of the commissioners, to be confirmed, the claimant to such lands shall be entitled to a 3 March 1819, grant therefor, as a donation: Provided, That such grant as a donation, shall not be made Donations to to any one person for more than twelve hundred and eighty acres. Which confirmation other claimants of the said incomplete titles, and grants of donations, hereby provided to be made, shall Effect of confiramount only to a relinquishment for ever on the part of the United States, of any claim tion. whatever to the tract of land so confirmed or granted: And provided also, That no such claim shall be confirmed to any person to whom the title to any tract of land shall have been recognised under the preceding provisions. mation or dona Ibid. 3. out written evi 459. Every person, or his or her legal representative, whose claim is comprised in the lists, or register of claims, reported by the said commissioners, and the persons embraced Donations to in the list of actual settlers, or their legal representatives, not having any written evi- claimants withdence of claim reported as aforesaid, shall, where it appears by the said reports, or by dence of title. the said lists, that the land claimed or settled on had been actually inhabited or cultivated, by such person or persons in whose right he claims, on or before the 15th day of April 1813, be entitled to a grant for the land so claimed, or settled on, as a donation: Provided, That not more than one tract shall be thus granted to any one person, and Not to exceed 64( the same shall not contain more than six hundred and forty acres; and that no lands shall be thus granted which are claimed or recognised by the preceding sections of this act. acres. Ibid. 24. Other settlers to 460. Every person comprised in the said list of actual settlers, not having any written evidence of claim to land in said districts, and who, on the 12th day of April 1814, shall have inhabited or cultivated a tract of land in either of the said districts, not claimed by have right of preemption. virtue of either of the preceding sections of this act, shall be entitled to a preference, on becoming a purchaser, from the United States, of such tract of land, on the same terms and conditions, and at the same price, for which the other public lands are sold at private sale: Provided, That the first instalment of the purchase-money shall be paid to the receiver of public moneys of the district within which the land lies, within two years after the opening of the land office for such district. Ibid. 25. lena and Jackson 461. For the purpose of adjusting the titles and claims to lands in the districts aforesaid, and for the disposal of the lands which may remain the property of the United Land offices esta States therein, a land office shall be established, in each of the said districts, to be kept, blished at St. He for the western district, at St. Helena Court-house, and for the eastern district, at Jack- Court-houses. son Court-house. And a register and receiver of public moneys shall be appointed for each of the said land offices, who shall give security in the same manner, and in the same sums, and whose compensation, duties and authority, shall, in every respect, he the Registers and re same, in relation to the lands which shall hereafter be disposed of, at their respective offices, as are by law provided in relation to the other registers and receivers of public moneys for the several land offices of the United States. ceivers. 462. Every person or persons, claiming lands in either of the said districts, whose claims have not heretofore been filed with the commissioner of the land office, of the dis- Time extended trict wherein the lands lie, shall be allowed until the first day of July 1820, to deliver for registering notices in writing, and the evidences of their claims, in the said districts, respectively, to the register of the land office at Jackson Court-house and at St. Helena Court-house; and To be filed with the notices and evidences so delivered, within the time limited by this act, shall be recorded in the same manner, and on the payment of the same fees, as if the same had been delivered before the commissioners closed their said registers. Ibid. 26. claims. register. Ibid. 7. cording evidence 463. Every person or persons, who had filed his or their notice of claims to land, within either of the said districts, with the commissioner of the land office, according to Further time the former laws, but have not exhibited sufficient testimony in support of the same, and allowed for rewhose claim has not been recommended for confirmation, shall be allowed until the first of claims filed. day of July 1820, to deliver written evidence or other testimony in support of his or their claim, the notice of which had been filed as aforesaid, to the register of the land office at St. Helena [Court-house], for lands lying in the district west of Pearl river, and to the register of the land office at Jackson Court-house, for the lands lying in the district east of Pearl river. And the evidence of claims, the notice whereof had been filed, as aforesaid, for lands lying in the said