All rights of occupancy, possession, and enjoyment of any tract or portion of the public domain, acquired before November 7, 1861, shall be ascertained, adjudged, and determined by the local law of the district or precinct in which the tract is situated, as it existed on the day when such rights were acquired, or as it thereafter has existed; and if there were no local laws at that time, then by the common custom then prevailing in respect to such property in the district or precinct in which it existed. All such rights of occupancy, possession, and enjoyment, acquired since November 7, 1861, shall be ascertained, adjudged, and determined by the laws of this state in force at the date of such acquisition.
Source: R.S. p. 531, § 4. G.L. § 2127. G.S. § 2677. R.S. 08: § 5123. C.L. § 1106. CSA: C. 134, § 4. CRS 53: § 112-1-4. C.R.S. 1963: § 112-1-4.
ANNOTATION
For rights of occupancy and possession and their relation to the paramount title of the United States, see McMillen v. Gerstle, 19 Colo. 98, 34 P. 681 (1893).
Rules of a district relating to the location of mill sites must yield to the act of congress providing that mill sites could only be legally located upon non-mineral lands, insofar as they relate to the location of such sites upon mineral lands. Cleary v. Skiffich, 28 Colo. 362, 65 P. 59 (1901).
In the year 1860, a valid location of a mining claim on the public domain could be made only according to the rules, usages, and customs of miners in the district where such claim was situated. Sullivan v. Hense, 2 Colo. 424 (1874).
Judicial notice could not be taken of the rules, usages, and customs of mining districts; they had to be proved at the trial like any other fact, by the best evidence that could be obtained respecting them. Sullivan v. Hense, 2 Colo. 424 (1874).