to work her mines of gold and silver, with or without conditions,
and she has wisely provided that their conflicting claims shall be
adjudicated by the rules and customs which may be established by
bodies of them working in the same vicinity."--(3 Cal., 220.)

The miners soon grasped the full scope of this decision, and the lands
of private proprietors were accordingly invaded for the purpose of
mining as freely as the public lands. It was the policy of the State
to encourage the development of the mines, and no greater latitude in
exploration could be desired than was thus sanctioned by the highest
tribunal of the State. It was not long, however, before a cry came
up from private proprietors against the invasion of their possessions
which the decision had permitted; and the court was compelled to put
some limitation upon the enjoyment by the citizen of this right of
the State. Accordingly, within two years afterwards, in Stoakes vs.
Barrett, (5 Cal., 37,) it held that although the State was the owner
of the gold and silver found in the lands of private individuals as
well as in the public lands, "yet to authorize an invasion of private
property in order to enjoy a public franchise would require more
specific legislation than any yet resorted to."

The spirit to invade other people's lands, to which
the original decision gave increased force against the intention of
its authors, could not be as easily repressed as it was raised in the
crowd of adventurers, who filled the mining regions. Accordingly, long
before I went on the bench, the right to dig for the precious metals
on the lands of private individuals was stoutly asserted under an
assumed license of the State. And afterwards, in the case of Biddle
Boggs vs. The Merced Mining Co., which came before the court in 1859,
where the plaintiff claimed under a patent of the United States,