district, delivered within the time limited by this section to the said registers, shall be recorded by them, respectively, in the same manner as was directed by former acts, on receiving the same fees allowed by said acts, for recording evidence of claims to lands in the same districts. powers of com 464. The register and receiver of public moneys of the said respective land offices, at Ibid. 28. Jackson Court-house and at St. Helena Court-house, shall have the same powers and per- Registers and 10 form the same duties, in every respect, in relation to the claims that may be filed in ceivers to have virtue of the sixth section of this act, and in relation to the claims, the notices of which missioners. had been filed under former acts, as well as to the additional evidence which shall be adduced in support thereof, agreeably to the seventh section of this act, as the commis 8 March 1819. sioners for the districts east and west of Pearl river would have had, or should have performed, if such notices had been filed, and such evidence adduced, before the said commissioners closed their registers. Ibid. 89. 465. It shall be the duty of the register of each of the said land offices, respectively, Registers to make to make to the commissioner of the general land office, a report of all the claims filed reports on claims. with the register aforesaid, with the substance of the evidence in support thereof; and of the claims formerly filed, in support of which additional evidence shall have been received, with the substance of such evidence; and also their opinion and such remarks respecting the claim as they may think proper to make; which report, together with a list of the claims which, in the opinion of the register and receiver, ought to be confirmed, and also a list of actual settlers prior to the passage of this act, noting the To be laid before time of their respective settlements, shall be laid, by the commissioner of the general land office, before congress, at their next session, for their determination thereon.(a) congress. Ibid. ¿ 10. Clerks to be appointed. Salaries. Ibid. 11. His fees and duties. 466. The said registers and receivers shall, respectively, have power to appoint a clerk, who shall be a person capable of translating the French and Spanish languages, and who shall perform the duty of translator when required by said registers and receivers, and each of the said registers and receivers shall be allowed, as a compensation for their services in relation to the said claims, at the rate of fifteen hundred dollars a year; and each of the clerks at the rate of one thousand dollars a year: Provided, That not more than eighteen months' compensation be thus allowed to the register, receiver and clerk for the district east of Pearl river; nor more than eighteen months' compensation to be allowed to the register, receiver and clerk of the district west of Pearl river. 467. The surveyor for the lands south of the state of Tennessee shall, with the corsent Deputy surveyor, and approbation of the president of the United States, appoint a principal deputy surveyor for the lands within the said districts, who shall receive an annual salary of five hundred dollars, and in addition thereto, the following fees, that is to say-for examining and recording the surveys executed by any of the deputies, at the rate of twenty-five cents for every mile of the boundary line of such survey; and for a certified copy of any plat of a survey in the office, twenty-five cents. And whose duty it shall be to survey, or cause to be surveyed, by his other deputies, the lands, the claims to which are confirmed, and that are directed to be granted as donations, where the same have not been already surveyed, and the lands which may be claimed by right of pre-emption, whenever directed by the register and receiver, and to execute such other surveys as may be necessary the ascertainment of the lands, the title or claim to which is embraced in the report of the commissioners aforesaid. And the said principal deputy surveyor shall make out particular plats of the surveys directed by this act, which he shall return to the register of the proper district; and also a general and connected plat, which he shall return to the surveyor of the lands south of the state of Tennessee; (b) and the expense of surveying shall be paid by the United States: (c) Provided, The same shall not exceed, in the whole, four dollars a mile, for every mile which shall be actually surveyed and Ibid. 2 12. Books to be lodged with regis ters. issued on con marked. for 468. The books of the former commissioners, in which the claims, and evidence of claims, are recorded, shall be lodged with the registers of the land office for the respec tive districts; and the register and receiver of public moneys in each respective district shall have power to examine the claims recognised, confirmed or provided to be granted by the provisions of this aet, (d) as also, claims to the right of pre-emption; and they Certificates to be shall make out to each claimant entitled, in their opinion, thereto, a certificate, according to the nature of the case, under such instructions as they may receive from the commissioner of the general land office. And on presentation at the general land office, of such certificate for a confirmed claim, or for a donation, according to the provisions of this act, and where it shall appear, to the satisfaction of the commissioner of the general land office, that the certificate has been fairly obtained, according to the true intent and meaning of this act, then, and in that case, a patent shall be granted, in like manner as for other lands of the United States. firmed claims, &c. Patents. -bid. & 13. Appointments may be made in the reces 8 May 18 221. 