Miners' court
A miners' court was a type of quasi-judicial court common in the American Old West that summoned a subset of the miners in a district when a dispute arose. It was made to retain order and decide punishments within mining communities. A presiding officer or judge was elected and a jury was selected. Other systems that were used included alcaldes and arbitration. In the event a decision was disputed, a mass meeting of the mining camp could be called to allow a dissatisfied party to plead his case and possibly get the decision reversed.
Further reading
- Boggs, Johnny D. Great Murder Trials of the Old West. Piano: Republic of Texas Press, 2003.
- Burns, John F., and Richard J. Orsi. Taming the Elephant: Politics, Government, and Law in Pioneer California. Berkeley: U of California, 2003.
- Marshall, Thomas M. "The Miners' Laws of Colorado." American Historical Review 25.3 (1920): 426-39.
External links
- The Wild West of Myth and Reality
- An American Experiment in Anarcho-Capitalism: The Not So Wild, Wild West
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