378 The Swedish mining privileges of 1649 confirmed the already existing rule that mine operators were to give a tenth of their production to the crown. The crown claimed a right to this tithe on the basis of the doctrine of regalian rights, which was theoretically founded upon the principle of divided ownership. According to this doctrine, the crown claimed that it alone had the actual right of ownership {dominium directum) to all the mines in the country, while the mine operator was only granted the right of sub-ownership {dominium utile), or the right to use the mine. In line with this principle, the tithe was viewed as an interest payment or fee of recognition to which the crown had a right as the owner of the mine. The mine operator, however, was freed from paying the tithe during the first six years of operation of the mine, that is, during the so-called frihetsår, or years of liberty. This regulation was defended with the argument that the mine operator should have a chance to turn his operation into a profitable one before being “burdened and troubled with the tithe.” The crown’s economic interest in the development of the mining industry thus led to the mine operators being favored and being encouraged to open new mines. Regalian rights in connection with mining were pressed especially hard in Sweden during the latter part of the seventeenth century in connection with the establishment of an absolutist royal government under Charles Similar principles were articulated in the Russian herg-privilegiia, where the crown’s regalian rights were expressed in the following manner: For which reason it pleases Us most graciously in this manner, and out of love for Our loyal subjects, to turn over the mining works belonging solely to Us as the Monarch, and their use, to each and every one and indeed to all who are interested in it, demanding only that which is customary in other states, that is, a tenth part of the profits for paying the servants of the Bcrg-kollegium and the other necessary expenditures connected with this. Moreover, We graciously intend to abstain from this tenth part for several years, and to forgive it (entirely) if the losses in the searching for such ore are greater than the returns. That the crown had strong regalian claims did not, however, necessarily mean that the mine operator was completely without legal protection. In Sweden, the mine operator had hereditary rights to work his mine as long as he continued to operate it in proper fashion. This same principle was introduced in the Russian berg-privilegiia, and it might be useful to illustrate this by comparing the way with which it is dealt in the Swedish and Russian documents. Jan Eric Almquist, 1485 års s.k. förordning om malmberg och dess betydelse för rättsutvecklingen (Uppsala, 1929), 37—39, and idem. Kommentar till 1884 års gruvstadga (Uppsala, 1930), 14—15. TsGADA, f. 9 otdelenic 1 delo 53 1. 189 r.
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