On March 26, 1894, a law on the alienation of waste lands was enacted. The importance of this measure on landed property in Mexico cannot be over-emphasized. It preserved the main features of the law of July 20, 1863, but aimed to complement it by increasing the facilities for the acquisition of waste lands. The limitation of two thousand five hundred hectares to which claim might be filed was removed.

Under these two measures, of December 15, 1883, and March 26, 1894, the large survey and colonization contracts of the Diaz administration were made. A typical contract of this period provided that of the two-thirds portion to which the government was entitled the latter agreed to sell to the companies one-half at the regular schedule of rates fixed by the government. In return, the company bound itself to devote "these lands exclusively to settlers of whom twenty-five per cent, at least, should be Mexicans." The settlers were to receive forty hectares per family. The company was also required to establish a model. industrial and agricultural colony comprising five hundred families at least, the heads of which should know some trade; one thousand five hundred additional families were to be brought within the next five years. In exchange, the company enjoyed the following privileges: (1) Free importation for ten years (life of contract) of agricultural and industrial machinery and implements; (2) Exemption from taxation, except municipal taxes; (3) Free export of the produce of the colony for the same period.

As time went on, the obligations imposed became more stringent. Provisional patents were issued, exchangeable for definitive deeds only if cultivation by the settler had been consistent during five years; while to the usual forfeiture clause was added a penalty of seventy centavos per hectare of all land not settled.

Congress on November 20, 1896, authorized the Executive to make free grants of national and waste lands to needy farmers. Two amendments to the law of March 26, 1894, were passed on December 30, 1902, and on December 26, 1905, and their main features embodied in the law of December 18, 1909, which suspended "all provisions of the law of March 26, 1894, relating to the filing of claims to waste lands." The second article suspended "the power conferred on the Executive to alienate national lands, which suspension shall subsist until the surveys heretofore made shall have been rectified by official commissions." The law further set forth the conditions under which "leases for the development of waste and national lands might be executed." Article 4 contained virtually the condemnation, by the government itself, of the laws of 1883 and 1894. It prescribed that "contracts of alienation of waste and national lands, executed under the laws of December 15, 1883, and March 26, 1894, shall be terminated on the expiration of the terms stipulated therein; and such contracts shall in no event be revalidated, nor the terms thereof extended."

The regulations of this law, issued June 22, 1910, created an Agrarian Bureau charged with enforcing the law of December 18, 1909.

On February 24, 1912, a decree was promulgated in entire harmony with the last measure. It prescribed that, after survey by official commissions, "the balance of the national lands shall be subdivided into lots of not over two hundred hectares each to be sold to Mexicans" under a schedule of rates embodied in the law; a term of ten years being allowed for payment. Needy farmers were to receive up to fifty hectares of land in localities set apart for colonies, provided they occupied the land as settlers.

Land legislation during the pre-constitutional period and under the 1917 constitution has not yet definitely crystallized. By virtue of the power to declare the nullity of all contracts and concessions which have resulted in monopoly, the several Mexican Governments, and especially the Carranza administration, have canceled various large colonization contracts on the ground that the concessionaires have failed to comply with their obligations. Furthermore, lands have been seized without any compensation being made therefor.

As a corollary to land legislation, there were published on October 1, 1894, the regulations prescribing the conditions under which permits to fell timber, extract rubber, or engage in similar labor on national lands would be granted. No proprietary interest passed under these permits which were merely revocable. licenses. The same regulations prescribed minutely the terms for obtaining grazing, fishing and hunting permits.

The Carranza Government granted a considerable number of permits under these regulations. On June 9, 1917, a permit to develop 125,000 hectares (308,750 acres) of national lands in the Territory of Quintana Roo was given. Two articles deserve more than passing notice. In one, the concessionaire is required to establish a primary school for children of the settlement; in the other, he binds himself to carry out the provisions on labor fixed in Article 123 of the constitution.

Mining: It was not till the constitutional amendment of December 14, 1883, that mining was placed under federal jurisdiction. The first mining code of independent Mexico is dated November 22, 1884. It established that mining property should be held subject to the condition of working and developing it. This limitation, coupled with the fact that scientific treatment of lowgrade ores had not reached a profitable stage, acted as a deterrent; the industry languished. Accordingly, on June 6, 1887, a tax measure was passed. It limited state taxation "to a sole tax on the value of the metal or substance worked . . . of not over two per cent of this value." Similarly, smelters were assessed a single tax which should not exceed six per mil on the valuation of the property, including fixtures. But perhaps the most im

portant feature is contained in Article 6 which defined the terms on which the executive might "execute contracts and grant special franchises and liberal privileges (concesiones)." The essential provisions were as follows: (a) The life of such grants to be limited to ten years; (b) The minimum capital invested to be 200,000 pesos within five years; (c) Such capital to be exempt from all federal taxation, except the stamp tax, for ten years; (d) A maximum of twenty claims (pertenencias) whether contiguous or not; (e) Subdivision and partial transfer of the rights under these contracts, subject to the approval of the department of Fomento, on the assumption of the corresponding obligation by the assignees; (f) The rights and obligations of the several companies, on the expiration of the term of their respective contracts, to be determined by the mining code then in force.

