Art. 138. The contratos de avios (contracts to supply the necessary funds for working a mine) must be in writing, and shall have no effect as to third parties or other creditors, if not drawn up as a public deed and recorded in the register for the creation of real estate encumbrances on mines. Art. 139. Avios (advances) may be agreed to for a definite amount or period, or for the execution of one or more works in the mine. Art. 140. Should the period or amount of the avios not be stated in the contract, either of the parties to the contract may put an end to it whenever he may wish to do so, after paying whatever is owing. Art. 141. The miner may cancel the avios whenever he wishes to do so, by transferring over the ownership of the mine to the aviador (person who undertakes the avio), the latter abandoning his right to be reimbursed for the sums supplied. Art. 142. It may be stipulated that the payment of the sums owed to the aviador be made in metals, at the price agreed upon by the interested parties, or determined by a third party, as in a sale, or in money at stipulated premiums not subject to limitation. Art. 143. It may also be stipulated that the aviador is to become the owner of a quota of the mine in compensation or payment of avios, and in this case the contract shall be subject to the provisions ruling partnerships in mines. But should the aviador cancel the contract, availing himself of the right granted by article 141, the quota of the mine of which he had become the owner by virtue of the contract, shall return to the ownership of the miner, unencumbered and not subject to any obligations on his part. Art. 144. The aviador shall supply the funds in accordance with the terms stipulated, or according to the requirements of the work, and if, being required to do so, he should refuse to comply, or should delay payment in the ordinary of the work, the miner may choose between exacting payment in the ordinary way, obtaining a loan upon the responsibility of the aviador, or entering into a contract with another aviador, whose right to reimbursement shall be preferred. Art. 145. Should the miner employ the money or assets of the avios for other purposes without the consent of the aviador, he shall be held responsible for breach of confidence, and the aviador shall be entitled to take the mine under his management. The aviador shall be entitled to do the same, if, the mine being in debt, the management of the mine is proven to be careless and extravagant, notwithstanding that this abuse has been pointed out to him and claimed against. Art. 146. If, the contract having come to an end, the mine is in debt, the aviador is entitled to hold it in restraint and continue to advance money on it under his own management, until he has reimbursed himself in preference to all other creditors, excepting previous mortgagees, not only of what is owing to him, but of later advances, with the premiums and according to the terms stipulated in the contract. Art. 147. If in the case of the preceding article the aviador should not wish to continue advancing money, the miner may secure further avios with other persons who shall enjoy a preference over the former aviador. Art. 148. The rights granted to the aviador in the preceding articles shall not prevent the owner of the mine from examining and supervising it; and the aviador shall be deprived of the administration should he oppose this right in any act relating to the administration. He shall also cease in the administration in case of breach of confidence, besides being criminally responsible, CHAPTER XIV. COURT PROCEEDINGS. Art. 149. No persons are entitled to privilege as to being judged only by special courts, in suits referring to discoveries, notices, claims, surveys, or in general, whereby a right granted by the present Code is claimed. Art. 150. In the suits referred to in the preceding article, the only written statement admitted shall be the complaint and the answer, and once these are presented, the litigants shall be called to a verbal hearing. At the same hearing the judge shall summons them to receive judgment; 1st. If the question or questions to be decided are purely legal; 2nd. If the parties agree as to the facts, or their conformity appears from their answers to the questions put to them by the judge in the course of the hearing; 3rd. If the facts are proven by the documents presented, acknowledged or accepted as valid by the party against whom they are presented; 4th. If the parties agree that the judge is to pronounce judgment in accordance with the actual condition of the proceedings. The testimony of witnesses shall be taken before the judge in open court; and the party against whom the witness is presented shall be entitled to crossexamine him, even at the same sitting. The parties, however, may agree to the testimony being taken according to the common law. In case the court is too busy, the reception of the testimony may be delegated to the special superior judge referred to in Article 38 of the Law of Organization and Attributions of the Courts. Each party shall not present more than ten witnesses. Once the time designated for presenting proofs has expired and these have been made public, the judge shall order the parties to appear at a hearing, and in view of the statements made by them, verbally or in writing, they shall be summoned to hear judgment. The hearing shall take place if either party is present. Art. 151. Indemnities for damages, should the interested parties not come to an agreement, shall be fixed by arbitration of two experts, one named by each party, or of a third one who shall be named by the judge, in case they should not agree. The report of the experts having been presented, the judge shall pronounce judgment without further proceedings. Art. 152. Should a mine or its output be attached by orders of the Court, a sufficiency shall be exempted to meet working expenses. The possessor or holder may obtain a release by offering sureties or a mortgage to secure the restitution of the mine or of the proceeds; but in this case the person applying for the writ of attachment may demand the appointment of a trustee to watch the work, and to keep an account of the expenses and output of the mine. Art. 153. If the attached mine does not yield sufficient output to attend to its working, nor does the person applying for the writ of attachment furnish the necessary funds, the mine shall be restored to the possessor until definite judgment has been pronounced in the action which has occasioned the attachment. Art. 154. A writ of attachment on the output of a mine cannot be issued in ordinary proceedings without a hearing, and a presumptive title of ownership or right favouring the applicant. CHAPTER XV. EXECUTIONS AGAINST MINES. Art. 155. In execution proceedings, neither