§ 2. That any person or persons, and the legal representative of any person or persons, who, on the twentieth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and three, had, for ten consecutive years prior to that day, been in possession of a tract of land not claimed by any other person, and not exceeding two thousand acres, and who were, on that day, resident in the territory of Orleans or Louisiana, and had still possession of such tract of land, shall be confirmed in their titles to such tract of land. Provided, That no claim to a lead mine, or salt spring, shall be confirmed merely by virtue of this section: And provided, also, That no more land shall be granted by virtue this section than is actually claimed by the party, nor more than is contained within the acknowledged and ascertained boundaries of the tract claimed.

§ 3. That the claim of the corporation of the city of New Orleans to the commons adjacent to the said city, and within six hundred yards from the fortifications of the same, be, and the same are hereby, recognised and confirmed: Provided, That the said corporation shall, within six months after passing this act, relinquish and release any claim they may have to such commons beyond the distance of six hundred yards aforesaid: Provided, also, That the corporation shall reserve for the purpose, and convey gratuitously, for the public benefit, to the company authorized by the legislature of the territory of Orleans, as much of the said commons as shall be necessary to continue the canal of Carondelet from the present basin to the Mississippi, and shall not dispose of, for the purpose of building thereon, any lot within sixty feet of the space reserved for a canal, which shall forever remain open as a public highway: And [ *154 ] provided, also, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to affect or impair the rights of any individual or individuals to the said commons, which are derived from any grant of the French or Spanish government.

*

§ 4. That the commissioners appointed, or to be appointed, for the purpose of ascertaining the rights of persons claiming land in the territories of Orleans and Louisiana, shall have full powers to decide, according to the laws and the established usages and customs of the French and Spanish governments, upon all claims to lands within their respective districts, where the claim is made by any person or persons, or the legal representative of any person or persons, who were, on the twentieth of December, one thousand eight hundred and three, inhabitants of Louisiana, and for a tract not exceeding the quantity of acres contained in a league square, and which does not include either a lead mine or salt spring; which decision of the commissioners, when in favour of the claimant, shall be final against the United States, any act of congress to the contrary notwithstanding.

§ 5. That the time fixed by the act above mentioned, and by the acts supplementary to the same, for delivering, to the proper regis ter or recorder, notices in writing, and the written evidences of claims to land, be, and the same is hereby, extended, for the territo

ries of Orleans and Louisiana, till the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and eight; and persons delivering such notices and evidences shall be entitled to the same benefit as if the same had been delivered within the time limited by the former acts; but the rights of such persons as shall neglect so doing, within the time limited by this act, shall, so far as they are derived from or founded on any act of congress, ever after be barred and become void, and the evidences of their claims never after admitted as evidence in any court of law or equity whatever.

§ 6. That the commissioners appointed, or to be appointed, for the purpose of ascertaining the rights of persons claiming lands in the territories of Orleans and Louisiana, shall, respectively, transmit to the secretary of the treasury, and to the surveyor general, or officer acting as surveyor general, transcripts of the final decisions made in favour of claimants by virtue of this act, and they shall deliver to the party a certificate stating the circumstances of the case, and that he is entitled to a patent for a tract of land therein designated; which certificate shall be filed, with the proper register or recorder, within twelve months after date. And the register or recorder shall thereupon (a plat of the tract of land therein designated being previously filed with him, or transmitted to him, by the officer acting as surveyor general, in the manner hereinafter provided), issue a certificate in favour of the party; which certificate, being transmitted to the secretary of the treasury, shall entitle the party to a patent, to be issued in like manner as is provided by law for the issuing of patents for public lands lying in other territories of the United States.

§ 7. That the tracts of land thus granted by the commissioners shall be surveyed at the expense of the parties, under the direction of the surveyor general, or officer acting as surveyor general, in all cases where an authenticated plat of the land, as surveyed under the authority of the officer acting as surveyor general under the French, Spanish, or American governments, respectively, during the time either of the said governments had the actual possession of the said territories of Orleans and Louisiana, shall not have been filed with the proper register or recorder, or shall not appear of record on the public records of the said territories of Orleans and Louisiana. The said commissioners shall also be authorized, whenever they may think it necessary, to direct the surveyor general, or officer acting as such, to cause any tract of land already duly surveyed, to be resurveyed at the expense of the United States. And the surveyor general, or officer acting as such, shall transmit general and particular plats of the tracts of land thus surveyed, to the proper register or recorder, and shall also transmit copies of the said plats to the secretary of the treasury.

§ 8. That the commissioners aforesaid shall, respectively, report to the secretary of the treasury their opinion on all the claims to land within their respective districts, which they shall not have finally confirmed by the fourth section of this act. The claims shall,

in the said report or reports, be arranged into three general classes, that is to say: first, claims which, in the opinions of the commissioners, ought to be confirmed in conformity with the provisions of the several acts of congress for ascertaining and adjusting the titles and claims to land within the territories of Orleans and Louisiana; secondly, claims which, though not embraced by the provisions of the said acts, ought, nevertheless, in the opinion of the commissioners, to be confirmed in conformity with the laws, usages, and customs, of the Spanish government; thirdly, claims which neither are embraced by the provisions of the said acts, nor ought, in the opinion of the commissioners, to be confirmed in conformity with the laws, usages, and customs, of the Spanish government: And the said report and reports, being in other respects made in conformity with the forms prescribed according to law, by the secretary of the treasury, shall, by him, be laid before congress, for their final determination, thereon, in the manner, and at the time, heretofore prescribed by law for that purpose.

