28 History of the English Landed Interest. 



were ordered to hold two miners' courts annually, composed of 

 a head reeve, or bailiff, and a jury of twelve miners. Inalien- 

 able licences were granted to those who desired to " pitch 

 within the forest and brake the ground in what place they 

 pleased." Rules were drawn up for the proper and economical 

 working of the mines, and the seignorial profits were fixed at 

 the tenth pound of " lott lead." ^ 



Perhaps the oldest of any native mining industry was that 

 of gold and silver in Scotland. Unfortunately no records are 

 extant regarding operations carried out during tribal times. 

 Since, however, these precious metals were principally found 

 in the mountain glens, we may conclude that they were the 

 exclusive property of the Highland sept — possibly (for their 

 output could have been but slight) set apart, like the eagle's 

 wing, for the adornment of the chief's person. 



David I. seems to have shared the Derbj'^shire people's ideas 

 on the growth of mineral ores, for he devoted a little of all the 

 gold obtained from Fife and Fothry to the monks of Dunferm- 

 line Abbey. ^ Whether the ore belonged to him by prerogative, 

 or to the Scottish people, is at least doubtful ; but from 1424 

 this point was set at rest by the grant of the Scottish Parlia- 

 ment to the Crown of all gold and silver mines in Scotland. 

 This concession did not, of course, include the mines of baser 

 metals, and the cautious Scotch statesmen carefully defined a 

 silver mine to be any vein of the ore in which three half- 

 pennies of silver could be fined out of the pound of lead. Not- 

 withstanding this reservation, however, we read of James II. 

 granting a charter of certain lands to the Carthusians of Perth, 

 in which, by express mention, every kind of metal is conveyed. 

 In 1526 certain German and Dutch miners obtained a lease of 

 all the minerals and mines in Scotland, the transaction being 

 confirmed by Parliament.^ We must bear in mind that the 

 Scots Parliament was far less representative of popular rights 

 than the corresponding assembly in England at this time. 

 Powers of suffrage were confined to those freeholders who were 



^ Report to the Board of Agriculture fi-om Somerset, 1794. 

 - It is possible, however, that it was a form of personal tithes. 

 "* Early Mining Records in Scotland, Cochran Patrick. 



