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Mode of payment.

Credit.

Forfeiture, ou non-payment of balance.

18 May 1796. feited if a moiety of the sum bid, including the said twentieth part, is not paid within thirty days, to the treasurer of the United States, or to such person as shall be appointed by the president of the United States, to attend the places of sale for that purpose; and upon payment of a moiety of the purchase-money within thirty days, the purchaser shall have one year's credit for the residue; and shall receive from the secretary of the treasury or the governor of the western territory (as the case may be) a certificate describing the land sold, the sum paid on account, the balance remaining due, the time when such balance becomes payable; and that the whole land sold will be forfeited if the said balance is not then paid; but that if it shall be duly discharged, the purchaser or his assignee, or other legal representative, shall be entitled to a patent for the said lands. And on payment of the said balance to the treasurer, within the specified time, and producing to the secretary of state a receipt for the same, upon the aforesaid certifi cate, the president of the United States is hereby authorized to grant a patent for the lands to the said purchaser, his heirs or assigns: (a) and all patents shall be countersigned by the secretary of state, and recorded in his office. But if there should be a failure in any payment, the sale shall be void, all the money theretofore paid on account of the purchase shall be forfeited to the United States, and the lands thus sold shall be again disposed of in the same manner as if a sale had never been made: Provided nevertheless, That should any purchaser make payment of the whole purchase-money at the time when the payment of the first moiety is directed to be made, he shall be entitled to a deduction of ten per centum on the part for which a credit is hereby directed to be given; and his patent shall be immediately issued.

Patents.

Ibid. 28. 218. The secretary of the treasury and the governor of the territory north-west of the Books to be kept. river Ohio, shall respectively cause books to be kept, in which shall be regularly entered an account of the dates of all the sales made, the situations and numbers of the lots sold, the price at which each was struck off, the money deposited at the time of sale, and the dates of the certificates granted to the different purchasers. The governor or secretary of the said territory shall at every suspension or adjournment, for more than three days, of the sales under their direction, transmit to the secretary of the treasury a copy of the Sales to be noted said books, certified to have been duly examined and compared with the original. And all tracts sold under this act, shall be noted upon the general plat, after the certificate has been granted to the purchaser.

Copies to be transmitted to secretary.

on plat.

10 May 1800 34.

2 Stat. 74.

sales to be held.

219. The lands thus subdivided (excluding the sections reserved by the above-mentioned act) (b) shall be offered for sale in sections and half-sections, subdivided as before When and where directed, at the following places and times, that is to say: those below the Little Miami shall be offered at public vendue, in the town of Cincinnati, on the first Monday of April 1801, under the direction of the register of the land office there established, and of either the governor or secretary of the north-western territory. The lands east of Scioto, south of the military lands, and west of the fifteenth range of townships, shall be offered in like manner for sale at Chilicothe, on the first Monday of May 1801, under the direction of the register of the land office there established, and of either the governor or secretary of the said territory. The lands east of the sixteenth range of townships, south of the military lands and west of the Muskingum, including all the townships intersected by that river, shall be offered for sale in like manner at Marietta, on the last Monday of May 1801, under the direction of the governor or secretary, or surveyor-general of the said territory. The sales shall remain open at each place for three weeks, and no longer. The superintendents shall observe the rules and regulations of the above-mentioned act, in classing and selling fractional with entire sections, and in keeping and Remaining lands transmitting accounts of the sales. All lands remaining unsold, at the closing of either of the public sales, may be disposed of at private sale by the registers of these respective land offices, in the manner hereinafter prescribed; and the register of the land office at Steubenville, after the first day of July next, may proceed to sell, at private sale, the lands situate within the district assigned to his direction, as hereinbefore described, disposing of the same in sections, and classing fractional with entire sections, according to the provisions and regulations of the above-mentioned act, and of this act. And the register of the land office at Marietta, after the said first day of July next, may proceed to sell, at private sale, any of the lands within the district assigned to his direction as aforesaid, which are east of the river Muskingum, excluding the townships intersected by that river, disposing of the same in sections, and classing fractional with entire sections as aforesaid.

to be sold at

private sale.

Ibid. 25.

Price of lands.

220. No lands shall be sold by virtue of this act, at either public or private sale, for less than two dollars per acre, and payment may be made for the same by all pur

(a) The purchaser, on payment of his purchase-money, becomes completely entitled to the property purchased. Marbury v. Madison. 1 Cr. 165.