This measure was followed by another enactment of even greater significance. On July 4, 1892, there was passed a new mining code. Article 5 declared that "mining property lawfully acquired and that which may hereafter be acquired in conformity with this law shall be irrevocable and perpetual, provided payment be made of the federal property tax." It made a clear division between substances requiring a concesión and those which might be freely worked by the owner of the surface. The detailed. procedure necessary for acquiring mining grants (concesiones) is carefully outlined in Articles 15-39 of the regulations of June 25, 1892. They provide for an application to be filed before the proper mining agent, its registry, presentation of counter claims, survey of land, etc. An important change was the removal of the limitation on the number of claims that might be filed by one applicant.

A sample concession under this law granted the concessionaire the following exemptions: (1) Freedom from taxation, federal or local, except the stamp tax, on the property of the concessionaire company, including capital; (2) Exemption from military service of its employees; (3) Exemption from import duties and internal revenue taxes on household effects of employees and on material needed for the work; (4) Exemption from export duties for fifty years on products from the mines, and from import duties on coal and wood intended exclusively for the use of the company; (5) Free use, for the same period of years, of the sea-water needed to manufacture salt for the mining properties. On the other hand, the company bound itself: (1) To carry out, free of cost to the Federal Government and within six months, the soundings in the harbor of Santa Rosalía; (2) To cede to the government the free use of the buildings needed for the custom house; (3) To give free mail service on company vessels; and (4) To allow a rebate of fifty per cent "for all goods belonging to the government and for all troops and civilian employees when traveling on public service."

The mining law of June 4, 1892, continued in force till the enactment of the law of November 25, 1909. While the theory underlying the law remained unchanged, a number of modifications were embodied, all of which registered a distinct advance. Thus the substances belonging to the public domain, to which claims might be filed through the system of concessions, are defined in greater detail. Another important modification prescribed that the provisions of the Civil Code of the Federal District shall apply, except as otherwise expressly provided in the law. Again, the old prescription against foreigners exploring, denouncing or holding title to mining property within a zone of eighty kilometers, along any line of division between Mexico and foreign countries, without the permission of the Executive, was maintained in force as to individuals; the inhibition against foreign companies was made absolute.

The 1917 constitution prohibits the securing of mining concessions by foreigners.

Oil: Oil development in Mexico furnishes the best example of the difference between a concession properly so-called and the tax immunity contract to which reference was made at the beginning.

As already pointed out, the first mining law of independent Mexico (November 22, 1884) divided those mineral substances which might be the subject of a concession or license from the state from those which are the property of the owner of the land above. The same classification is found in the law of June 4, 1892, which, indeed, recited that "the owner of the land may freely work without a special concession in any case whatsoever mineral fuels, oil." The mining code of November 25, 1909, is equally specific in enumerating mineral fuels of whatever form or variety" as "the exclusive property of the owner of the land above."

It is clear then that under this juridical theory there could not be an oil concession properly so-called on privately-owned lands. Only in the case of national lands might such a condition exist.

Thus when Congress granted a British firm the right to explore and develop oil deposits in the national lands of certain Mexican states, it granted a true concession. On the other hand, when an American company was granted certain tax immunities in return for the investment of a specified amount on lands of its own, the contract was not a concession proper. All American companies engaged in the oil industry in Mexico at the date of the enactment of the 1917 constitution had acquired their property by purchase or lease from private owners; none, therefore, enjoyed concessions from any Mexican government.

The 1917 constitution made a profound change in the juridical system which had thus far consistently obtained in Mexico with

regard to oil and certain other subsoil products. It declared them to belong to the nation. A series of executive decrees later sought to place oil on the same legal plane as metalliferous minerals, that is, that oil claims should be acquired in the same manner as mining claims, viz., by means of a concession or license from the state. Protest has been lodged by all governments whose nationals are interested in Mexican oil lands against the several attempts made to enforce this theory as to lands acquired in full. compliance with the laws in force at the date of acquisition.

Waters: The first measure which regulated the use of waters under federal jurisdiction by means of concessions is dated June 4, 1894. Its more important features were:

I. Publication of the application in the official organ of the federal government or of the respective state;

II. Determination of all counter claims by competent tribunals, without prejudice to the rights of third parties;

III. Presentation of plans, descriptive memoranda, etc.;

IV. Appointment of a qualified engineer to inspect all survey and construction work, named by the federal executive but remunerated by the concessionaire;

V. Deposit of bonds of the public debt as a safeguard to the fulfillment of obligations;

VI. Approval by the department of Fomento of all schedules for the sale or lease of waters.

The privileges allowed were substantially those to be found in all such laws, namely, exemption for five years from all federal taxation, except the stamp tax; free importation of machinery, scientific instruments, etc.; free occupation of waste and national lands for canals, reservoirs, etc., and right of condemning private property subject to compensation. As a complement to this measure there was passed on December 18, 1896, a law designed to revalidate all franchises granted by states between the passage of the law of June 5, 1888, and the declaration by the department of Fomento that a particular river or stream was embraced within the definition given in Article 1 of the latter act.

The constitutionality of these measures, particularly of that of June 4, 1894, was the subject of bitter debate in the press and by the bar. In order to obviate the serious complications that would ensue were the law to be declared unconstitutional, it was deemed wise to pass an amendment to the constitution empowering the federal government "to define and determine the waters subject to federal jurisdiction and to enact laws as to the use and enjoyment of the same." This was done on June 20, 1908.