which prevented the destructive consequences, that otherwise would have resulted from the absence of any municipal law. They were scattered over the territory in larger or smaller groups, located at different places, technically known as "camps," "bars," or "diggings." In each mining district they had held meetings and had enacted rules and regulations by which they agreed to be exoverned in that district. These rules were simple, but ulaated to the most important questions of property, to it wi

priority in claims, and the extent of ground which one person could appropriate. The rules once adopted were enforced with rigor upon all settlers in the particular camp. This voluntary, self-imposed legislation originated with the American immigrants, and they were ordinarily so superior in numbers that they could compel obedience by the less law-abiding foreigners. The rules they adopted governed the extent of each individual claim at the particular locality, and prescribed the acts necessary to constitute such an appropriation of a parcel of mineral land or portion of a stream as should give the claimant a prior right against all others, the amount of work which should entitle him to continued possession and enjoyment, what should constitute an abandonment, and like fundamental conditions to the acquisition and use of their respective claims. These rules differed in their details in the various camps, but there was still a general similarity among them all.

In this condition the Legislature of 1851 was called upon to act. Mr. Field, as the result of accurate knowledge and careful study, determined upon a legislative policy. He understood the material upon which any legislation must work; he was familiar with the miners as a class, and knew their habits and peculiarities, their common sense and general love for fair play, coupled with strong will and occasional violence. He saw at a glance that the Legislature could not enact any complicated system of mining law that would not interfere with the regulations which they themselves had established, and under which their claims were protected. The plan which he finally concluded to propose, and, if possible, procure to be adopted, was simple, and its very simplicity may, at first blush, tend to obscure its wisdom; but all possible doubts in that respect have long since been settled by its complete success. The root idea of this plan was that the rules voluntarily imposed upon themselves by the miners should receive the sanction of the law, and as laws should be enforced by the courts in adjudicating upon mining rights and claims.

He, therefore, drew up and offered to the Legislature the following provision, which, through his advocacy, was adopted and incorporated into a general statute regulating proceedings in civil cases in the courts of the State:

"In actions respecting mining claims, proof shall be admitted of the customs, usages, or regulations established and in force at the bar or diggings embracing said claims, and such customs, usages, or regulations, when not in conflict with the constitution and laws of this State, shall gov. ern the decision of the action."

The far-sighted sagacity, expediency, and wisdom of this provision have been conclusively established by the experience of thirty years throughout all the Pacific Mining States and Territories. The same fundamental principle of recognizing and giving the force of law to the local customs and rules of the miners has been continued without change in the subsequent legislation of California, and has been incorporated into the statutes of the other Mining States. It has also been accepted by Congress; and with some modifications in detail, and especially with the addition of a more certain and uniform specification as to the extent of each mining claim and the modes of location. and appropriation, it has been made the basis of the laws enacted for the government of the public mineral lands.I therefore venture the opinion, and think that its correctness cannot be questioned, that no single act of creative legislation, dealing with property rights and private interests, has exceeded this one in importance and in its effects in developing the industrial resources of the country. The causes which led to its enactment, its simple but efficient nature, and its beneficial consequences, cannot be better described than in the language of Judge Field himself, in an opinion delivered many years afterwards in the Supreme Court of the United States, in the case of Jennison vs. Kirk, an extract from which is given on pages 6, 7, and 8 of the accompanying volume.

This enactment gave the force of law to an equitable system of mining and water regulations, and has been the di