(b) This act embraces those lands only which were compre

bended in the act of 1796. Reynolds r. McArthur. 2 Pet. 426. Tt did not authorize the surveyor-general to survey any lands within the military reserve, nor was the sale of such lands authorized at any of the land offices. Doddridge v. Thompson, 9 Wh. 476.

chasers, either in specie or in evidences of the public debt of the United States, at the 10 May 1800. rates prescribed by the act entitled "An act to authorize the receipt of evidences of the

public debt in payment for the lands of the United States;" (a) and shall be made in Mode of payment. the following manner, and under the following conditions, to wit:(b)

I. At the time of purchase, every purchaser shall, exclusively of the fees hereafter Deposit. mentioned, pay six dollars for every section, and three dollars for every half-section, he may have purchased, for surveying expenses; and deposit one-twentieth part of the amount of purchase-money, to be forfeited, if within forty days one-fourth part of the purchase-money, including the said twentieth part, is not paid.

II. One-fourth part of the purchase-money shall be paid within forty days after the Instalments. day of sale as aforesaid; another fourth part shall be paid within two years; another fourth part within three years; and another fourth part within four years after the day of sale.

III. Interest at the rate of six per cent. a year from the day of sale, shall be charged Interest. upon each of the three last payments, payable as they respectively become due.

IV. A discount at the rate of eight per cent. a year, shall be allowed on any of the Discount. three last payments, which shall be paid before the same shall become due, reckoning this discount always upon the sum, which would have been demandable by the United States, on the day appointed for such payment.

V. If the first payment of one fourth-part of the purchase-money shall not be made Forfeiture. within forty days after the sale, the deposit, payment and fees, paid and made by the purchaser, shall be forfeited; and the land shall and may, from and after the day when the payment of one-fourth part of the purchase-money should have been made, be disposed of at private sale, on the same terms and conditions, and in the same manner as the other lands directed by this act to be disposed of at private sale: Provided, That the lands which shall have been sold at public sale, and which shall, on account of such failure of payment, revert to the United States, shall not be sold at private sale, for a price less than the price that shall have been offered for the same at public sale.

VI. If any tract shall not be completely paid for within one year after the date of Re-sale. the last payment, (c) the tract shall be advertised for sale by the register of the land office within whose district it may lie, in at least five of the most public places in the said district, for at least thirty days before the time of sale. And he shall sell the same at public vendue, during the sitting of the court of quarter sessions of the county in which the land office is kept, for a price not less than the whole arrears due thereon, with the expenses of sale; the surplus, if any, shall be returned to the original purchaser, or to his legal representatives; but if the sum due, with interest, be not bidden and paid, then the land shall revert to the United States, all moneys paid therefor shall be forfeited, and the register of the land office may proceed to dispose of the same to any purchaser, as in the case of other lands at private sale.

Ibid. 26.

appointed.

221. All and every the payments, to be made by virtue of the preceding section, shall be made either to the treasurer of the United States, or to such person or officer as shall Payments, to be appointed by the president of the United States, with the advice and consent of the whom made. senate, receiver of public moneys for lands of the United States, at each of the places respectively where the public and private sales of the said lands are to be made; and Receivers to be the said receiver of public moneys shall, before he enters upon the duties of his office, give bond (d) with approved security, in the sum of ten thousand dollars, (e) for the Bonds. faithful discharge of his trust; and it shall be the duty of the said treasurer and receiver of public moneys to give receipts for the moneys by them received, to the persons respectively paying the same; to transmit within thirty days in case of public sale, and Duties. quarterly in case of private sale, an account of all the public moneys by them received, specifying the amount received from each person, and distinguishing the sums received for surveying expenses, and those received for purchase-money, to the secretary of the treasury, and to the registers of the land office, as the case may be.(g) The said receivers of public moneys shall, within three months after receiving the same, transmit the moneys by them received, to the treasurer of the United States; and the receivers of public moneys for the said sales, and also the receivers of public moneys for the sales which have taken place at Pittsburgh under the act entitled "An act providing for the sale of the lands of the United States in the territory north-west of the Ohio, and above the mouth of Kentucky river;" shall receive one per cent. on the money received, as a Compensation.

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law, as a binding simple contract, which is not avoided by any
act of congress. United States v. Linn, 15 Pet. 290.
(e) See supra, 54.

(g) This is merely directory, and the omission to require it does not discharge the sureties. United States v. Boyd, 15 Pet. 187, And they are not concluded by the account rendered; they may show that he charged himself with moneys that he never recived. United States v. Boyd, 5 How. 29.