the debtor's mine nor the equipment or provisions brought into it for working purposes, can be levied against or transferred without the miner's consent granted in the course of the proceedings, but the execution may be levied against existing minerals extracted from the mine, without prejudice to the right of preference established in Article 99. Art. 156. If the proceeds of those minerals, and of other property levied against are insufficient to satisfy the debt, the creditor shall be entitled to take over the administration of the mine as security until he has paid himself with its proceeds. Art. 157. The credtor to whom the mine is delivered as security, shall administer it with the care and subject to the same obligations as the law imposes on partners who act as managers. If the mine is not sufficiently productive to attend to its legal and prudent working, he may obtain an authorization from the judge to take it over in avio, and to hold it in restraint as aviadores are entitled to do, not only to satisfy the sums employed in the avios and the current rate of interest after the commercial style, but to satisfy the original debt. Art. 158. While the mine is in the hands of the creditor, the miner is entitled to visit it, inspect the works, examine the account books and vouchers, either personally or by proxy, and to make any observations and objections suggested to him by the system of book-keeping and working methods. He may also apply for the appointment of a trustee vested with the powers granted in Article 152. Art. 159. Should the creditor not work the mine in such a manner as to keep it in proper condition, or should he be convicted of fraud in the administration, or should it appear that said administration is careless and extravagant, notwithstanding his attention having been called to this abuse and objection made to it, he shall forfeit the right of adminstering the mine, and may only apply for the appointment of a trustee to receive the net output of the mine on account of the creditor. Art. 160. In the case of insolvency or bankruptcy of miners, the creditors shall be called upon to take over on their own account, if they are willing to do so, the working and management of the mine, and those consenting to do so shall have the same rights and obligations allowed to parties that apply for a writ of execution. The foregoing is without prejudice to the rights granted to mortgagees and to aviadores. Mortgagees and privileged creditors of the mine shall be entitled to preference in taking over the administration of the same. TRANSITORY ARTICLES. Art. 161. The present possessors of mines are entitled to create their claims in the form determined in the present Code, without prejudice to the rights of third parties. Art. 162. As regards deposits of coal on the sea-shore and the adjacent sea, the present workers who apply for a concession within the term of one year, and for an extension of their present workings, shall be preferred to other applicants. Art. 163. The President of the Republic shall regulate the working of the substances that may be made free use of, referred to in Article 4, and the cases in which mining claims may be located, in accordance with the second part of the same article. Art. 164. The President of the Republic shall have the right to make such regulations as may be necessary to facilitate the payment of taxes, sale of the mines at auction, and organization of mining registers and of a body of mining engineers. Art. 165. This Code shall be in force from the 1st of January, 1889, and from that date the pre-existing mining laws and special ordinances shall be abolished, even when not contrary to it. Art. 166. Present mine owners shall not be under the obligation of paying the tax until the date indicated in Article 133. And wherefore, after hearing the council of State, I have considered it well to approve and sanction it; therefore, let it be promulgated and carried into effect in all its parts as a law of the Republic. JOSE MANUEL BALMACEDA. CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE. CHAPTER XVII. SUITS AT LAW IN MINING MATTERS. Art. 918. Mining suits in which rights especially subject to the Mining Code are at issue, shall follow the proceedings established for commercial matters in paragraph 1, Chapter XVI, of this book. Art. 919. There shall be submitted to the summary proceeding established in Chapter XII: 1st. Questions relating to the creation and exercise of rights acknowledged by law in favor of mines and operating plants, and to the corresponding indemnities; 2nd. Those arising by reason of the exercise of the rights to which adjacent miners are entitled of visiting neighboring mines and of obtaining the provisional stoppage of the works and affixing of seals in drifts that have trespassed upon a claim; 3rd. Those referring to the administration of the mine by a creditor levying execution when the mine has been delivered to him as security. Art. 920. Creditors of insolvent miners, shall be called upon in the terms of Article 160 of the Mining Code, at the first meeting to which they shall have been convened. Any question arising as to the rights conferred upon them by said article shall be treated as an incident. 24918-21-36 Decree No. 314 of 1920 developing Law 120, 1919, on hydrocarbon deposits_ 571 573 CONSTITUTION OF 1886.1 CHAPTER XIX. Article 202. The Republic of Colombia owns: 1. The property, revenues, lands, rights and actions which pertained to the Colombian Union on April 15, 1886. 2. The public lands, mines and salt deposits, which pertained to the States, the dominion of which is recovered by the nation, without prejudice to the rights constituted in favor of third parties by said States, or in favor of the latter by the nation through title of indemnity. 3. The mines of gold, silver, platinum, and precious stones, existing in national territory, without prejudice to the rights which may have been acquired by virtue of previous laws by the discoverers and exploiters of any of them. LAW 1887. NO. 38. NOTE: This law adopts and embodies the Code of Mines of the ex- be. * 1. To the Nation, those of emeralds and of rock salt. 2. To the State, those of gold, silver, platinum and copper. 3. To the owner of the land all the rest of whatever class they may * From 1887, when the mining code was adopted, there was no legislation affecting petroleum development until 1903, when the first law specifically mentioning petroleum was passed. Article 3. The dispositions of the Fiscal Code (1873) referring to coal shall be applied also to deposits of asphalt of whatever class, consistency or color, 1 Under early legislation, 1858 to 1886, petroleum and virtually all mining property was under the jurisdiction of sovereign confederate states. (This is the constitution in force at present.) |