Editorial
| Date | 01 June 1961 |
| Published date | 01 June 1961 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002085236102700201 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
E D I T O R I A L
No
surprise
will
be
caused
by
this
number
giving
prominence
to
the
legal
and
institu-
tional
problems
of
energy.
They
are
the
common
denominator
of
the
interests
of
all
governments,
not
so
much
in
ter7rcs
of
any
craving
for
power
as
of
the
pressing
need
to
satisf y
the
masses’
desire
fo1’
a
higher
stan.-
dard
of
living.
At
least
in
so
far
as
it
applies
to
the
tra-
ditional
sources
of
energy,
the
«Law
of
Energy
is
the
result
of
a
development
that
is
identical
in
all
countries :
increasing
State
control,
which
leads,
at
one
extreme,
to
the
establishment
of
public
corporations
and,
at
the
other’
to
nationalisation.
Could
mining
really
have
been
carried
on
much
in
the
same
way
as
private
enterprises?
Although
the
idea
of
private
appropriation
by
the
surf ace
owner
certainly
commancds
respect,
there
has
been
a
great
temptation
to
look
upon
11 atu1’e’ s
bounty
as
the
common
heritage
of
all
f ellow-countrymen.
Moreover,
the
use
of
the
various
sources
of
energy
raises
legal
problems
such
as
expropriations,
ease-
ments,
penalties
and
liabilities,
outside the
sphere
of
authority
of
private
enterprises.
That
explains
why,
f rom
among
the
var-
ious
possible
systems,
including
accession
and
occupation,
the
French
legislature,
in
the
early
nineteenth
century,
chose,
the
« rega-
lian
»
notion
which
enabled
the
State,
by
virtue
of
its
Sovereign
power,
to
grant
the
ownership
and
working
of
mines
without
being
their
original
owner.
Though
the
Napoleonic
Act
of
21
April
1810
had
already
recognized
the
authority
of
the
State,
it
had
at
least
reconciled
that
au-
thority
with
the
principles
of
Liberal
econo-
mics.
I
t had
done
so
in
a
profoundly
capi-
talis tic
apirit,
because
the
concession
sy stem
it
adopted
organized
mining
fo1’
the
exclusive
benefit
of
persons
able
to
muster
the
neces-
sary
financial
means,
leaving
surf ace
owners
and
discoverers
with
no
right
to
anything
but
compensation,
while
the
State
received
nothing
in
exchange,
for
the
perpetual
privi-
lege
it
granted.
I
A
great
change
has
taken
place
since then.
In
the
Netherlands,
since
the
beginning
of
the
twentieth
century,
the
State
has
reserved
to
itself
the
sole
benefit
of
mining
prospec-
tion
over
parts,
and
later
over
the,
whole,
of
its
territory.
As
early
as
1901,
«State
mines,
»
governed
by
collegiate
bodies
began
to
compete
with
the
private
sector
which
is
by
now
clearly
reduced
to
a
minority.
Ten
per
cent
of
the
pro f its
derived
by
the
private
sector
from
getting
petroleum
and
natural
gas
go
to
the
State,
while
the
pro-
duction
of
electricity
is
almost
wholly
in
the
hands
of
public,
and
often
local
or
regional,
authorities.
In
France,
the
development
which
led
to
nationalisation
and
to
the
birth
of
enormous
trusts
controlling
gas,
electricity
and
the
col-
lieries
is
well
known.
They
are
classified
as
« public
establishments
of
a
commercial
and
industrial
nature».
The
course
of
f
events
in
Belgium
is
less
°
known.
Although
the
position
is
not
so
spectacular,
it
appears
to
be
no
less
indicative
of
the
general
trend
referred
at
the
beginning
of
this
Editorial.
Under
the
French
Act
of
1810,
which
is
still
in
force,
the
«regalian»
licences
create
new,
perpetual
and
disposable
property
rights
that
are
transf erable
in
the
same
way
as
any
other
asset,
to
the
extent
that
many
legal
writers
have
held
that
mining
property
was
exactly
the
same
as
Civil
Law
property.
Its
nature,
however,
was
afterwards
pro-
foundly
changed
by
the
many
alterations
in
the
Law
of
Real
Property
as
applied
to
min-
ing.
From
1911
onwards,
the
increasing
number
of
cases
of
loss
of
rights
has
affected
the
perpetual
character
of
licences,
whose
holders
can
no
longer
dispose
of
them
at
will,
and
any
sale
or
renting
is
subject
to
previous
authorization
by
the
Government.
But
the
working
of
collieries
has,
above
all,
of
recent
years
been
subject
to
measures
of
economic
control,
such
as
the
Acts
of
22
April
1948
and
24
January
1958.
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