United States Statutes at Large/Volume 4/20th Congress/2nd Session/Chapter 40
Chap. XL.—An Act confirming the reports of the register and receiver of the land office for the district of St. Stephens, in the state of Alabama, and for other purposes.
Certain land claims in Alabama confirmed.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all the claims to lands and town lots contained in the abstracts denominated A, number one, D, number one, E, number one, F, number one, reported to the Treasury Department by the register and receiver of the land office for the district of Saint Stephens, in the state of Alabama, under the provisions of the act of Congress of the third of March, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven,Act of March 3, 1827, ch. 78. be, and the same are hereby, confirmed to the extend therein recommended for confirmation.
Others confirmed.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That all the claims contained in special reports, numbered one to four, inclusive, and in a supplementary report of the said register and receiver, made as aforesaid, be, and the same are hereby, confirmed.
Certain claims to be filed with register and receiver at St. Stephens.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That every person or persons, or the legal representatives of such person or persons, who, on the fifteenth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and thirteen, had, for ten consecutive years prior to that day, been in possession of a tract of land, not claimed by any other person, and not exceeding the quantity contained in one league square; and who were, on that day, resident in that part of Louisiana situated east of Pearl river, and west of the Perdido, and Register and receiver to record evidence in support of claims.
If sufficient evidence, claims to be recommended for confirmation.
Proviso.below the thirty-first degree of north latitude, and had still possession of such tract of land, shall be authorized to file their claim in the manner required in other cases, before the said register and receiver, at Saint Stephens, for their decision thereon. And it shall be the duty of the said register and receiver to hear and record the evidence offered to support such claim; and if the same shall be established by sufficient proof, agreeably to the provisions of this section, the said officers shall, in their report, recommend the confirmation of the right to such claim, as in other cases: Provided, That no more land shall be reported for confirmation, by virtue of this section, than is actually claimed by the party, or than is contained within the acknowledged and ascertained boundaries of the tract claimed; nor shall the provision of this section authorize the confirmation of any land heretofore sold by the United States.
Operation of confirmation.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the confirmation of all the 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 tracts of land and town lots so confirmed, and that nothing herein contained shall be construed to affect the claim or claims of any individual or body politic or corporate, if any such there be.
Register and receiver to direct mode of locating and surveying confirmed claims.Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That the register and receiver of the land office at Saint Stephens be, and they are hereby, invested with power to direct the manner in which all claims to lands and town lots, which have been confirmed by this and former acts of Congress, in their district, shall be located and surveyed, having regard to the laws, usages, and customs of the Spanish government on that subject, and also the mode adopted by the government of the United States, in surveying the claims confirmed by virtue of the second and third sections of an act of Congress, entitledAct of March 3, 1803, ch. 27.
Act of May 8, 1822, ch. 128. “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 the third of March, one thousand eight hundred and three; and that so much of the fourth section of the “Act supplementary to the several acts for adjusting the claims to land and establishing land offices in the district east of the island of New Orleans,” approved the eighth of May, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-two, as interferes with the power granted to the register and receiver of the land office at Saint Stephens, be, and the same is hereby, repealed.
Certificates and patents to be granted.Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That certificates of confirmation and patents shall be granted for all lands and town lots confirmed by virtue of the provisions of this act, in the same manner as patents are granted for lands and town lots confirmed under former acts of Congress.
Compensation to receiver at St. Stephens, for certain services.
Act of March 3, 1827, ch. 78.Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, authorized and empowered to make such compensation, not exceeding two hundred and fifty dollars, in addition to the sum already paid, to the present receiver of the land office at Saint Stephens, as to him may seem a just and proper equivalent for the services rendered by him in the discharge of the duties under the provisions of an act of Congress passed on the third day of March, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven.
Approved, March 2, 1829.