Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 3.djvu/570



before the twentieth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and three, and the land claimed to have been cultivated and inhabited, on or before that day, shall be confirmed in the same manner as if the title had been completed: Provided, That in all such claims, where the plat and certificate of survey, made prior to the fifteenth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and thirteen, under the authority of the Spanish government, in pursuance of such claim, has not been filed with the said commissioners, such claim shall not be confirmed to any one person for more than twelve hundred and eighty acres; and that for all the other claims to land comprised in the reports aforesaid, and which ought, in the opinion of the commissioners, to be confirmed; the claimant to such lands shall be entitled to grant therefor as a donation: Provided, That such grant, as a donation, shall not be made to any one person for more than twelve hundred and eighty acres; which confirmation of the said incomplete titles and grants of donations, hereby provided to be made, shall amount only to a relinquishment forever, on the part of the United States, of any claim 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.

. And be it further enacted, That 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 in the list of actual settlers, or their legal representatives, not having any written evidence of claim reported as aforesaid, shall, where it appears, by the said 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 fifteenth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and thirteen, 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.

. And be it further enacted, That 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 twelfth day of April, one thousand eight hundred and fourteen, shall have inhabited or cultivated a tract of land in either of the said districts, not claimed by 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.

. And be it further enacted, That 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 States therein, a land office shall be established, in each of the said districts, to be kept, for the western district, at St. Helena Courthouse, and for the eastern district, at Jackson Courthouse; 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, be the 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.

. And be it further enacted, That every person or persons, claiming lands in either of the said districts, whose claims have not