29S
TWENTIETH CONGRESS. Sess. I. Ch. 90, 91. 1828.
Statute I.May 24, 1828.'
Act of May26th 1824, ch.173, continuedin force.
Claims to bedecided upon.
To he rati-fied.
So much ofthe said act, assubjects theclaimants to thepayment ofcosts, in anycase where thedecision may bein favour oftheir claims,repealed.
Where anyclaim, foundedon concession,&c., shall beadjudgedagainst and re-jected.
Statute I.May 24, 1828.
Legislatureof the state of
Chap. XC.— An Act to continue in force for a limited time, and to amend an
act, entitled “ An act to enable claimants to lands within the limits of the state
of Missouri and territory of Arkansas, to institute proceedings to try the va-lidity of their claims(a)
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the UnitedStates of America, in Congress assembled, That the act approved thetwenty-sixth of May, eighteen hundred and twenty-four, entitled “ Anact to enable claimants to lands within the limits of the state of Missouri and territory of Arkansas , to institute proceedings to try the validity oftheir claims,” shall be, and the same hereby is, continued in force: thatis to say, for the purpose of filing petitions in the manner prescribed bythat act, to and until the twenty-sixth day of May, in the year one thou-sand eight hundred and twenty-nine, and for the purpose of enabling theclaimants to obtain a final decision on the validity of their claims in thecourts of Missouri and Arkansas , respectively; the said claims havingbeen exhibited within the time above specified; the said act shall be con-tinued in force to, and until, the twenty-sixth day of May, in the yearone thousand eight hundred and thirty, and no longer; and the courtshaving cognisance of said claims shall decide upon and confirm such aswould have been confirmed under the laws, usages, and customs of theSpanish government, for two years, from and after the twenty-sixth dayof May, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight, and all the claimsauthorized by that act, to be heard and decided, shall be ratified and con-firmed to the same extent that the same would be valid if the country inwhich they lie had remained under the dominion of the sovereignty inwhich said claims originated.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That so much of the said act assubjects the claimants to the payment of costs in any case where the de-cision may be in favour of their claims, be and the same is hereby repealed,and the costs shall abide the decision of the cause as in ordinary causesbefore the said court; and so much of the said act as requires the claim-ants to make adverse claimants parties to their suits, or to show the courtwhat adverse claimants there may be to the land claimed of the UnitedStates , be also hereby repealed. And the confirmations had by virtue ofsaid act, and the patents issued thereon, shall operate only as relinquish-ment of title on the part of the United States , and shall, in no wise, affectthe right or title, either in law or equity, of adverse claimants of thesame land.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That where any claim, foundedon concession, warrant, or order of survey, shall be adjudged againstand rejected, the claimant or his legal representatives, by descent or pur-chase, being actual inhabitants and cultivators of the soil, the claim towhich shall have been rejected, shall have the right of pre-emption, atthe minimum price of the public lands, so soon as the land shall be sur-veyed and subdivided by the United States , of the quarter section onwhich the improvement shall be situate, and so much of every otherquarter section which contains any part of the improvement, as shall bewithin the limits of the rejected claim.
Approved, May 24, 1828.
Chap. XCI.— An Act to authorize the legislature of the state of Indiana to sellthe lands heretofore appropriated for the use of schools in that state.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the UnitedStates of America, in Congress assembled, That the legislature of the
(a) See notes of the act of May 26, 1824, ch. 154.