Study of Dependence of Mining Ownership on Land Ownership in Shī‘a Jurisprudence

One of important issues in mining ownership is dependence or non-dependence of mining ownership on land ownership, about which there are some views. The renowned majority of Shī‘a jurists have distinguished mines located in private estates and the ones situated in public estates and thus have accepted dependence in the former and non-dependence in the latter. In this study, which has been carried out in a descriptive method and with reference to legal and juridical texts, the authors have concluded that mining ownership is no absolute way dependent on lands in which the mine is located; because primary and secondary reasoning of ownership cannot prove that whatever is located in the lands belongs to land owner, although it is naturally considered a part of the land; moreover, mining wealth is undoubtedly not economically and financially considered as a part of the land. Thus, judicial edicts related to land is not generalized to mine because, in view of the proportion of ordinance and subject, it is separately economic wealth.