claims, together with the written evidence and other testimony in support of the same, to the register and receiver of the land office at New Orleans; and it shall be the duty of the said register and receiver to record, in a book to be kept for that purpose, the notice of every claim so preferred, together with the evidence; for which service they shall receive a compensation from the claimants, at the rate of twenty-five cents for every hundred words.

2. And be it further enacted, That the said register and receiver shall, at or before the beginning of the next session of congress thereafter, make to the secretary of the treasury, a report of the claims which may have been preferred before them, together with the testimony, their opinion of the validity of the claims, and such other information respecting them as may be in their possession; which report shall, by the secretary of the treasury be laid before congress as soon as practicable, with his opinion touching the validity of the respective claims: Provided, That no claims shall be therein recommended for confirmation, for more than the quantity contained in a league square.

§ 3. And be it further enacted, That the sales of land in the said southeastern district, by public auction or private entry, shall be suspended until after the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three.

§4. And be it further enacted, That all persons who, before the first Monday of November, one thousand eight hundred and thirty, held lands in the said southeastern district, by claims unconfirmed, but which were embraced in the principles of the previous laws for the adjustment of claims in that part of the territory of Orleans or state of Louisiana, which lands may have been sold at the public sale which took place at New Orleans on the first Monday of November, one thousand eight hundred and thirty, under the president's proclamation of the fifth of June, one thousand eight hundred and thirty, may avail themselves of this act as though their lands had not been sold: and the said register and receiver, shall make a separate report of the cases of this class; and if it shall appear to the secretary of the treasury that all or any of the claims contained therein, although unconfirmed, are embraced in the intent and meaning of the previous laws for the adjustment of land claims as aforesaid, he is hereby authorised to repay to the persons, or the legal representative of the persons who purchased, such sum or sums as they may have paid for lands of this description, bought by them at the said public sale.

§ 5, And be it further enacted, That in addition to the compensation hereinbefore provided, the said register and receiver shall receive, for the services required of them by this act, the sum of five hundred dollars each, to be paid by the secretary of the treasury out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated. [Approved, July 4, 1832.]

[ *531 ] * CHAP. 473.-An act in reference to pre-emption rights in the southeastern district of Louisiana.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That the pre-emption rights granted by the register and receiver of the land office at New Orleans, to certain individuals claiming the same, in the southeastern land district of Louisiana, under the act of Congress approved fifth April, eighteen hundred and thirty-two, entitled "An act supplementary to the several laws for the sale of public lands," and the act approved fifteenth June, eighteen hundred and thirtytwo, entitled "An act to authorize the inhabitants of the state of Louisiana to enter the back lands," be, and they are hereby, confirmed; and the register of the land office is hereby directed to issue patent certificates accordingly.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the resurvey made under the supervision of the surveyor general of Louisiana, of certain lands on the bayou St. Vincent, in sections designated as numbers one hundred and ten, and one hundred and forty-three, in township thirteen, of range fourteen east, situate in the southeastern district of Louisiana, and which resurvey purports to include the improve ments of the actual settlers within its limits, claiming the right of pre-emption thereto under the act of fifth April, eighteen hundred and thirty-two, aforesaid, be, and the same is hereby, confirmed; and payments may be made and patents issued in accordance therewith. [Approved, June 28, 1834.]

[ *535 ]* CHAP. 480.-An act for the final adjustment of claims to lands in the State of Louisiana.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That any person or persons having claims to lands in the state of Louisiana, whose claims have been recognised by former laws as valid, but which have not heretofore been confirmed to the grantees or their legal representatives, be, and they are hereby, authorized to present their claims to the register and receiver of the land office in which the land may lie, within two years from the passage of this act, together with the written and other testimony in support of the same, and it shall be the duty of the register and receiver to record in a book to be kept by them for that purpose, the notice of every claim so preferred, together with the evidence in support of the same; and the said register and receiver are hereby further authorized to receive any evidence for and on behalf of other individuals who may resist the confirmation of any such claim either on their own behalf, or that of the United States, and cause to be taken any evidence which shall be deemed necessary and proper by them to have such

claim properly and justly settled, and to have the same likewise recorded in said book, for which service, in recording the applicant's title papers and evidence, they shall be entitled to receive from said applicant at the rate of twenty-five cents for every hundred words.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the registers and receivers of the land offices, at or before the beginning of each session of congress hereafter, to make to the secretary of the treasury a report of the claims which may have been presented before them, together with the testimony, accompanied by their opinions of the validity of each claim, and such other information respecting them as may be in their possession, which said report, shall, by the secretary of the treasury, be laid before congress as soon as practicable, with the opinion of the [ *536 ] commissioners of the general land office, touching the validity of the respective claims. [Approved, February 6, 1835.]

CHAP. 481.-An act supplementary to an act, entitled "An act to authorise the inhabitants of the state of Louisiana to enter the back lands."

