The Mines Royal Act 1689 was an act of the Parliament of England

Parliament of England

The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England. In 1066, William of Normandy introduced a feudal system, by which he sought the advice of a council of tenants-in-chief and ecclesiastics before making laws...

 (1 Will. & Mar. sess. 1 c. 30) with the long title

Long title

The long title is the formal title appearing at the head of a statute or other legislative instrument...

 An Act to prevent Disputes and Controversies concerning Royal Mines. The act repealed the 1404 Act Against Multipliers (5 Henry IV

Henry IV of England

Henry IV was King of England and Lord of Ireland . He was the ninth King of England of the House of Plantagenet and also asserted his grandfather's claim to the title King of France. He was born at Bolingbroke Castle in Lincolnshire, hence his other name, Henry Bolingbroke...

 c. 4) which had made it a felony to create gold and silver by means of alchemy

Alchemy

Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...

.

The act specified also that "no mine of tin, copper, iron or, lead, shall hereafter be adjudged, reputed, or taken to be a royal mine although gold or silver may be extracted out of the same." In doing so, the act brought to an end the monopolies of the Society of Mines Royal

Society of Mines Royal

The Society of Mines Royal was one of two mining monopoly companies incorporated by royal charter in 1568, the other being the Company of Mineral and Battery Works.-History:...

 and the Company of Mineral and Battery Works

Company of Mineral and Battery Works

The Company of Mineral and Battery Works was, , one of two mining monopolies created by Queen Elizabeth I of England in the mid-1560s. The Company's rights were based on a patent granted to William Humfrey on 17 September 1565. This was replaced on 28 May 1568 by a patent of incorporation, making...

 which had enjoyed exclusive rights to extract metal from certain mines.

According to Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton

Sir Isaac Newton PRS was an English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian, who has been "considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived."...

, in a letter to John Locke

John Locke

John Locke FRS , widely known as the Father of Liberalism, was an English philosopher and physician regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers. Considered one of the first of the British empiricists, following the tradition of Francis Bacon, he is equally important to social...

, Robert Boyle

Robert Boyle

Robert Boyle FRS was a 17th century natural philosopher, chemist, physicist, and inventor, also noted for his writings in theology. He has been variously described as English, Irish, or Anglo-Irish, his father having come to Ireland from England during the time of the English plantations of...

'procured the repeal of the Act of Parliament against Multipliers'. He further claimed that Boyle must then have had in his hands a recipe for the production of gold by alchemical means.

External links

• Statutes of the Realm: volume 6 at British History Online