Show NEW MINING LEGISLATION An Eminent Lawyer Says It I Constitutional Con-stitutional Some correspondence in reference to some phases of the new mining law has been handed to the Mining and Scientific Press and is of particular in tereivt to tile local mining districts A firm in this city says the Pre > s was asked by one of their correspondents in Bodle the following questions 1 What about the right of the legislature leg-islature abolishing the oifice of mining i it fl L recorder and transmitting records toe to-e oun1 cr recorder fnder section 2324 revised statuses of the United States privilege is granted and always recognized recog-nized that miners have the right of electing a recorder and recording their claims in the district which law ha been in force and recognized in Bole mining district upwards of 25 years I j 2 Can the legislature legislate an i j i officer out of office for the term for v hkh he was elected Mining recorders re-corders are generalU elected for one j year from Jan 1 to Jan 1 succeeding j The records and seal are purchased by the nlning recorder and have a j ays teen considered the property of i the mining district The last mining I lau also fails to provide a penalty for i failure to transmit mining records to i ccunty recorder The general opinion I of mine owner and miners here is that the above part of the law Is5 clearly unconstitutional These questions submitted to J F Cowdery elicited the following reply Notwithstanding tne act of March i 27 1S97 I thing the miners of a dis I trict have a right to meet and adopt rules and regulations not in conflict I with the state law and the law of the rnited States They may add to the state law a rule that notice of location shall state whether the lines of the location are parallel to or j about upon a claim already located j I the charade or the ledge or in case i of placers whether the claim is in a river on a fat or on a seasnore and the like As to the place where a note is to be recorded I think the miners o a district have no right to require a notice to b recorded at anyplace any-place other than the county recorders h office nor by any other person than L r the county recorder and this because the Tniled States mining law permits the miners of a district to make laws not in conflict with the laws of the Vrited States or with the laws of the state or territory where the mine is situated The state by the at is of Manh 31 1391 Sts page 21D and the ti f et lid act of 1S87 has directed the aforesaid noftes to be recorded in the county recorders office and that drection is S final I 1 lived n a mining dlfrict 5 I would advocate the holding of a miners meeting and I would also advocate ad-vocate the passage of a resolution abolishing the office of district recorder and requiring all locations to conform to the California law of March 27 1897 I this is not cione a looaier may in contested oases have trouble in rovIng rov-ing his location br if he applies for a United States patent for his mine he t may have trouble I think the legislature j I legis-lature had a right to anticipate that I miners would do substantially as above j l Indicated and that district i recorders I would turn over their i books of record to the county recorder Section 74 of our penal code provides that every Person who intrudes himself into a public pub-lic office is guilty of a misdemeanor and section 76 says that every officer I whose office is I abolished I by law who i withholds or detains from his successor I the records of his office is guilty of a felony I am inclined to the opinion i that the office of recorder for a mining dlstrict was abolished by the act of 1S37 and that a recorder under the old law will be liable if he refuses to obey the newr |