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Government of the Mexican Republic, which, for whatever cause, were no submitted to, nor considered, nor finally decided by the commission, nor by the arbiter appointed by the convention of 1839, and which shall be presented in the manner and time hereinafter specified, shall be referred to four commissioners, who shall form a board, and shall be appointed in the following manner, that is to say: Two commissioners shall be appointed by the President of the Mexican Republic, and the other two by the President of the United States, with the approbation and consent of the Senate. The said commissioners, thus appointed, shall, in presence of each other take an oath to examine and decide impartially the claims submitted to them, and which may lawfully be considered, according to the proofs which shall be presented, the principles of right and justice, the law of nations, and the treaties between the two Republics."

"ARTICLE V.

"All claims of citizens of the United States against the Government of the Mexican Republic which were considered by the commissioners, and referred to the umpire appointed under the convention of the 11th April, 1839, and which were not decided by him, shall be referred to and decided by the umpire to be appointed, as provided by this convention, on the points submitted to the umpire under the late convention, and his decision shall be final and conclusive. It is also agreed, that if the respective commissioners shall deem it expedient, they may submit to the said arbiter new arguments upon the said claims."

AN ACT

Adopting the Common Law of England.

Passed April 13, 1850.

The people of the State of California, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

The Common Law of England, so far as it is not repugnant to or inconsistent with the Constitution of the United States, or the Constitution or laws of the State of California, shall be the rule of decision in all the Courts of this State.

AN ACT

For the better regulation of the Mines, and the government of Foreign Miners.

Passed April 13, 1850.

The People of the State of California, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:

§ 1. No person who is not a native or natural born citizen of the United States, or who may not have become a citizen under the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (all native California Indians excepted,) shall be permitted to mine in any part of this State, without having first obtained a license so to do according to the provisions of this Act.

§ 2. The Governor shall appoint a Collector of Licenses to foreign miners for each of the mining counties, and for the county of San Francisco, who before entering upon the duties of his office, shall take the oath required by the Constitution, and shall give his bond to the State with at least two good and sufficient sureties, conditioned for the faithful performance of his official duties, which bond shall be approved by the Governor, and filed in the office of the Secretary of State.

§ 3. Each Collector of Licenses to foreign miners shall be commissioned by the Governor.

§ 4. It shall be the duty of the Comptroller to cause to be printed or engraved a sufficient number of licenses, which shall be numbered consecutively, and shall be in form following, to wit:

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is hereby licensed to work in the mines of California for

the period of thirty days." The Comptroller shall countersign each of such licenses, and shall transfer them to the Treasurer, keeping an account of the number so transferred.

§ 5. The Treasurer shall sign and deliver to each Collector of Licenses to foreign miners so many of the licenses mentioned in the preceding section as he shall deem proper, and shall take his receipt for the same and charge him therewith. Such collector and his sureties shall be liable upon his bond for the number so furnished him, either for their return or the amount for which they may be sold; and the moneys collected, as herein provided, shall be paid into the treasury as prescribed in this Act.

§ 6. Every person required by the first section of this Act to obtain a license to mine, shall apply to the Collector of Licenses to foreign miners, and take out a license to mine, for which he shall pay the sum of twenty dollars per month; and such foreigners may from time to time take out a new license, at the same rate per month, until the Governor shall issue his proclamation announcing the passage of a law by Congress, regulating the mines of precious metals in this State.

§ 7. If any such foreigner or foreigners shall refuse or neglect to take out such license by the second Monday of May next, it shall be the duty of the Collector of Licenses to foreign miners of the county in which such foreigner or foreigners shall be, to furnish his or their names to the Sheriff of the county, or to any Deputy Sheriff, whose duty it shall be to summon a posse of American citizens, and, if necessary, forcibly prevent him or them from continuing such mining operations.

§ 8. Should such foreigner or foreigners, after having been stopped by a Sheriff or Deputy Sheriff from mining in one place, seek a new location and continue such mining operations, it shall be deemed a misdemeanor, for which such offender or offenders shall be arrested as for a misdemeanor, and he or they shall be imprisoned for a term not exceeding three months, and fined not more than one thousand dollars.

§ 9. Any foreigner who may obtain a licence in conformity with the provisions of this Act, shall be allowed to work the mines anywhere in this State, under the same regulations as citizens of the United States.

§ 10. It shall be the duty of each Collector of Licenses to foreign miners to keep a full and complete register of the names and description of all foreigners taking out licenses, and a synopsis of all such licenses to be returned to the Treasurer.

