when they shall take the claim into consideration.[1] And if such person shall neglect to deliver such notice in writing of his claim, together with a plat as aforesaid, or cause to be recorded such written evidence of the same, all his right, so far as the same is derived from the first two sections of this act, shall become void, and for ever thereafter be barred; nor shall any incomplete grant, warrant, order of survey, deed of conveyance, or other written evidence, which shall not be recorded as above directed, ever after be considered or admitted as evidence in any court of the United States, against any grant derived from the United States. The said register and recorder shall commence the duties hereby enjoined on them, on or before the first day of September next, and continue to discharge the same, at such place in their respective districts, as the President of the United States shall direct.
Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That two persons to be appointed by the President alone, for the district of Louisiana, and two persons to be in the same manner appointed for each of the districts directed by this act to be laid off in the territory of Orleans, shall, together with the register or recorder of the district for which they may be appointed, be commissioners for the purpose of ascertaining within their respective districts, the rights of persons claiming under any French or Spanish grant as aforesaid, or under the two first sections of this act. The said commissioners shall, previous to their entering on the duties of their appointment, respectively take and subscribe the following oath or affirmation, before some person qualified to administer the same: “I do solemnly swear, (or affirm,) that I will impartially exercise and discharge the duties imposed on me by an act of Congress, intituled ‘An act for ascertaining and adjusting the titles and claims to land within the territory of Orleans, and the district of Louisiana,’The oath of office which they must take.Commissioners to meet in their respective districts at such places as may be the residence of the recorders, registers, &c. on or before the 1st December, and not to adjourn until they shall have finished their business.
Powers of the boards of commissioners.
To administer oaths, compel the attendance of witnesses, demand all public records of grants of land.
To take transcripts of records.
To decide summarily according to justice and equity on all complete titles under French or Spanish grants.
Decisions of the boards to be laid before Congress.
No title under a grant subsequent to October 1, 1800, to be recognized.
The boards to appoint a clerk.
His duties.
Transcripts of decisions in favor of claimants to be delivered to the surveyor-general, and the Secretary of the Treasury.
Reports of rejected claims likewise to be made, and filed in the proper land-office, and to be laid by the Secretary of the Treasury before Congress.
Grants antedated or otherwise defective, not to be considered as conclusive evidence of title.
Compensations of the commissioners’ clerks, &c.
Their oaths of office, &c. to the best of my skill and judgment.” It shall be the duty of the said commissioners to meet in their respective districts, at such place as the President shall have directed therein, for the residence of the register or recorder, on or before the first day of December next, and they shall not adjourn to any other place, nor for a longer time than three days, until the first day of March, one thousand eight hundred and six, and until they shall have completed the business of their appointment. Each board, or a majority of each board, shall, in their respective districts, have power to hear and decide in a summary manner, all matters respecting such claims, also to administer oaths, to compel the attendance of, and examine witnesses, and such other testimony as may be adduced, to demand and obtain from the proper officer and officers, all public records in which grants of land, warrants, or orders of survey, or any other evidence of claims to land, derived from either the French or Spanish governments, may have been recorded; to take transcripts of such record or records, or of any part thereof; to have access to all other records of a public nature, relative to the granting, sale, transfer, of titles of lands, within their respective districts; and to decide in a summary way, according to justice and equity, on all claims filed with the register or recorder, in conformity with the provisions of this act, and on all complete French or Spanish grants, the evidence of which, though not thus filed, may be found of record on the public records of such grants; which decisions shall be laid before Congress in the manner herein after directed, and be subject to their determination thereon: Provided however, that nothing in this act contained, shall be construed so as to recognize any grant or incomplete title, bearing date subsequent to the first day of October, one thousand eight hundred, or to authorize the commissioners aforesaid to make any decision thereon.
- ↑ By the 3rd section of the act of February 28, 1806, chap. 11, the claimants to lands within the territory of Louisiana, whose tracts have not been surveyed by the officers of the Spanish government prior to 20th December, 1803, are exempted from these provisions.
