Ah Hee v. Crippen

Citations

• 19 Cal. 491

Syllabus

<p>The sixty-fourth section of the Revenue Act of 1860, which declares that no person who is not a citizen of the United States, or who has not previously declared his intention to become such (Californian Indians excepted) shall be allowed “ to take gold from the mines of this State, or hold a mining claim therein,” without a license as provided in the Act, does not refer to mines contained in lands which are the property of individuals, but simply to mines in the public lands of the State or the United States.</p> <p>The patent of the Mariposa estate from the United States issued to Rremont upon confirmation of a grant from the former Mexican Government, invested the patentee with the ownership of the precious metals which the land contains; it transferred to the patentee all interests which the United States possessed in the soil and everything included therein or connected therewith, and the rights of the owners (Fremont and parties who have become interested with him) in that respect cannot be enlarged or diminished by any license from the State.’ They hold the mining claims in the land independent of this section of the Revenue Act named, and may extract the gold themselves, or allow others to extract it, upon such terms as they may judge most advantageous to their interests.</p> <p>This limitation of the general language of the sixty-fourth section of the Revenue Act of 1860, shown to have been the sense of the Legislature in previous acts.</p>