§ 11. Each license, when sold, shall be endorsed by the Collector selling or issuing the same, and shall be in no case transferable; and the Collector may retain out of the money received for each license, the sum of three dollars, which shall be the full amount of his compensation.

§ 12. Each Collector of Licenses to foreign miners shall, once in every two months, and oftener if called upon by the Treasurer, proceed to the seat of government, settle with the Treasurer, pay over to the officer all moneys collected from foreigners not before paid over, and account with him for the unsold licenses remaining in his hands.

§ 13. If any Collector shall neglect or refuse to perform his duty as herein provided, it shall be the duty of the Comptroller, upon receiving notice thereof from the Treasurer, to give information thereof to the District Attorney in whose district said officer may have been appointed, who shall bring an action against such Collector and his sureties upon his bond, before any court of competent jurisdiction; and upon recovery had thereon, the said District Attorney shall receive for his services ten per cent. upon the amount collected, the balance to be paid by him into the Treasury in the manner provided by law for like payments.

§ 14. It shall be the duty of the Governor, so soon as he shall have been officially informed of the passage of a law by the United States Congress, assuming the control of the mines of the State, to issue his proclamation, requiring all Collectors of Licenses to foreign miners to stop the issuing of licenses.

§ 15. It shall be the duty of the Secretary of State, immediately after the passage of this Act, to have two thousand copies each, in English and Spanish, printed and sent to the mining districts for circulation among the miners, and also to have the same published for thirty days in the Pacific News at San Francisco, and in some newspaper at Sacramento City and at Stockton.

AN ACT

For the Admission of the State of California into the Union. Passed at the First Session of the 31st Congress,

Whereas the people of California have presented a constitution and asked admission into the Union, which constitution was submitted to Congress by the President of the United States, by message dated February thirteenth, eighteen hundred and fifty, and which, on due examination, is found to be republican in its form of government:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the State of California shall be one, and is hereby declared to be one, of the United States of America, and admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States in all respects whatever.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That, until the representatives in Cɔngress shall be appointed according to an actual enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States, the State of California shall be entitled to two representatives in Congress.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the said State of California is admitted into the Union upon the express condition that the people of said State, through their legislature or otherwise, shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the public lands within its limits, and shall pass no law and do no act whereby the title of the United States to, and right to dispose of, the same shall be impaired or questioned; and that they shall never lay any tax or assessment of any description whatsoever upon the public domain of the United States, and in no case shall non-resident proprietors, who are citizens of the United States, be taxed higher than residents; and that all the navigable waters within the said State shall be common highways, and forever free, as well to the inhabitants of said State as to the citizens of the United States, without any tax, impost, or duty therefor: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed as recognizing or rejecting the propositions tendered by the people of California as articles of compact in the ordinance adopted by the convention which formed the constitution of that State.

APPROVED, September 9, 1850.

AN ACT

To ascertain and Settle the Private Land Claims in the State of California.

Passed at the 2d Session of the 31st Congress.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That for the purpose of ascertaining and settling private land claims in the State of California, a commission shall be, and is hereby, constituted, which shall consist of three commissioners, to be appointed by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, which commission shall continue for three years from the date of this act unless sooner discontinued by the President of the United States.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That a secretary, skilled in the Spanish and English languages, shall be appointed by the said commissioners, whose duty it shall be to act as interpreter, and to keep a record of the proceedings of the board in a bound book, to be filed in the office of the Inte rior on the termination of the commission.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That such clerks, not to exceed five in number, as may be neccessary, shall be appointed by the said commissioners.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the President of the United States to appoint an agent learned in the law, and skilled in the Spanish and English languages, whose special duty it shall be to superintend the interests of the United States in the premises, to continue him in such agency as long as the public interest may, in the judgment of the President, require his continuance, and to allow him such compensation as the president shall deem reasonable. It shall be the duty of the said agent to attend the meetings of the board, to collect testimony in behalf of the United States, and to attend on all occasions when the claimant, in any case before the board, shall take depositions; and no deposition taken by or in behalf of any such claimant shall be read in evidence in any case, whether before the commissioners, or before the District or Supreme Court of the United States, unless notice of the time and place of taking the same shall have been given in writing to said agent, or to the district attorney of the proper district, so long before the time of taking the deposition as to enable him to be present at the time and place of taking the same, and like notice shall be given of the time and place of taking any deposition on the part of the United States.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That the said commissioners shall hold their sessions at such times and places as the President of the United States shall direct, of which they shall give due and public notice; and the marshal of the district in which the board is sitting shall appoint a deputy, whose duty it shall be to attend upon the said board, and who shall receive

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