3 Stat. 707. 469. The president shall have power to appoint the register and receiver of public for the said districts in the recess of the senate, who shall be nominated to them moneys at their next meeting. 470. All the claims to land said to be derived from the British or Spanish authorities, reported to the commissioner of the general land office by the registers and receivers of the land office at St. Helena Court-house and at Jackson Court-house, in the districts east (a) See act 19 March 1828, granting the right of preference in the purchase of public lands, to certain settlers in the St. Helena land district, in the state of Louisiana. 4 Stat. 256. (b) The surveyor south of Tennessee, and the surveyor of the state of Alabama, are the proper officers to authenticate the township plats, and not the principal deputy, under this act. 2 Opin. 67. (c) By act 26 May 1824, all donation claims presented under that act, and all claims founded on complete or incomplete titles, which might be so presented not theretofore surveyed, were to be surveyed at the expense of the claimants. 4 Stat. 59. See act 4 May 1826, confirming reported claims under the act of 1821. 4Stat 159. (d) See 3 Opin 343. and west of Pearl river, appointed under the authority of an act entitled "An act for 8 May 1822. adjusting the claims to land, and establishing land offices, in the districts east of the British and island of New Orleans," which are contained in the several reports of the registers and Spanish grants reported by regisreceivers, and which are, in the opinion of the registers and receivers, valid, agreeably ters and receivers, to the laws, usages and customs of the said governments, be and the same are hereby recognised as valid and complete titles, against any claim on the part of the United States, or right derived from the United States. confirmed. Ibid. § 2. 471. All the claims reported as aforesaid, and contained in the several reports of the said registers and receivers, founded on orders of survey, requettes, permission to Incomplete titles, settle or other written evidences of claims, derived from the Spanish authorities, which reported favorably, confirmed. ought, in the opinion of the registers and receivers, to be confirmed, shall be confirmed in the same manner as if the title had been completed: Provided, That the confirmation of all the said claims provided for by this act, shall amount only to a relinquishment for ever, on the part of the United States, of any claim whatever to the tract of land so confirmed or granted. Ibid. 23. out written evi 472. Every person, or his or her legal representative, whose claim is comprised in the lists, or registers of claims, reported by the registers and receivers, and the persons Donations to embraced in the lists of actual settlers, or their legal representatives, not having any claimants with written evidence of claim, reported as aforesaid, shall, when it appears by the said dence of title. reports, or by the said lists, that the land claimed or settled on had been actually inhabited or cultivated by such person or persons in whose right he claims, on or before the 15th day of April 1813, be entitled to a grant for the land so claimed, or settled on, as a donation: Provided, That not more than one tract shall be thus granted to any one person, and the same shall not contain more than six hundred and forty acres; and that no lands shall be thus granted which are claimed or recognised by the preceding sections of this act, or by virtue of a confirmation under an act entitled "An act for adjusting the claims to land, and establishing land offices, in the districts east of the island of New Orleans," approved on the 3d day of March 1819: And provided also, That no claim shall be confirmed where the quantity was not ascertained, and report made thereon by the registers and receivers, prior to the 25th day of July 1820.(a) Ibid. 4. in reference to plete grants. 