EIGHTEENTH CONGRESS. Sess. I. Ch. 188. 1824.

31

Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That so much of the seventhsection of the act of Congress , of the third of March, one thousandeight hundred and twenty-three, entitled “ An act amending and supple-mentary to the act, entitled ‘ An act to provide for the survey and dispo-sal of the public lands in Florida, ’ ” as prevents the appointment of asurveyor for Florida , until the commissioners shall have decided and re-ported on the private claims in said territory, be, and the same is hereby,repealed; and the eastern and western land districts in said territory shallbe divided and separated by the Suwaney river, and not by the ancientline of division between the provinces of East and West Florida , as pre-scribed by the eighth section of the act aforesaid.

Approved, May 24, 1824.

Chap. CXXXVIII .—Jin Jld supplementary to an act, approved on the third day

of March, one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, entitled “ An act providingfor the correction of errors in making entries of land at the land offices .”

He it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the UnitedStates of America, in Congress assembled, That where any mistake, inrelation to the correct numbers of any tract of land, not exceeding inquantity one half section, may have been heretofore made by any pur-chaser of the public lands of the United States at private sale, and whereone or more payments shall have been made by the person making theentry, on any tract entered by mistake, and where such payment has notbeen forfeited, previously to the passing of this act, for a failure to com-plete the payments on such tract; and where the purchaser or purchasersmay not, in relation to said tract, have in any way taken advantageof the provisions of the act of the second of March, eighteen hundredand twenty-one, entitled “ An act for the relief of the purchasers of thepublic lands prior to the first day of July, eighteen hundred and twenty,”or of the act supplementary thereto, or the act continuing in force saidsupplementary act, and where the person or persons making the purchasehas not, in ahy way, transferred his, her, or their, right to the certificateof purchase, or the tract so purchased, and where no patent shall haveissued for the tract so erroneously purchased; and, also, in all cases ofan entry hereafter made, of a tract of land not intended to be entered, bya mistake of the true numbers of the tract intended to be entered, wherethe tract, thus erroneously entered, does not, in quantity, exceed one halfsection ; and where the certificate of the original purchaser or purchasershas not been assigned, or the right of the original purchaser or purchasersin any way transferred, and where six months from the time the entryshall have been made, may not have elapsed, or the patent issued for thetract erroneously entered, the purchaser or purchasers, or, in case of his,her, or their death, the legal representatives, (not being assignees ortransferees,) may, either in the cases of entry before or after the passingof this act, and in any case coming within its provisions, file his, her, ortheir own affidavit or affidavits, with such additional evidence as can beprocured, showing the mistake of the numbers of the tract intended tobe entered, and that every reasonable precaution and exertion had beenused to avoid the error, with the register and receiver of the land districtwithin which such tract of land is situated, who shall transmit the evi-dence submitted to them in each case, together with their written opinionor opinions, both as to [the] existence of the mistake, and the credibilityof each person testifying thereto, to the commissioner of the general landoffice, who, if he be entirely satisfied [that] the mistake has been made,and that every reasonable precaution and exertion had been made toavoid it, shall be authorized to change the entry, and transfer the pay-ment from the tract erroneously entered, to that intended to be en-tered, if unsold; but, if sold, to any other tract liable to entry: Pro-

Part of the 7thsection of theact of March 3,1823, ch. 29, re-pealed.

Statute I.May 24, 1824.

Act of March3, 1819, ch. 98.

Any mistakewhich has beenmade by theperson makingthe entry in re-lation to the cor-rect numbers ofany tract of landnot exceedingone half section,on satisfactoryevidence beingproduced to thecommissionerof the generalland office, heshall cause theentry to bechanged, &c.

Act of March2, 1821, ch. 12.

N

Proviso.