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SECTION XXXIII.

THE Administrator and the Deputies General, shall assemble in court every day (except on holy days, and those on which it is necessary to hear Mass,) from the hour of eight to that of eleven; and also on extraordinary occasions in the evening, and on any day whatever when the urgency and importance of any affair may require it.

SECTION XXXIV.

The Director General shall have a vote in all matters relating to the direction, administration, and management, the jurisdiction of which has been granted to the Royal Tribunal General in Mexico, and due and special notice shall be sent to him on all such occasions to attend; but I declare that he shall have no vote in the substantiation and determination of any pleadings or suits, except only in causes before the Court of Appeal in Mexico, of which he has been appointed a member.

SECTION XXXV.

All matters relating to public works or supplies (Abastos), to those of the roads or highways, and other objects of the same nature, are to be under the peculiar cognizance and jurisdiction of the Royal Judges and Magistrates of each District, but the Royal Tribunal General in Mexico, and the Territorial Deputations shall give such instructions as they may deem expedient, to the said Judges and Magistrates, in order that all such works and supplies may be regulated and proportioned in the most fair and equitable manner, proceeding therein with a mutual understanding, and acting in concert together.

SECTION XXXVI.

All taxes, and duties, or imposts, as well public as private, between individua's of the mining body, which immediately affect the advancement and working of the mines and reducing establishments, the remuneration or salaries of those who compose the territorial jurisdictions of Miners, and of persons appointed to any of the new offices or situations treated of in these Ordinances, are to be proposed and regulated by the Royal Tribuna! General in Mexico, and by the Territorial Deputations, each in their respective districts, but the latter shall be obliged to lay them, together with the requisite proofs or attestations, before the Royal Court (Justicia Real) of the district, for their sanction, but such taxes, duties, and imposts, shall not be established or carried into efiect, without having been previously submitted to the Viceroy of New Spain, in order that, after the necessary enquiries respecting them by his superior power, they may be laid before me for my sovereign determination, for which purpose a report thereof shall be transmitted to me by the Viceroy.

SECTION XXXVII.

The Royal Tribunal General in Mexico shall also immediately lay before the Viceroy, an exact estimate of the salaries to be allowed to the principal individuals filling offices in the Tribunal, and of the inferior officers appointed, or to be appointed, in pursuance of these Ordinances; in order that the same may be referred to me by the Viceroy, with his remarks thereon, for my Royal Approbation, which is necessary to the secure establishment of the said Tribunal.

CHAPTER IV.

OF THE ORDER OF PROCEEDING IN THE SUBSTANTIATION AND DETERMINATION OF LAW-SUITS, IN CASES OF A VACANCY OR NECESSARY ABSENCE OF ANY OF THE JUDGES OF THE MINERS, OR OF THEIR REFUSALS (RECUSACIONES) IN THE 1ST, 2ND, AND 3RD INSTANCES.

SECTION I.

THE Royal Tribunal General of the mines shall not enter upon any business which is in litigation, without the assembling of three of its Members; and if at any time on account of illness, necessary absence, or any other just and lawful impediment whatsoever, as by the judge being interested in the question, or by his being related to any of the litigating parties, that number of Judges cannot be assembled, such of the Advisers residing in the capital of Mexico as are properly eligible to the same office, by the rules already laid down; and the proper number shall be thus completed; and the same thing shall be done with regard to the number of the Judges of Appeal, which is never to be less than three, according to what has already been laid down in these Ordinances; and whenever in consequence of any of the before-mentioned impediments, any one of the Territorial Deputies cannot, or ought not, to be Judge in any such litigated cause, his place shall be supplied by the proper substitute accordingly.

SECTION II.

I prohibit the absolute refusal (recusacion), of all the Judges of the Royal Tribunal General, and of those of Appeals; but one or two particular members may refuse, assigning reasons, and giving security; it being understood that those refusing shall not be heard, or any refusal admitted, after a determination has been made concerning them.

SECTION III.

In the same manner the two Territorial Deputies, acting as Judges of the mines, shall not refuse, though either of them may.

SECTION IV.

In cases where the refusal shall be lawful and admitted, whether in causes in the first instance, or in those before the courts of appeal, the vacancy shall be filled up in the first instance according to the first Section of this present Chapter, and in the latter, by the appointment of the respective Judges of Appeal, according to Section xvii. of Chapter III. of these Ordinances.

CHAPTER V.

OF THE ORIGINAL OWNERSHIP OF MINES; OF THE GRANTS TO INDIVIDUALS, AND THE DUTIES TO BE PAID BY THEM FOR THE SAME.

SECTION I.

THE mines are the property of my Royal Crown, as well by their nature and origin, as by their re-union, declared by the fourth law of the thirteenth Title of the sixth Book of the new compilation (of Laws and Statutes.)

SECTION II.

Without separating them from my Royal patrimony, I grant them to my subjects in property and possession, in such manner that they may sell, exchange, (pass by will, either in the way of inheritance or legacy), or in any other manner, dispose of all their property in them, upon the terms on which they themselves possess it, and to persons legally capable of acquiring it.