473. The registers and receivers of the public moneys of the said respective districts, except in relation to perfect titles, (b) as recognised in the first section of this act, and Powers of regis the first section of the act of the 3d day of March 1819, shall have power to direct the ters and receivers manner in which all lands claimed in virtue of the preceding sections shall be located location of incomand surveyed; (c) and also to direct the location and manner of surveying all the claims to land recognised by the second, third and fourth sections of an act entitled "An act for adjusting the claims to land, and establishing land offices, in the districts east of the island of New Orleans," approved on the 3d day of March 1819, having regard to the laws, usages and customs of the Spanish government on that subject; and having regard also to the mode adopted by the government of the United States in surveying the claims to land confirmed by virtue of the second and third sections of an act of congress, entitled "An act regulating the grants of lands, and providing for the disposal of the lands of the United States, south of the state of Tennessee,” approved on the 3d March 1803. And that, in relation to all such claims which may conflict, or in any manner interfere, To decide between conflicting the said registers and receivers of public moneys of the respective districts shall have claims. power to decide between the parties, and shall, in their decision, be governed by such conditional lines or boundaries as may have been agreed on between the parties, either verbally or in writing, at any time prior to the passage of this act. But, upon the decision of those claims alluded to, which may conflict or interfere, and in relation to which the parties interested have agreed on no conditional lines or boundaries as to the manner of locating the same, the said registers and receivers of the respective districts shall make an equal division of the land claimed, so as to allow each party his or their improvements: Provided however, That, should it be made appear, to the satisfaction of And as to intruthe register and receiver of public moneys of the respective districts, in any such case, that the subsequent settler had obtruded on the claim of the former, and had made his establishment after having been forbid so to do, the said registers and receivers of public moneys shall have power to decide between the parties, according to the circumstances of the case and the principles of justice. 474. Patents shall be granted for all lands confirmed by virtue of the provisions of this act, in the same manner as patents are granted for lands confirmed under former aets, to which this is a supplement. (a) Time extended by act 3 March 1827. 4 Stat. 239. And say act 24 May 1828, granting further time to claimants whose claims have not been acted upon under the act of 1819. Ibid. 299. (b) See Doe v. City of Mobile, 9 How. 451. (c) This empowers them to decide on the true location of grants sions. Ibid. 25. Patents to be issued. or confirmations, but not on the question of title between the parties. Doe v. Eslava, 9 How. 449. And see Cousin v. Blane's Executor, 19 How. 202. This section is repealed, (supra, 410). so far as it interferes with the power granted to the register and reeiver of the land office at St. Stephen's. 8 May 1822 2 6. 475. To every person who shall appear to be entitled to a tract of land, under the Certificates to be second and third sections of this act, a certificate shall be granted, by the register and issued to claim- receiver of the district in which the land lies, setting forth the nature of the claim and the quantity allowed; for which certificate the party in whose favor it issues shall pay one dollar, to be divided between the said receiver and register. ants. Ibid. 27. 476. The president of the United States be and he is hereby authorized, to remove Land office at St. the land office from St. Helena Court-house to such other place, within the said districts Helena may be as he may deem suitable and convenient. removed. 3 March 1823 1. 3 Stat. 756. attached to dis river. Claims to be registered. IV. CLAIMS TO LANDS BETWEEN THE RIO HONDO AND SABINE RIVER. 477. All that tract of country situated between the Rio Hondo and Sabine river, within the state of Louisiana, and, previously to the treaty of the 22d of February 1819, between Neutral territory the United States and Spain, called the neutral territory, (a) be and the same is hereby trict south of Red attached to the district south of Red river; and the register and receiver of the land office, in said district, are required to receive and record all written evidences of claim to land in said tract of country, derived from, and issued by, the Spanish government of Texas, prior to the 20th day of December 1803, according to the regulations, as to the granting of lands, the laws and ordinances of said government, and to receive and record all evidences of claim, founded on occupation, habitation and cultivation, designating particularly the time and manner in which each tract was occupied, inhabited or cultivated, prior to, and on, the 22d February 1819, and the continuance thereof subsequent to that time, with the extent of the improvement on each tract; and to receive and And evidence to to record such evidence as may be produced, touching the performance of the conditions required to be performed by any holder of any grant, concession, warrant or order of survey, or other written evidence of claim, and on which the validity of such claim may have depended under the government from which it emanated; and to receive and to record all evidence of fraud in obtaining or issuing the written evidence of such claims, and of their abandonment or forfeiture. be recorded. tary. Claims to be classified. Ibid. ? 