§ 9. That the following allowances and compensations shall be made to the several officers hereinafter mentioned; that is to say: to the principal deputy of the surveyor general, for the district of Louisi[*156] ana,* at the rate of five hundred dollars a year, from the time he entered into the duties of his office, in addition to the fees which he is entitled to receive by law. To the register of the western district of the Orleans territory, and to the clerk of the board of commissioners for that district, one thousand dollars, each, for their services as commissioners and clerk, respectively, during the year one thousand eight hundred and six. To each of the deputy regis ters of the territory of Orleans, five hundred dollars, in full for their services subsequent to the first day of January last, in addition to the fees to which they are legally entitled. To each of the commissioners, at the rate of two thousand dollars a year: to each of the clerks of the boards, and to each of the agents employed by the secretary of the treasury, at the rate of fifteen hundred dollars a year, and to each of the translators, at the rate of six hundred dollars a year, to commence from the first day of July next, in the district of Louisiana, and from the first day of January next, in the territory of Orleans, and to continue to the time when each board shall be respectively dissolved: Provided, That no more than eighteen months' compensation be thus allowed to the said commissioners, clerks and translators; and that the compensation of any such officer, absenting himself from his district, or failing to attend to the duties of his office, shall cease during such absence or failure. [Approved, March 3, 1807.]

* CHAP. 394.-An act to authorise the register and receiver of St. Helena land [ *469 ] district, in Louisiana, to receive evidence, and report upon certain claims to land men. tioned therein.

SEC. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the register and receiver of the St. Helena land district, in the state of Louisiana, are hereby authorized and required to receive evidence in support of the claim of John McDonough to a tract of land on the Mississippi river, bounded above by the land of John De Belevire, and below by lands of Madame A. Duplanter, [470] and said to contain about fourteen arpents in front; also one other tract of land, situated on the river Amite, alleged to have been originally granted to Domingo Assaretto by Governor Miro, on the eighteenth February, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, containing thirty arpents in front by forty in depth, under whom the said McDonough claims title.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the said register and receiver shall have the same powers, and perform the same duties, in relation to the said two claims, as was authorized and required of them by the act of the third of March, one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, and shall report to the commissioner of the general land office an abstract of the evidence furnished in each case, together with their opinion thereon, that the same may be laid before congress at the commencement of their next session. [Approved, March 28, 1830.]

*CHAP. 432.—An act to authorize the inhabitants of the state of Louisiana to [ *499 ] 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 every person who, either by virtue of a French or Spanish grant, recognized by the laws of the United States, or under a claim confirmed by the commissioners appointed for the purpose of ascertaining the rights of persons claiming lands in the state of Louisiana, or by virtue of any title derived from the United States, owns a tract of land bordering on any river, creek, bayou, or watercouse, in the said territory, and not exceeding in depth forty arpents, French measure, shall be entitled to a preference in becoming the purchaser of any vacant tract of land adjacent to the back of his own tract, not exceeding forty arpents, French measure, in depth, nor in quantity of land that which is contained in his own tract, at the same price and on the same terms and conditions as are or may be provided by law for the other public lands in the said state. And the surveyor general for the state of Louisiana shall be, and he is hereby, authorized to cause to be

surveyed the tracts claimed by virtue of this section; and in all cases where, by reason of bends in the river, lake, creek, bayou, or watercourse, bordering on the tract, and of adjacent claims of a similar nature, each claimant cannot obtain a tract equal in quantity to the adjacent tract already owned by him to divide the vacant land applicable to that object between the several claimants, in such manner as to him will appear most equitable: Provided, however, That the right of pre-emption granted by this section shall not extend so far in depth as to include lands fit for cultivation, bordering on another river, creek, bayou, or watercourse. And every person entitled to the benefit of this section shall, within three years after the date of this act, deliver to the register of the proper land office a notice, in writing, stating the situation and extent of the tract of land he wishes to purchase, and shall also make the payment and [ *500 ] payments for the same at the time and times which are or may be prescribed by law for the disposal of the other public lands in the said state: the time of his delivering the notice aforesaid being considered as the date of the purchase: Provided, also, That all notices of claims shall be entered, and the money paid thereon, at least three weeks before such period as may be desig nated by the president of the United States for the public sale of the lands in the township in which such claims may be situated, and all claims not so entered shall be liable to be sold as other public lands. Whenever it shall be necessary to resurvey the public lands, in order to enable persons entitled to avail themselves of the provisions of this act, the expenses of such resurvey shall be paid by the person or persons who shall enter the lands so resurveyed under this act, at the time he or they shall pay the price of such land to the receiver of public money. And if any such person shall fail to deliver such notice within the said period of three years, or to make such payment or payments at the time above-mentioned, his right of pre-emption shall cease and become void, and the land may thereafter be purchased by any other person, in the same manner and on the same terms as are or may be provided by law for the sale of other public lands in the said state." [Approved, June 15, 1832.]

[ *503 ] * CHAP. 437.-An act for the final adjustment of the claims to lands in the southeastern land district of the State of Louisiana.

§ 1. Be it enacted &c. That any person or persons, claiming lands within the limits of the southeastern land district of the state of Louisiana, agreeably to the provisions of the laws heretofore enacted for the adjustment of land claims in that part of the territory of Orleans or state of Louisiana, but whose titles have not been heretofore confirmed, may, at any time prior to the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three, present their