The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1894-09-27
MINING LAWS IN RUSSIA
Landholders Have the Right to Mine a,
Sell Their Ian6S

L~andholders Have the Right to Mine ar
Sell Their Lands.
M~etallurgical works, in the present
n OF the word, were first established
in Russia in the reign of Peter the
Great, who also founded the first sepa-
rate official mining administration. An
ukaze of Peter the Great, dated Deem.
Der 10, 1910, and entitled The Mining
Privilege" forms the first Russian
mining law and the basis for all subse-
Quent governmental measures for the
regulation Of mines. Entire freedom
in the establishment of a mining in
dustry in Russia was proclaimed, with
the right to prospect for ores and all
kinds Of mineral deposits, not only on
all governmental property and on THAI
OF prOprietOrs, but also ON the lands Of
other prOprietors, ever without their
consent. In case of the appropriation
Of the property of others for metallurg-
zeal works or mines, the owners of the
enterprise were obliged to pay owners
a thirty-second part OF the profits, be-
sides a special naturalization for the
lands occupied by the mines and works,
and for the forests required to supply
fuel for the furnaces. The workmen
employed in mines n m~etallurgical
works were exempted from all taxation
and also from military service.
Recognizing the imperial right over
all the mineral wealth of the land.
Peter the Great instituted a govern
ment tax of One-tenth Of all the product
of the mines. In 1920 he issued ukazes
to the effect that no one should dare
to impede the development of mining
industries, and also authorizing the
importation of foreign workmen for
employment in Russian works and
mines. These regulations remained in
force, with alterations and additions,
for more than sixty years. In 1878 the
administration of mining affairs I'M
derwent an entire reorganization, un-
der the Empress Katherine H., and a
higher mining school was founded in
st. Petersburg. The Empress RATHER
inc II. took an exactly opposite view
from that of Peter the Great. Her
manifesto of 1892 endowed landholders
with freedom in the disposition of their
lands and a right, not only over the
superficial area, but also over all the
minerals contained beneath, and over
the metals produced from such miner
ais. The main principles of this
manifesto remain in force to the pres
ent day.
During the reign of the Emperor
Nicholas the mining industry made
rapid progress in it's scientific, technical
and administrative aspects. Many
mining surveys and expeditions were
made in various parts Of the Russian
empire, including that of Alexander
o Humboldt, the geological survey
by the English savant Murchison with
the French paleontologist De Vernien
and Count Kaiserling. This survey
embraced the whole of European Rus
STA and the Urals. There were also ex-
plorations Of the Crimea, Caucasus and
Siberia by French, German and Rus
sian scientific men.
Geological surveys and prOspectings
for mineral deposits were most actively
conducted during the reign of the En-
peror Alexander H., which embraced
every kind of minerals and extended
from the frontiers of Germany and
Austria over the whole of European
and Asiatic Russia to the Pacific ocean: |
from the Arctic ocean to the southern
limits of the Caucasus and the heart of
Central Asia, the unexplored Pamir in
cluded. Very important changes in
the mining administration and legisla-
ton of the empire began in 1881. The
relations between mine owners and
workmen were regulated by applying
the already existing factory law to the
private mining and metallurgica indus
Y. Post.