United States Statutes at Large/Volume 4/21st Congress/1st Session/Chapter 106
Chap. CVI.—An Act to provide for the final settlement of land claims in Florida.[1]
Conflicting Spanish claims confirmed as to United States.
Act of May 8, 1822, ch. 122, sec. 4.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That all the conflicting Spanish claims, reported in obedience to the fourth section of the act of Congress, approved May the eighth, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-two, and recommended for confirmation as valid titles, be, and the same are hereby, confirmed, so far as the United States have any title to the same.
Certain other claims confirmed.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That all claims derived from the former British government, contained in the reports of the commissioners of East Florida, or the register and receiver, acting as such, who did not avail themselves of the provisions of the treaty between Spain and England, signed at Versailles on the twentieth of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, by leaving said province, but who remained in the same, and became Spanish subjects, and whose titles were approved by the Spanish authorities, and have been recommended for confirmation by said commissioners, or register and receiver, acting as such, be, and the same are hereby, confirmed.
Remaining claims to be settled.
Act of May 23, 1828, ch. 70.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That all the remaining claims which have been presented according to law, and not finally acted upon, shall be adjudicated and finally settled upon the same conditions, restrictions, and limitations, in every respect, as are prescribed by the act of Congress, approved twenty-third May, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight, entitled “An act supplementary to the several acts providing for the settlement and confirmation of private land claims in Florida.”
Disposition of papers relative to claims.Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the register and receiver to deliver over all papers relative to private land claims in East Florida to the keeper of the public archives.
Operation of confirmation.Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That all confirmation of land titles, under this act, shall only operate as a relinquishment of the right of the United States to the said lands respectively, and shall not be construed either as a guarantee of any such titles, or in any manner affecting the rights of other persons to the same lands.
Act of May 23, 1828, ch. 70, explained.Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That so much of the act of the twenty-third of May, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight, as directed that the selection of claimants who availed themselves of the first section of said act by accepting a quantity equal to one league square within their respective grants, which confined the selection to sectional lines, shall not be held to extend to the selection by the claimants of a greater quantity than a section, but the said claimants who have, or may hereafter select, under the provisions of said law, any quantity equal to the amount granted in bodies larger than a section in the form of any Spanish survey, or plat of survey, or where the sections are broken by any river, the said land so selected, or which may be so selected, is hereby confirmed to said claimants; and it shall be the duty of the surveyor general to make a survey and certificate of all such claims, to return the same to the commissioner of the general land office, and thereupon a patent shall issue to the original grantee, or to his assignee, if the land has been sold or transferred to any other person, or to the legal owner by purchase or descent.
Time for relinquishment extended.Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That the claimants, who are entitled to the provisions of that act, or who may avail themselves of the foregoing provisions of this act, by taking a quantity equal to a league square in lieu of the whole grant, shall be, and they are hereby, allowed the further time of one year, from the passage of this act, to execute their relinquishments, and to file their acceptance of the provisions of said law.
Title-deeds.Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the registers and receivers to restore to the claimants the title-deeds on which they may have finally rejected the claims.
Approved, May 26, 1830.
- ↑ See notes of the decisions of the Supreme Court, as to Florida land claims, vol. iii. p 709.Where the Supreme Court has affirmed the title to lands in Florida, and referred in its decree to a particular survey, it would not be proper in the court below to open the case for a rehearing, for the purpose of adopting another survey. Chaires v. The United States, 3 Howard, 611.The court below can only execute the mandate of the Supreme Court; it has no authority to disturb the decree, and can only settle what remains to be done. Ib.The act of 26th May, 1830, ch. 106, providing for the final settlement of land claims in Florida, must be construed to contain the same limitation of time, within which claims were to be presented, as that provided by the act of May 23, 1828, ch. 70. United States v. Marvin, 3 Howard, 620.The limitation was one year. The courts of Florida, therefore, had no right to receive a petition for the confirmation of an incomplete concession, after the 26th May, 1831. Ib.Under the Florida treaty, the United States did not succeed to those rights which the king of Spain had held by virtue of his royal prerogative, but possessed the territory, subject to the institutions and laws of its own government. Pollard’s Lessee v. Hagan, 3 Howard, 212.