About This Piece

A miners’ court was a type of quasi-judicial court common in the American Old West that summoned a subset of the miners in a district when a dispute arose. It was made to retain order and decide punishments within mining communities. A presiding officer or judge was elected and a jury was selected. Other systems that were used included alcaldes and arbitration. In the event a decision was disputed, a mass meeting of the mining camp could be called to allow a dissatisfied party to plead his case and possibly get the decision reversed.