10 May 1800. compensation for clerk hire, receiving, safe keeping and transmitting it to the treasury of the United States. (a)

Ibid. 27.

applications.

receipts.

tween applicants by lot.

Duties of regis

ters on entry of

applications.

ence.

222. It shall be the duty of the registers of the land offices respectively, to receive and Registers to enter enter on books kept for that purpose only, (and on which no blank leaves or space shall be left between the different entries) the applications of any person or persons who may apply for the purchase of any section or half-section, and who shall pay him the fee hereafter mentioned, and produce a receipt from the treasurer of the United States, or On production of from the receiver of public moneys appointed for that purpose, for three dollars for each half-section such person or persons may apply for, and for at least one-twentieth part of the purchase-money; stating carefully in each entry the date of the application, the date of the receipt to him produced, the amount of moneys specified in the said receipt, and To determine be- the number of the section or half-section, township and range applied for.(b) If two or more persons shall apply at the same time for the same tract, the register shall immediately determine by lot, in presence of the parties, which of them shall have preferHe shall file the receipt for moneys produced by the party, and give him a copy of his entry, and if required a copy of the description of the tract, and a copy of the plat of the same, or either of them; and it shall be his duty to inform the party applying for any one tract, whether the same has already been entered, purchased or paid for, and at his request to give him a copy of the entry or entries concerning the same. He shall, three months after the date of each application, if the party shall not have, within that time, produced to him a receipt of the payment of one-fourth part of the purchase. money, including the twentieth part above mentioned, enter under its proper date, in the said book of entries, that the payment has not been made, and that the land has reverted to the United States, and he shall make a note of the same in the margin of the book opposite to the original entry. And if the party shall, either at the time of making the original entry, or at any time within three months thereafter, produce a receipt to him, for the fourth part of the purchase-money, including the twentieth part aforesaid, he shall file the receipt, make an entry of the same under its proper date, in the said book of entries, make a note of the same in the margin of the book opposite to the original entry, and give to the party a certificate, describing the land sold, the sum paid on account, the balance remaining due, the time and times when such balance shall become due, and that if it shall be duly discharged, the purchaser, or his assignee or other legal representative, shall be entitled to a patent for the said lands; he shall also, upon any subsequent payment being made, and a receipt from the receiver being produced to him, file the original receipt, give a receipt for the same to the party, and enter the same to the credit of the party, in a book kept for that purpose; in which he shall open an account in the name of each purchaser, for each section or half-section that may be sold either at public or private sale, and in which he shall charge the party for the whole purchase-money, and give him credit for all his payments, making the proper charges and allowances for interest or discount, as the case may be, according to the provisions of the fourth section of this act; and upon the payment being completed and the account finally settled, he shall give a certificate of the same to the party; and on producing to the secretary of the treasury the same final certificate, the president of the When patents to United States is hereby authorized to grant a patent for the lands to the said purchaser, his heirs or assigns; and all patents shall be countersigned by the secretary of state, and recorded in his office.

Certificates.

issue.

Ibid. 28.

sales, &c.

223. The registers of the land offices respectively, shall also note on the book of surRegisters to note veys or original plat transmitted to them, every tract which may be sold, by inserting the letter A on the day when the same is applied for; and the letter P on the day when a receipt for one-fourth part of the purchase-money is produced to them; and by crossing the said letter A on the day when the land shall revert to the United States, on failure of the payment of one-fourth part of the purchase-money within three months after the date of application. And the said book of surveys or original plat shall be open at all times, in presence of the register, for the inspection of any individual applying for the same and paying the proper fee.

Ibid. 29.

To make quarterly returns to Becretary.

224. It shall be the duty of the registers of the land offices to transmit quarterly to the secretary of the treasury and to the surveyor-general, an account of the several tracts applied for, of the several tracts for which payment of one-fourth part of the purchasemoney has been made, of the several tracts which have reverted to the United States on failure of the said payment; and also an account of all the payments of moneys by them entered, according to the receipts produced to them, specifying the sums of money, the names of the persons paying the same, the names of the officers who have received the same, and the tracts for which the same have been paid.

(a) See supra, 51.

(b) The right to enter lands is confined to those which are offered at private sale. Chotard v. Pope, 12 Wh. 589.

