Course Description
Mining law may seem a niche area—a “world apart which one can quite easily go through life without ever hearing about,” as George Orwell said of mining—however, it is a unique combination of administrative law, employment law, contract law, tort law, and health and safety regulatory law. Federal regulatory agencies are increasingly the site of where the action is, and using mining law as a means of understanding this vast area of law will be of use to all students.
Over the period of this course, students would be introduced to the three primary aspects of mining law:
The history of mining, mining disasters, and passage of mining legislation in the United States;
Key elements of federal mining legislation;
The interpretation and evolution of mining law in the Commission and Courts.