2. 478. The register and receiver, as aforesaid, shall transmit to the secretary of the Reports to be treasury a complete record of all the claims presented to them under this act, and the made to the secre- evidence appertaining to each claim, and shall also make out and transmit, to the secre tary of the treasury, an abstract containing the whole number of claims, in four distinct classes; the first of which shall contain a specification of the nature and extent of complete titles, the time when, and by whom issued, and to whom, with the date of any transfer, the name of the person transferring and to whom transferred, and where the conditions of such grant or patent have been complied with; the second shall contain all claims founded on written evidence and not embraced in the first class, and where the conditions on which the perfection thereof into complete titles may have depended, according to the laws and ordinances of the Spanish government, are shown to have been complied with; the third class shall consist of claims founded on habitation, occupation or cultivation, previously to 22d of February 1819, and in the manner which would have entitled the claimants to a title under the government exercising the sove reign power over that tract of country, and which, in their opinion, ought to be confirmed; the fourth class shall consist of those claims, which, in the opinion of the register and receiver, ought not to be confirmed: Provided, That nothing contained in this act shall be considered as a pledge on the part of congress to confirm any claim thus reported. Ibid. 23. Notice to be given of meetings at Natchitoches. 8 May 1822 8 1. 3 Stat. 699. Claims under Confirmed. 479. It shall be the duty of the register and receiver aforesaid, after suitable notice to claimants, of the time and place of their meeting, and the object thereof, be given by them, to hold their session at Natchitoches, so long as may be necessary for the perform ance of the duties herein prescribed;(b) and shall be allowed the sum of five hundred dollars each, as a full compensation for the services required to be performed by this act. 66 V. LOTS IN MOBILE. 480. All the claims to lots in the town of Mobile, founded on complete grants derived from either the French, British or Spanish authorities, reported to the secretary of the treasury by the commissioner for the district east of Pearl river, appointed under the complete grants authority of An act for ascertaining the titles and claims to land in that part of Louisiana which lies east of the island of New Orleans," (c) or which were so reported by the register and receiver, acting as commissioners, under the act of the 3d of March 1819,(d) entitled "An act for adjusting claims to land, and establishing land offices, in the districts east of the island of New Orleans," which are contained in the reports of the commissioner, or of the register and receiver acting as commissioners, and which are, in (a) By act 26 May 1824, the powers and duties of the register and receiver of the land office south of Red river. under this act, were extended to all that tract of country, known and called by the name of the neutral territory, lying east of the present western boundary of Louisiana, and west of the limits to which the land commissioners had theretofore examined titles and claims to their opinion, valid, agreeably to the laws, usages and customs of the said governments, be and the same are hereby recognised as valid. 8 May 1822. 481. All the claims to lots in the town aforesaid, reported as aforesaid, and contained Ibid. 2 2. in the reports of the commissioner, or of the register and receiver acting as commission- Incomplete ers, founded on orders of survey, requettes, permissions to settle, or other written evi- grants, seported favorably, condences of claims, derived from either the French, British or Spanish authorities, and firmed. bearing date prior to the 20th of December 1803, and which ought, in the opinion of the commissioner, to be confirmed, shall be confirmed in the same manner as if the title had been completed. auces confirmed. 482. All the claims to lots in the town aforesaid, reported as aforesaid, and con- Ibid. 23. tained in the reports of the commissioner, or of the register and receiver acting as com- Claims founded missioners, founded on private conveyances which have passed through the office of the on lost convey commandant, or other evidence, but founded, as the claimants allege, on grants lost by time and accident, and which ought, in the opinion of the commissioner, to be confirmed, shall be confirmed in the same manner as if the titles were in existence: Provided, That, in all such claims where the quantity claimed is not ascertained, no one claim shall be confirmed for a quantity exceeding seven thousand two hundred square feet. Ibid. 4. who have built 483. For all the other claims to lots in the town aforesaid, reported as aforesaid, which are contained in the report of the register and receiver, and which, by the said report, Donations to appear to have been built upon or improved and occupied, on or before the 15th day of other claimante April 1813, the claimants shall be entitled to grants therefor as donations: Provided, on their lots. That in all such claims, where the quantity claimed is not ascertained, no one claim shall be confirmed for a quantity exceeding seven thousand two hundred square feet: And provided also, That all the confirmations and grants provided to be made by this act, shall amount only to a relinquishment for ever, on the part of the United States, of all right and title whatever to the lots of land so confirmed or granted. Ibid. 2 5. 