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EIGHTEEx\TH CONGRESS. Sess.I. Ch. 173. 1824.

Act to be con-strued^so as notto impair anyother remedythan the one in-tended.

Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That nothing herein contained, shallbe deemed or construed to take away or impair any other remedy whichthe United States may be now entitled to have against the person or pro-perty of debtors, to enforce the satisfaction of judgments obtained, orwhich may hereafter be obtained.

Approved, May 26, 1824.

.Statute I.May 26, 1824.

Persons claim-ing lands &c. inthat part of thelate province ofLouisiana , nowincluded withinthe state ofMissouri , byvirtue of anyFrench or Span-ish grant, &c.legally made,and before the10th March,1804, to presentpetitions to thedistrict court ofthe state of Mis-souri .

Chap. C LXXIII .—Jin Act enabling the claimants to lands within the limits ofthe state of Missouri and territory of Arkansas to institute proceedings to trythe validity of their claims. («)

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the UnitedStates of America, in Congress assembled, That it shall and may be law-ful for any person or persons, or their legal representatives, claiminglands, tenements, or hereditaments, in that part of the late province ofLouisiana which is now included within the state of Missouri , by virtueof any French or Spanish grant, concession, warrant, or order of sur-vey, legally made, granted, or issued, before the tenth day of March,one thousand eight hundred and four, by the proper authorities, to anyperson or persons resident in the province of Louisiana , at the date there-of, or on or before the tenth day of March, one thousand eight hundredand four, and which was protected or secured by the treaty between theUnited States of America and the French republic, of the thirtieth dayof April, one thousand eight hundred and three, and which might havebeen perfected into a complete title, under and in conformity to the laws,usages, and customs, of the government under which the same origi-nated, had not the sovereignty of the country been transferred to theUnited States , in each and every such case, it shall and may be lawful forsuch person or persons, or their legal representatives, to present a peti-tion to the district court of the state of Missouri , setting forth, fully,plainly, and substantially, the nature of his, her, or their claim to the lands,tenements, or hereditaments, and particularly stating the date of thegrant, concession, warrant, or order of survey, under which they claim,the name or names of any person or persons claiming the same, or anypart thereof, by a different title from that of the petitioner; or holdingpossession of any part thereof, otherwise than by the lease or permissionof the petitioner; and, also, if the United States be interested on accountof the lands within the limits of such claim, not claimed by any otherperson than the petitioner; also, the quantity claimed, and the bounda-ries thereof, when the same may have been designated by boundaries;by whom issued, and whether the said claim has been submitted tothe examination of either of the tribunals which have been constitutedby law for the adjustment of land titles in the present limits of the stateof Missouri , and by them reported on unfavourably, or recommended forconfirmation; praying, in said petition, that the validity of such title, orclaim, may be inquired into and decided by the said court; and the saidcourt is hereby authorized and required to hold and exercise jurisdic-tion of every petition, presented in conformity with the provisions of thisact, and to hear and determine the same, on the petition, in case no an-swer or answers be filed after due notice: or on the petition, and the an-swer or answers of any person or persons interested in preventing anyclaim from being established: and the answer of the district attorney ofthe United States , where he may have filed an answer, according to theevidence which shall be adduced by the petitioner, by any person in-terested in preventing the decree of the court in favour of the title of

(a) See notes to act of May 26, 1824, ch. 154.

Act of June 13, 1812, ch. 99, and notes on page 748, vol. ii.