I also incorporated a provision into the Civil Practice Act respecting
suits for mining claims, which was the foundation of the jurisprudence
respecting mines in the country. The provision was that in actions
before magistrates for such claims, evidence should be admitted of the
usages, regulations, and customs prevailing in the vicinity, and that
such usages, regulations, and customs, when not in conflict with the
constitution and laws of the State, or of the United States, should
govern the decision of the action. At this time suits for mining
claims, the mines being confessedly on the property of the United
States, were brought upon an alleged forcible or unlawful detainer.
This rule, thus for the first time adopted by legislative enactment,
was soon extended to actions for such claims in all courts, and has
since been adopted in all the States and Territories west of the Rocky
Mountains and substantially by the legislation of Congress. Simple as
the provision is, it solved a difficult problem.

I also advocated and aided the passage of the Homestead Exemption
Bill. That bill was introduced by Mr. G.D. Hall, a member from El
Dorado, and now a resident of San Francisco. It provided for an
exemption of the homestead to the value of $5,000. An effort was made
to reduce the amount to $3,000, and I think I rendered some aid in
defeating this reduction, which has always been to me a source of
great gratification.

I also secured the passage of an act concerning attorneys and
counsellors-at-law, in which I incorporated provisions that rendered
it impossible for any judge to disbar an attorney in the arbitrary
manner in which Judge Turner had acted towards me, without notice of
the charges against him and affording him an opportunity to be heard