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the time given by the act to which this is a supplement, to the owners of lands bordering on any of the rivers, creeks, bayous or other water courses of the state of Louisiana, to become the purchasers by preference, of the back tracts adjacent to those owned by them, be, and the same is hereby, extended one year from the fifteenth of June next. [Approved, Feb. 24, 1835.]

* CHAP. 505.—An act confirming claims to land in the State of Louisiana. [ *556 ]

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the decisions in favour of land claimants made by the register and receiver of the land office in New Orleans, under date the first of December, eighteen hundred and thirty-five, by virtue of an act entitled "An act for the final adjustment of claims to land in the state of Louisiana," which have been laid before congress at the present session by the secretary of the treasury, be, and the same are hereby, confirmed, with the exception of the claims * of [ *557 ] Narcisse Carmouche, Julie Alexandre and Martin Major, Nicholas Bara, and Francis Menard, saving and reserving, however, to all adverse claimants, the right to assert the validity of their claims in a court of justice. [Approved, July 4, 1836.]

LAWS OF UNITED STATES

RELATING TO

LAND TITLES IN MISSOURI.†

[ *216 ] *CHAP. 140.-An act making further provision for settling the claims to land in the territory of Missouri.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the rights, titles and claims, to town or village lots, out lots, common field lots and commons, in, adjoining and belonging to the several towns or villages of Portage des Sioux, St. Charles, St. Louis, St. Ferdinand, Villa a Robert, Carondelet, St. Genevieve, New Madrid, New Bourbon, Little Prairie and Arkansas, in the territory of Missouri, which lots have been inhabited, cultivated or possessed, prior to the twentieth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and three, shall be and the same are hereby confirmed to the inhabitants of the respective towns or villages aforesaid, according to [*217 ] their several right or rights in * common thereto : Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to affect the rights of any persons claiming the same lands, or any part thereof, whose claims have been confirmed by the board of commissioners for adjusting and settling claims to land in the said territory. And it shall be the duty of the principal deputy surveyor for the said territory as soon as may be, to survey, or cause to be surveyed and marked, (where the same has not already been done according to law) the out boundary lines of the said several towns or villages so as to include the out lots, common field lots and commons, thereto respectively belonging. And he shall make out plats of the surveys, which he shall transmit to the surveyor general who shall forward copies of the said plats to the commissioner of the general land office, and to the recorder of land titles; the expense of surveying the said out boundary lines shall be paid by the United States out

The * folios refer to the pages in the Land Laws, printed by order of the Senate.

of any moneys appropriated for surveying the public lands; Provided, That the whole expense shall not exceed three dollars for every mile that shall be actually surveyed and marked.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That all town or village lots, out lots, or common field lots, included in such surveys, which are not rightfully owned or claimed by any private individuals, or held as commons belonging to such towns or villages, or that the president of the United States may not think proper to reserve for military purposes, shall be, and the same are hereby reserved for the support of schools in the respective towns or villages aforesaid: Provided, That the whole quantity of land contained in the lots reserved for the support of schools in any one town or village, shall not exceed one-twentieth part of the whole lands included in the general survey of such town or village.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That every claim to a donation of lands in the said territory, in virtue of settlement and cultivation, which is embraced by the report of the commissioners, transmitted to the secretary of the treasury, and which by the said report, shall appear not to have been confirmed, merely because permission, by the proper Spanish officer, to settle, has not been duly proven; or because the tract claimed, although inhabited, was not cultivated on the twentieth of December, one thousand eight hundred and three; or not to have been confirmed on account of both said causes; the same shall be confirmed, in case it shall appear that the tract so claimed was inhabited by the claimant, or some one for his use, prior to the twentieth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and three as aforesaid, and cultivated in eight months thereafter, subject, however, to every other limitation and restriction prescribed by former laws in respect to such claims; and in all cases where it shall appear by the said report or other records of the board that claims to land have not been confirmed merely on the ground that the claim was for a greater quantity than eight hundred arpents, French measure, every such claim [ *218 ] to the extent of eight hundred arpents, shall be confirmed.

*

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the recorder of land titles for the said territory shall, without delay, make an extract from the books of the said board of commissioners of all the claims to land which are, by the preceding section, directed to be confirmed, a copy of which he shall transmit to the commissioner of the general land office: and he shall furnish the principal deputy surveyor with a proper description of the tracts so to be confirmed, wherein the quantity, locality, boundaries and connexion, when practicable, with each other, and those tracts that have been confirmed by the board of commissioners shall be stated. And whenever plats of the surveys as hereinafter directed, shall have been returned to the said recorder's office, it shall be his duty to issue for each tract to be confirmed, as aforesaid, to the person entitled thereto, a certificate in favour of the party, which shall be transmitted to the commissioner of the general land office; and if it shall appear to the satis