Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 4.djvu/331



be, and the same are hereby confirmed. The confirmations authorized by this act shall operate only as a release of any claim had by the United States, and not to affect the interest of third persons.

. And be it further enacted, That the said register and receiver shall continue to examine and decide the remaining claims in East Florida, subject to the same limitations and in conformity with the provisions of the several acts of Congress, for the adjustment of private land claims in Florida, until the first Monday in December next, when they shall make a final report of all the claims, aforesaid, in said district, to the Secretary of the Treasury; and it shall never be lawful, after that time, for any of the claimants to exhibit any further evidence in support of said claims. And the said register and receiver, and clerk, shall receive the compensation provided in the, to be paid out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated: Provided, That the extra compensation of one thousand dollars, each, which is hereby allowed to the register and receiver, for services under and by the provisions of this act, shall not be paid until a report of all the claims be made to the Secretary of the Treasury.

. And be it further enacted, That the proper accounting officers of the treasury be, and they are hereby, authorized to adjust and pay the accounts of the register and receiver, acting as commissioners, their contingent expenses, and the receiver the compensation heretofore allowed for bringing their reports to Washington, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.

. And be it further enacted, That all claims to land within the territory of Florida, embraced by the treaty between Spain and the United States of the twenty-second of February, one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, which shall not be decided and finally settled under the foregoing provisions of this act, containing a greater quantity of land than the commissioners were authorized to decide, and above the amount confirmed by this act: and which have not been reported, as antedated or forged by said commissioners, or register and receiver acting as such, shall be received and adjudicated, by the judge of the superior court of the district within which the land lies, upon the petition of the claimant, according to the forms, rules, regulations, conditions, restrictions, and limitations prescribed to the district judge, and claimants in the state of Missouri, by act of Congress, approved May twenty-sixth, eighteen hundred and twenty-four, entitled “:” Provided, That nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize said judges to take cognisance of any claim annulled by the said treaty, or the decree ratifying the same by the king of Spain, nor any claim not presented to the commissioners or register and receiver, in conformity to the several acts of Congress, providing for the settlement of private land claims in Florida.

. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the claimants to lands, as aforesaid, to take an appeal, as directed in the, from the decision of the judge of the district, to the Supreme Court of the United States, within four months after the decision shall be pronounced; and the said judges shall each be entitled to receive the extra compensation given to the district judge of Missouri, for the performance of the duties required by this act, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.

. And be it further enacted, That so much of the said act, the provisions of which, so far as they are applicable, and are not altered by this act, are hereby extended to the territory of Florida, as subjects the claimants to the payment of costs in any case where the decision may be in favour of the claimants, be, and the same is hereby, repealed; and