484. The registers and receivers of the land offices at St. Helena Court-house and at Jackson Court-house, respectively, shall have the same powers to direct the manner in Decisions bewhich all lands confirmed by this act shall be located and surveyed, and also to decide tween conflicting claimants. between the parties in all conflicting and interfering claims, (a) as are given by the act entitled An act supplementary to the several acts for adjusting the claims to land, and establishing land offices, in the districts east of the island of New Orleans." VI. PRE-EMPTION RIGHTS. 2 Stat. 663. firmed claims to lands. 485. Every person who, either by virtue of a French or Spanish grant recognised by 3 March 1811 2 5. the laws of the United States, or under a claim confirmed by the commissioners appointed for the purpose of ascertaining the rights of persons claiming lands in the territory of Owners of conOrleans, owns a tract of land bordering on any river, creek, bayou or watercourse, (b) have right of pre in the said territory, and not exceeding in depth forty arpens, French measure, shall be emption to back entitled to a preference in becoming the purchaser of any vacant tract of land, adjacent to, and back of his own tract, not exceeding forty arpens, French measure, in depth, nor in quantity of land that which is contained in his own tract, at the same price, and on the same terms and conditions, as are, or may be, provided by law for the other public lands in the said territory. And the principal deputy surveyor of each district Duties of surrespectively shall be and he is hereby authorized, under the superintendence of the sur- veyor. veyor of the public lands south of the state of Tennessee, to cause to be surveyed the tracts claimed by virtue of this section; and in all cases where by reason of bends in the river, lake, creek, bayou or watercourse, bordering on the tract, and of adjacent claims of a similar nature, each claimant cannot obtain a tract equal in quantity to the adjacent tract already owned by him, to divide the vacant land applicable to that object between the several claimants, in such manner as to him may appear most equitable:(c) Provided however, That the right of pre-emption granted by this section shall not extend Restrictions. so far in depth as to include lands fit for cultivation, bordering on another river, creek, bayou or watercourse. (d) And every person entitled to the benefit of this section shall, Conditions. within three years after the date of this act, (e) deliver to the register of the proper land (a) They were not authorized to decide on conflicting locations, on titles under perfect grants, but only where the titles were incomplete. Doe v. City of Mobile, 9 How. 451. Doe v. Eslava, Ibid. 449. (b) The right to enter back lots, is not limited to proprietors whose lands front on navigable streams. If there be a perennial flow of water, they may be rivers, creeks, bayous, or water courses, within the meaning of the law. 3 Opin. 336. The plats returned to the general land office by surveyors-general, are evidence of the existence and general character of rivers, creeks, &c., which the law requires to be marked upon them, and may be regarded as affording full proof for the purposes of settling preemptions and locations. Ibid. 420. (c) A division of such back land, made, in good faith, by the surveyor, is final and conclusive upon the rights of the respective parties, and cannot be disturbed by a court of justice. Haydel v. Dufresne, 17 How. 23. Where an owner of land, fronting on the Mississippi, obtained a patent certificate for back land, which he was not entitled to, either by the act of any public surveyor, or by his equitable right to a protraction of his side lines; it was held, that his title was invalid, as against an adjoining proprietor, who had a right to enter and purchase the land, under the act 15 June 1832, and did so enter and purchase the same. Jourdan v. Barrett, 4 Ibid. 169. (d) This proviso refers only to lands bordering on some navigable water, and which are also fit for cultivation. Surgett v. Lapice, 8 How. 48. (e) Time extended for two years, by act 11 May 1820 7. 3 Stat. 574. It was revived for the term of eighteen months, by act 29 February 1823. 3 Stat. 729. The same provision was re-enacted and extended to all persons owning lands by virtue of any title derived under the United States. by act 15 June 1832. 4 Stat. 534. Every person entitled to pre-emption, under this latter act, was required to give notice of his claim within three years after the |