United States Statutes at Large/Volume 4/22nd Congress/1st Session/Chapter 65
Chap. LXV.—An Act supplementary to the several laws for the sale of public lands.[1]
All public lands offered at private sale may be purchased in fractions of sections, &c.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the first day of May next, all the public lands of the United States, when offered at private sale, may be purchased at the option of the purchaser, either in entire sections, half sections, quarter sections, half-quarter sections, or quarter-quarter sections; and in every case of a division of a half-quarter section, the line for the division thereof shall run east and west, and the corners and contents of quarter-quarter sections, which may thereafter be sold, shall be ascertained as nearly as may be, in the manner, and on the principles, directed and prescribed by the second section of an act, entitledAct of Feb. 11, 1805, ch. 14. “An act concerning the mode of surveying the public lands of the United States,” passed on the eleventh day of February, eighteen hundred and five; and fractional sections, containing fewer or more than one hundred and sixty acres, shall in like manner, as nearly as may be practicable, be subdivided into quarter-quarter sections, under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury:Proviso. Provided, That this act shall not be construed to alter any special provision made by law for the sale of land in town lots: And, provided also,Proviso. That no person shall be permitted to enter more than one half-quarter section of land under this act, in quarter-quarter section, in his own name, or in the name of any other person, and in no case, unless he intends it for cultivation, or for the use of his improvement. And the person making application to make an entry under this act shall file his and her affidavit, under such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe, that he or she makes the entry in his or her own name, for his or her own benefit, and not in trust for another:Proviso. Provided, further, That all actual settlers, being house-keepers upon the public lands, shall have the right of pre-emption to enter, within six months after the passage of this act, not exceeding the quantity of one half-quarter section, under the provisions of this act, to include his or their improvements, under such regulations as have been, or may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury; and in cases where two persons shall live upon the same quarter section, subject to be entered under the provisions of this act, each shall have the right to enter that quarter-quarter section which includes his improvements.
Approved, April 5, 1832.
- ↑ Notes of acts relative to the sale of the public lands, vol. ii. p. 73.