2 Stat. 470.

to be sold, except

225. All the sections of land heretofore reserved for the future disposition of congress, 29 Feb. 1808 1. not sold or otherwise disposed of, and lying within either of the districts established for the disposition of public lands in the state of Ohio, with the exception of the section Reserved lands numbered sixteen, of the salt springs and lands reserved for the use of the same, shall salt springs. be offered for sale in that district within which such reserved sections may respectively lie, on the same terms and under the same regulations as other lands in the same district: Provided, That such sections shall previously be offered to the highest bidder, at To be offered at public sale. public sales, to be held under the superintendence of the registers and receivers of publi: moneys of the land offices respectively, to which they are attached, on the same terms as have been provided by law for the public sales of the other lands of the United States, and on such day or days as shall, by a proclamation of the president of the United States, be designated for that purpose: And provided also, That no such heretofore Price. reserved section shall be sold, either at public or private sale, at a less price than four dollars per acre.

2 Stat. 712.

extended to pur

1808.

226. Every person who, prior to the 1st day of April 1808, had purchased any tract 23 April 1812 § 1. or tracts of land of the United States, not exceeding in the whole six hundred and forty acres, at any of the land offices established for the disposal of the public lands north- Time of payment west of the river Ohio, and whose lands have not already been actually sold, or reverted chasers prior to to the United States for non-payment of part of the purchase-money, shall be allowed the further term of three years from the 1st day of January 1813, (a) for the payment of the residue of the principal and interest due on account of such purchase; to be paid in four equal annual payments, the first whereof to be on the said 1st day of January 1813: and in case of failure in paying any of the said annual payments at the time when the On default, lands same shall become due, the tract of land shall be forthwith advertised and offered for sale, in the manner and on the terms and conditions heretofore prescribed for the sale of lands purchased of the United States, and not paid for within the limited time.

to be re-sold.

2 Stat. 782.

pur

chasers of frac

227. The provisions of the act to which this act is a supplement shall be, and they are 6 July 1812 31. hereby extended to the several purchasers of the fractional sections, which were by the direction of the secretary of the treasury, classed together for sale, according to the ninth Extended to section of an act entitled "An act making provision for the disposal of the public lands tional townships. in the Indiana territory, and for other purposes," passed on the 20th of March 1804; notwithstanding the quantity of land contained in any one tract, composed of such fractional sections, so classed together, and purchased by a single contract, shall exceed six hundred and forty acres.

Ibid. 2.

ers to have the

228. The assignee or assignees of any original purchaser of land from the United States, the lands being purchased prior to the first day of April 1808, shall be entitled Assignees of to the benefit of the provisions of the act to which this act is a supplement, and the last original purchas preceding section, in every case where it shall appear to the satisfaction of the register same privileges. and receiver of public moneys of the district within which the land may lie, that the assignment by which he or they so claim was bonâ fide made prior to the passing of the aforesaid act; that the whole lands claimed by virtue of such assignment does not exceed six hundred and forty acres, unless it comes within the provision of the preceding section; and that the lands or some one tract thereof is inhabited and cultivated by or for the use of the assignee or assignees.

Ibid. 23.

entered.

229. In every case where any tract or tracts of land purchased prior to the first day of April 1808, not exceeding six hundred and forty acres, (unless such tract shall come Lands reverted within the provision of the first section of this act) has since the first day of April last, may be rereverted, or that may before the first day of August next, revert to the United States, for default of payment, the person or persons claiming such tract or tracts, whether as an assignee or an original purchaser, may again re-enter the same; and all moneys which such assignee or original purchaser may have paid shall be replaced to his credit, by the register and receiver of public moneys of the district in which the lands may lie; and such repurchaser or repurchasers shall be allowed the same benefit of the extension of the time of payment, provided by the act to which this is a supplement, as though no such reversion had occurred; provided such assignee or assignees, original purchaser or purchasers, shall make to the proper land officer application for such re-entry on or before the first day of September next, and that the lands so re-entered shall not have been resold previous to such application.

4 Stat. 560.

230. The lots and fractional parts of lots lying in the fifty quarter-townships, reserved 3 July 1832 3 1. by an act of congress, passed the 11th day of February 1800, and entitled "An act giving further time to the holders of military warrants to register and locate the same," Unlocated lots in and which remain unlocated, shall, hereafter, be liable to be sold at private sale, in the serve to be sold.

(a) See acts 3 March 1813, (2 Stat. 811), and 19 February 1814, (3 Stat. 97), whereby these provisions were extended to all purchasers of public lands prior to 1 April 1810, and the time of pay

the military re

ment was extended for three years from the passage of the lastrecited act.

3 July 1832.

14 July 1832

4 Stat. 601.

1.

respective land offices in which they lie, in the same manner, and for the same sum per acre, as other lands of the United States lying in said districts, and undisposed of.