SECTION III.

Be it understood that this grant is made upon two conditions: First, that they (my subjects) shall pay to my Royal Treasury the proportion of metal reserved thereto; and secondly, that they shall carry on their operations in the mines subject to the provisions of these Ordinances, on failure of which, at any time, the mines of persons so making default shall be considered as forfeited, and may be granted to any person who shall denounce them accordingly.

CHAPTER VI.

OF THE MANNER OF ACQUIRING MINES; OF NEW DISCOVERIES; REGISTERS OF VEINS, AND DENOUNCEMENTS OF MINES ABANDONED AND LOST.

SECTION I.

As it is most just and proper to reward with particularity and distinction

those persons who devote themselves to the discovery of new mineral places, and metallic veins found therein, in proportion to the importance and utility of such discovery, I order and command that the discoverers of one or more mineral mountains (Cerros Minerales), wherein no mine or shaft has been opened before, acquire in the principal vein as much as three portions. (pertenencias), together or separate, where it best pleases them, according to the measures hereafter signified; and that on having discovered more veins, they shall acquire a portion in each vein, fixing on and making the said portions within the term of ten days.

SECTION II.

The discoverer of a new vein in a mountain known and worked in other parts, may hold in it two portions together, or separated by other mines, on condition that he specifies them within ten days, as mentioned in the preceding Section.

SECTION III.

He who proposes for a new mine in a vein already known and worked in HE part, is not to be considered a discoverer.

SECTION IV.

The persons referred to in the preceding Sections must present a written statement to the Deputation of Miners in that district, or in case there should not be one in that district, to the nearest thereunto, specifying in it his name, those of his associates (if he has any), the place of his birth, his place of habitation, profession, and employment, together with the most particular and distinguishing features of the tract, mountain, or vein of which he claims the discovery all which circumstances, as well as the hour in which the discov erer shall present himself, must be noted down in a register, kept by the deputation and clerk (if they have one); and after this, the said written statement, shall, for his due security, be restored to the discoverer, and notices of its object and contents shall be affixed to the doors of the church, the government-houses, and other public buildings of the town, for the sake of general notoriety. And I ordain, that within the term of ninety days, the discoverer shall cause to be made in the vein or veins so registered, a pit of a yard and a half in diameter or breadth, and ten yards (varas) in depth, and that immediately on the existence of the vein being ascertained, one of the deputies in person shall visit it, accompanied by the clerk (if there is one), or, if there be no clerk, by two assisting witnesses, and by the Mining Professor (Perito Facultation) of that territory, in order to inspect the course and direction of the vein, its size, its inclination on the horizon, called its falling or declivity, its hardness or softness, the greater or less firmness of its bed, and the principal marks and species of the mineral; taking exact account of all this, in order to add the same to the entry in the register, together with the act of possession, which must immediately be given

to the discoverer in my Royal name, measuring him his portion, and making him enclose it by poles at the limits as hereafter declared; after which an authentic copy of the proceedings shall be delivered to him for the security of his title.

SECTION V.

If during the above named ninety days any one should appear asserting a right to the said discovery, a brief judicial hearing shall be granted, and judgment given in favour of him who best proves his claim; however, if this should happen after the stated time, he (the new claimant) shall not be heard.

SECTION VI.

The restorers of ancient mines which have been abandoned and left to de. cay, shall enjoy the same privileges as discoverers, of choosing and possessing three portions in the principal vein, and one in each of the others, and both revivers and discoverers shall, as an especial reward, be on all occasions preferred to other persons, under parity of circumstances.

SECTION VII.

If there arises any question as to who has been the first discoverer of a vein, he shall be considered as such who first found metal therein, even though others may have made an opening previously; and in case of further doubt, he who first gets it registered, shall be considered as the discoverer.

SECTION VIII.

Whoever shall denounce in the terms hereafter expressed, any mine that has been deserted and abandoned, shall have his denouncement received, if he therein sets forth the circumstances already declared in Section IV. of this Chapter, the actual existence of the mine in question, the name of its last possessor, if he is acquainted with the same, and those of the neighbouring miners, all of whom shall be lawfully summoned, and if within ten days they do not appear, the denouncement shall be publicly declared on the three following Sundays; this meeting with no opposition, it shall be signified to the denouncer that within sixty days he must have cleared and reinstated some work of considerable depth, or at least of ten yards perpendicular, and within the bed of the vein, in order that the Mining Professor may inspect its course and inclination, and all its peculiar circumstances, as is declared in the above-named Section IV. The said Professor should, if it be possible, examine the pits and works of the mine, and see if they are decayed, destroyed, or inundated; whether they contain a draft-pit or adit, or are capable of such; whether they have an outer court, (galera), a whim, (malacate), machines, rooms for habitation, and stables; and an account and register of all these circumstances must be entered in the corresponding book of denouncements, which should be kept separately. And the said examination

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