Curtis Holbrook Lindley

(1850-1920)

1985 Inductee from Mining's Past

Curtis H. Lindley was born in Marysville, California, the son of a ‘49er, and grew up in the mining camps of the Mother Lode and the Comstock. He is regarded as the pre-eminent mining lawyer and legal scholar related to the general mining laws of the United State, and tried many of the cases that shaped modern interpretation of mining law. Lindley’s greatest contribution to the legal and mining professions was Lindley on Mines, a treatise on the law of mines first published in 1897.  Lindley’s careful reasoning and his unhesitating offers of well-reasoned opinions where no precedent existed was rewarded by the widespread adoption of his views by the courts and recognition of his work as a classic of American jurisprudential literature. The durability of the mining law stands as testimony to the vitality breathed into it by Lindley.

Nearly three-quarters of a century after Lindley’s death, mining lawyers and the minerals profession as a whole continue to consult and rely on the wisdom of Lindley on Mines.

Print Version     Previous     Archive     Next