231. The lands heretofore reserved for certain Indian tribes in the state of Ohio, and which were ceded to the United States by treaties ratified on the 24th day of March, in Indian reserves the year 1831, and the 6th day of April 1832, be and the same are hereby attached to, land districts in and made to form part of, the land districts in which they are respectively situated, and which they are situated. liable to be sold as other public lands in the state of Ohio.

to be annexed to

18 May 1796 3 9.

1 Stat. 468.

IV. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.

232. All navigable rivers (a) within the territory to be disposed of by virtue of this act, shall be deemed to be, and remain public highways. And in all cases where the Navigable rivers. opposite banks of any stream, not navigable, shall belong to different persons, the stream and the bed thereof shall become common to both.

Ibid. 10.

officers.

233. The surveyor-general shall receive for his compensation, two thousand dollars Compensation of per annum; and that the president of the United States may fix the compensation of the assistant surveyors, chain-carriers and axe-men: Provided, That the whole expense of surveying and marking the lines shall not exceed three dollars per mile, for every mile that shall be actually run or surveyed.

&c.

Ibid. 11.

234. The following fees shall be paid for the services to be done under this act, to the Fees of receivers, treasurer of the United States or to the receiver in the western territory, as the case may be; for each certificate for a tract containing a quarter of a township, twenty dollars; for a certificate for a tract containing six hundred and forty acres, six dollars; and for each patent for a quarter of a township, twenty dollars; for a section of six hundred and forty acres, six dollars. And the said fees shall be accounted for by the receivers respectively.(b)

Ibid. 12.

235. The surveyor-general, assistant surveyors and chain-carriers, shall, before they Oath of officers. enter on the several duties to be performed under this act, severally take an oath or affirmation, faithfully to perform the same; and the person to be appointed to receive Bond of receiver. the, money on sales in the western territory, before he shall receive any money under

3 March 1797 2 1. 1 Stat. 507.

United States

stock receivable

in payment for lauds.

10 May 1800

2 Stat. 77.

make entries in

How they may purchase.

10.

this act, shall give bond with sufficient security, for the faithful discharge of his trust.(c) That, for receiving, safe keeping and conveying to the treasury the money he may receive, he shall be entitled to a compensation to be hereafter fixed.(d)

:

236. The evidences of the public debt of the United States shall be receivable in payment for any of the lands which may be hereafter sold in conformity to the act entitled "An act providing for the sale of the lands of the United States, in the territory northwest of the river Ohio and above the mouth of Kentucky river," at the following rates, viz. the present foreign debt of the United States, and such debt or stock as, at the time of the payment, shall bear an interest of six per centum per annum, shall be received at their nominal value; and the other species of debt or stock of the United States shall be received at a rate bearing the same proportion to their respective market price at the seat of government, at the time of payment, as the nominal value of the above-mentioned six per centum stock shall, at the same time, bear to its market price at the same place; the secretary of the treasury, in all cases, determining what such market price is.(e)

237. The registers aforesaid shall be precluded from entering on their books any application for lands in their own name, and in the name of any other person in trust Registers not to for them; (g) and if any register shall wish to purchase any tract of land, he may do it their own names. by application in writing to the surveyor-general, who shall enter the same on books kept for that purpose by him; who shall proceed in respect to such applications, and to any payments made for the same, in the same manner which the registers by this act are directed to follow, in respect to applications made to them for lands by other persons. The registers shall, nevertheless, note on the book of surveys, or original plat, the applications and payments thus by them made; and their right to the pre-emption of any tract shall bear date from the day when their application for the same shall have been Proceedings on entered by the surveyor-general in his own book. And if any person applying for any tract shall, notwithstanding he shall have received information from the register, that the same has already been applied for by the said register, or by any other person, insist to make the application, it shall be the duty of the register to enter the same, noting in the margin that the same tract is already purchased; but upon application of the party, made in writing, and which he shall file, he may and shall at any future time enter under its proper date, that the party withdraws his former application, and applies in

application to enter the same lands.

(a) It was the intention of congress hereby to ordain all rivers actually navigable, as common law rivers. whether or not the tile ebbs and flows. Russel v. The Empire State, 1 Newb. 542. (b) See supra. 52.

(e) See supra, 54.

(d) See supra. 56.

(6) Repealed infra, 215.

(a) Receivers being a different class of officers, and standing in relations to the government different from those sustained by registers, may purchase the public lands the same as other citi

zens.

4 Opin. 223. United States v. Boyd, 5 How. 29. But neither registers nor receivers can purchase such lands by preemption, within their respective districts. 7 Opin. 647.

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