ever, on the third, or at latest the fourth day, they pay their contributions to the manager of the mine or tunnel, and pay the money which is due from them to the Share Clerk, he removes their shares from the proscribed list. They are not thereupon restored to their former position unless the other owners consent; in which respect the custom now in use differs from the old practice, for to-day if the owners of shares constituting anything over half the mine consent to the restoration of those who have been proscribed, the others are obliged to consent whether they wish to or not. Formerly, unless such restoration had been sanctioned by the approval of the owners of one hundred shares, those who had been proscribed were not restored to their former position.
The procedure in suits relating to shares was formerly as follows: he who instituted a suit and took legal proceedings against another in respect of the shares, used to make a formal charge against the accused possessor before the Bergmeister. This was done either at his house or in some public place or at the mines, once each day for three days if the shares belonged to an old mine, and three times in eight days if they belonged to a headmeer. But if he could not find the possessor of the shares in these places, it was valid and effectual to make the accusation against him at the house of the Bergmeister. When, however, he made the charge for the third time, he used to bring with him a notary, whom the Bergmeister would interrogate: “Have I earned the fee?” and who would respond: “You have earned it”; thereupon the Bergmeister would give the right over the shares to him who made the accusation, and the accuser in turn would pay down the customary fee to the Bergmeister. After these proceedings, if the man whom the Bergmeister had deprived of his shares dwelt in the city, one of the proprietors of the mine or of the head-mine was sent to him to acquaint him with the facts, but if he dwelt elsewhere proclamation was made in some public place, or at the mine, openly and in a loud voice in the hearing of numbers of miners. Nowadays a date is denned for the one who is answerable for the debt of shares or money, and information is given the accused by an official if he is near at hand, or if he is absent, a letter is sent him; nor is the right over his shares taken from anyone for the space of one and a half months. So much for these matters.
Now, before I deal with the methods which must be employed in working, I will speak of the duties of the Mining Prefect, the Bergmeister, the Jurors, the Mining Clerk, the Share Clerk, the manager of the mine or tunnel, the foreman of the mine or tunnel, and the workmen.
To the Mining Prefect, whom the King or Prince appoints as his deputy, all men of all races, ages, and rank, give obedience and submission. He governs and regulates everything at his discretion, ordering those things which are useful and advantageous in mining operations, and prohibiting those which are to the contrary. He levies penalties and punishes offenders; he arranges disputes which the Bergmeister has been unable to settle, and if even he cannot arrange them, he allows the owners who are at variance over some point to proceed to litigation; he even lays down the law, gives orders
