The Fraser Institute (Canada) has just published a major report dealing with the different evolution of the interpretation of the Common Law. After reviewing the literature, they found two key differences between the two mineral rights systems. The first is that in Canada, minerals arereserved by the provinces, while in the US minerals are either associatedwith surface ownership (primarily in the eastern US) or reserved by the federalgovernment (primarily in the western US). The second is that in Canada,mineral rights are retained by the Crown or the provinces while in the UnitedStates mineral rights are privately owned. It looks like that the US property rights regime reducing uncertainty is more favorable to investment though taxing policy is negative. If he report does not deal with oil and gas it could however be an input for the European Union future mining policy.
