>The legal position on ownership / right to mine probably varies in different
>parts of the UK.
>
Roger,
Ownership of minerals in England and Wales, and the right to work them are
quite separate issues.
In the Forest of Dean the coal is owned by the state, by statute dating from
the 1930s, as it is for the rest of the UK but the miners ('free' miners
subject to certain qualifications) have a customary right to work the coal,
incorporated in statute law in the 19th century. It is a clash of interests
between the ownership and the right to work which causes the problems in
Dean. Similar rights to work minerals still hold good in other areas like
the Derbyshire Peak and the Stannaries, also incorporated in statute law.
In other areas the right to work minerals is usually granted in the form of
a lease, with the lessee having a right of access and providing compensation
to the occupier of the surface.
As a general rule, and in contrast to the position in continental Europe,
ownership of minerals other than coal is vested in the freeholder unless it
has been reserved to a previous owner - the other exception being precious
metals in their free state, essentially gold, which were reserved to the
Crown in the Mines Royal Acts of 1689 and 1693. Ownership can extend to the
workings even if abandoned - once a gold mine, always a gold mine, and the
Crown (i.e. the state) claims ownership.
Peter
______________________________________________
Peter Claughton, Blaenpant Morfil, Rosebush, Clynderwen,
Pembrokeshire, Wales SA66 7RE.
Tel. 01437 532578; Fax. 01437 532921; Mobile 07831 427599
University of Exeter - School of Historical, Political and Sociological Studies
(Centre for South Western Historical Studies)
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Co-owner - mining-history e-mail discussion list.
See http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/files/mining-history/ for details.
Mining History Pages - http://www.exeter.ac.uk/~pfclaugh/mhinf/
_____________________________________________
|