The British laws were not entirely beneficial to local people. Many of these laws extended the power of the regime over local people and set a precedent to the more sinister practices of the military regimes. The Land Acquisition Act (1894) and the Land Acquisition (Mines) Act (1895) gave the state the power to confiscate land from local people in order to extract resources or complete development projects. In contrast to today’s forced confiscation, this law gave farmers the right to negotiate with the government, appeal the decision in the court, and receive a fair price for their land.