BOOK IV.

93

Prince’s.” Thereupon the Bergmeister gave the right over the tunnel tothe first applicant. This was the severe rule under which the owners at onetime lost their rights over a tunnel; but its severity is now considerablymitigated, for the owners do not now forthwith lose their right over a tunnelthrough not having cleaned out the drains and restored the shafts orventilation holes which have suffered damage ; but the Bergmeister ordersthe tunnel manager to do it, and if he does not obey, the authorities finethe tunnel. Also it is sufficient for one miner to be engaged in driving thetunnel. Moreover, if the owner of a tunnel sets boundaries at a fixed spotin the rocks and stops driving the tunnel, he may obtain a right over it sofar as he has gone, provided the drains are cleaned out and ventilationholes are kept in repair. But any other owner is allowed to start from theestablished mark and drive the tunnel further, if he pays the former ownersof the tunnel as much money every three months as the Bergmeister decidesought to be paid.

There remain for discussion, the shares in the mines and tunnels.Formerly if anybody conveyed these shares to anyone else, and the latterhad once paid his contribution, the seller 14 was bound to stand by his bargain,and this custom to-day has the force of law. But if the seller denied that thecontribution had been paid, while the buyer of the shares declared that he couldprove by witnesses that he had paid his contribution to the other proprietors,and a case arose for trial, then the evidence of the other proprietors carriedmore weight than the oath of the seller. To-day the buyer of the shares provesthat he has paid his contribution by a document which the mine or tunnelmanager always gives each one if the buyer has contributed no moneythere is no obligation on the seller to keep his bargain. Formerly, as I havesaid above, the proprietors used to contribute money weekly, but now con-tributions are paid four times each year. To-day, if for the space of a monthanyone does not take proceedings against the seller of the shares for the con-tribution, the right of taking proceedings is lost. But when the Clerk hasalready entered on the register the shares which had been conveyed orbought, none of the owners loses his right over the share unless the moneyis not contributed which the manager of the mine or tunnel has demandedfrom the owner or his agent. Formerly, if on the application of the managerthe owner or his agent did not pay, the matter was referred to the Berg-meister , who ordered the owner or his agent to make his contribution ; then^ he failed to contribute for three successive weeks, the Bergmeister gavethe right to his shares to the first applicant. To-day this custom is un-changed, for if owners fail for the space of a month to pay the contribu-tions which the manager of the mine has imposed on them, on a stated daytheir names are proclaimed aloud and struck off the list of owners, inthe presence of the Bergmeister, the Jurors, the Mining Clerk, and the ShareClerk, and each of such shares is entered on the proscribed list. If, how-

14 The terms in the Latin text are donator, a giver of a gift, and donatus, a receiver. It

appears to us, however, that some consideration passed, and we have, therefore, used “ sellerand “ buyer.”

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