Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 4.djvu/77



. And be it further enacted, That so much of the seventh section of the act of Congress, of the third of March, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-three, entitled “,’” as prevents the appointment of a surveyor of Florida, until the commissioners shall have decided and reported on the private claims in said territory, be, and the same is hereby, repealed; and the eastern and western land districts in said territory shall be divided and separated by the Suwaney river, and not by the ancient line of division between the provinces of East and West Florida, as prescribed by the eighth section of the act aforesaid.

, May 24, 1824.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That where any mistake, in relation to the correct numbers of any tract of land, not exceeding in quantity one half section, may have been heretofore made by any purchaser of the public lands of the United States at private sale, and where one or more payments shall have been made by the person making the entry, on any tract entered by mistake, and where such payment has not been forfeited, previously to the passing of this act, for a failure to complete the payments on such tract; and where the purchaser or purchasers may not, in relation to said tract, have in any way taken advantage of the provisions of the act of the second of March, eighteen hundred and twenty-one, entitled “,” or of the, or the , and where the person or persons making the purchase has not, in any way, transferred his, her, or their, right to the certificate of purchase, or the tract so purchased, and where no patent shall have issued for the tract so erroneously purchased; and, also, in all cases of an entry hereafter made, of a tract of land not intended to be entered, by a mistake of the true numbers of the tract intended to be entered, where the tract, thus erroneously entered, does not, in quantity, exceed one half section; and where the certificate of the original purchaser or purchasers has not been assigned, or the right of the original purchaser or purchasers in any way transferred, and where six months from the time the entry shall have been made, may not have elapsed, or the patent issued for the tract erroneously entered, the purchaser or purchasers, or, in case of his, her, or their death, the legal representatives, (not being assignees or transferees,) may, either in the cases of entry before or after the passing of this act, and in any case coming within its provisions, file his, her, or their own affidavit or affidavits, with such additional evidence as can be procured, showing the mistake of the numbers of the tract intended to be entered, and that every reasonable precaution and exertion had been used to avoid the error, with the register and receiver of the land district within which such tract of land is situated, who shall transmit the evidence submitted to them in each case, together with their written opinion or opinions, both as to [the] existence of the mistake, and the credibility of each person testifying thereto, to the commissioner of the general land office, who, if he be entirely satisfied [that] the mistake has been made, and that every reasonable precaution and exertion had been made to avoid it, shall be authorized to change the entry, and transfer the payment from the tract erroneously entered, to that intended to be entered, if unsold; but, if sold, to any other tract liable to entry: Provided,