dicial decision between persons claiming titles to the lands confirmed.

Commons in 3. That the commons in the city of St. Augustine be, and the city of Au- the same are hereby, confirmed to the corporation of said city, gustine, confirmed to the to the same extent that they were used, claimed and enjoyed, corporation of said city. under the Spanish government. And the parochial church and Parochial burying ground in possession of the Roman Catholic congregachurch, &c. tion, are confirmed to them: and the old Episcopal church lot is, hereby, relinquished and confirmed to the incorporated Episcopal church of St. Augustine: Provided always, That the grants in this section specified shall forever inure to the purposes for which they are confirmed, and shall not be alienated without the consent of congress.

confirmed, &c.

and the old Episcopal church, &c.

Provise.

Duty of the secretary of

the late board

of commissioners.

Duty of the register and receiver.

Claimants to lands whose claims have

tofore decided

on, or filed, to

file them at any time be

4. That it shall be the duty of the secretary of the late boardof commissioners to deliver over to the receiver and register, to be appointed for the district of East Florida, all records, evidence, and papers, in the possession of said board, relating to claims and titles to land, in said district; and it shall be the duty of said receiver and register, to examine and decide all claims and titles to land, in East Florida, not heretofore decided by the late board of commissioners, subject to the limitations, and in conformity with the provisions of the several acts of congress providing for the adjustment of private land claims in Florida.

5. That the several claimants to land in said district, whose claims have not been heretofore decided on or filed, before the not been here- late board of commissioners, be permitted to file their claims, and the evidence in support of them, with the register and receiver of said district, and evidence in support of those filed before said board, at any time before the first of November next, whose duty it shall be to report the same, with their decision thereon, and those already filed, to the secretary of the treasury, on or before the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight, to be laid before congress at the next session.

fore the 1st of

November next.

Receiver and register to receive, each, as an annual

to appoint a clerk whose

6. That the receiver and register shall have power to appoint a clerk, and prescribe his duties; and the receiver and recompensation, gister shall each be entitled to receive the sum of fifteen hun1500 dolls. and dred dollars per annum, to be paid quarterly, out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, as a full compensasalary shall be tion for the performance of their duties as receiver and register, and the additional duties required by this act, and shall not be allowed any other fees or commissions whatever; and the clerk, appointed by them shall be allowed the sum of one thousand dollars, to be paid quarterly out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.

1,000 dolls.

Keepers of the public archives to furnish

7. That the keepers of the public archives of East and West Florida shall furnish to the surveyor of public lands in Florida to the survey- without delay, a description of each claim to land, which shall ors of public lands in Flori- have been confirmed, which shall specially designate the quanda, a descrip- tity, locality, and connexion of such claim; and where the conclaim to land firmation may have been made on a grant or survey, a copy of the courses and distances contained in such grant or survey, and specially de- the date of the survey or grant; and it shall be the duty of the

tion of each

confirmed,

which shall

of such claim.

surveyor of the public lands in Florida, to cause, under such in- signate the structions as he may receive from the treasury department, the quantity, &c. said claims to be surveyed, and connected with the township lines of the public surveys, and to give to them their proper township and sectional numbers, agreeably to such descriptions; and he shall make separate plats and certificates of survey of the same, one of which shall be returned to the office of the register of the land office for the district in which the land may lie, and the other shall be delivered to the claimant. But it shall be the duty of the surveyor to withhold his certificate, if he shall have reason to believe that the lands claimed are other lands than those intended to be confirmed; or if it shall appear that the survey, under which the land is claimed, has been made subsequent to the date of the survey under which the claim was confirmed.

ants.

8. That, so soon as the said tracts of land shall have been Duty of the register to issue thus surveyed, and the surveys thereof returned to the office of certificates in the proper register, it shall be the duty of the said register to is- favor of claimsue certificates in favor of the claimants entitled thereto; and, if it shall appear, to the satisfaction of the commissioner of the general land office, that the certificates have been fairly obtained, and correspond with the transcripts transmitted to the secretary of the treasury, and the plats returned by the surveyor, patents shall be granted, in like manner as is provided by law for the other public lands of the United States.

9. That the surveyor of the public lands shall designate on Duty of the the township plats the claims for which, he shall have refused to surveyor. issue bis certificates of survey.

10. That the expense of surveying all claims founded on Expense of surveying to surveys or grants shall be paid by the United States: Provided, be paid by the The same shall not exceed four dollars per mile, for every mile United States. actually run and marked.

Proviso.

§ 11. That no patent shall issue without the consent of the Patents. parties, for lands, the claims to which may have been confirmed on surveys, which interfere with each other, until a legal decision shall have been had on the same.

claims over

12. That the holders of claims over three thousand five hun- Course to be pursued by the dred acres, which have been filed with the commissioners, or holders of with the register and receiver of the land office for West Florida, three thousand acting as commissioners for adjudicating on claims, or of claims five hundred which have been filed with the commissioners for adjudicating acres. claims to land in East Florida, or which, under the provisions of this act, may be filed with the register and receiver of the land office for East Florida, and which claims have not been reported against by the said commissioners, or by the register and receiver, shall cause the same to be so connected with the township lines of the public surveys, and shall furnish to the surveyor of the public lands in Florida, such information as will enable him to exhibit, accurately, the said claims on his township plats, and the lands thus claimed shall be reserved from sale: Provided, The information required to enable the surveyor to exhibit them on the township plats, shall have been furnished to him within one year after the lines of the townships, within which such claims VOL. III.

237

Duty of the register and receiver.

council to sell

sections of

land, near

may lie, shall have been run; or, where the township lines have already been run, within one year from the passage of this

act.

13. That it shall be the duty of the register and receiver at Tallahassee, to deliver over to the keeper of the public archives of West Florida, all the records and papers of the late board of commissioners for West Florida; and it shall be the duty of the register and receiver of the land office for East Florida, to deliver to the keeper of the public archives of East Florida, all the records and papers of the late board of commissioners for East Florida, relating to claims confirmed by this act.

The governor § 14. That it shall be lawful for the governor and legislative and legislative council to sell one of the reserved quarter sections of land, near one of the re- Tallahassee, and apply the proceeds to the erection of public served quarter buildings; and it shall be lawful for them to reserve such portion of the quarter section to the town of Tallahassee, contiguous to Tallahassee, the creek and waterfall, as may, in their opinion, contribute to the health and convenience of the inhabitants; and they shall have power to pass laws for the preservation of, and expulsion from, the other two reserved quarter sections, all intruders, and to abate all nuisances; which said two reserved quarter sections shall be reserved for, and vested in, the state, should that territory ever be erected into one.

and apply the
proceeds to
the erection of
public build-

ings.

Vol. iv. p. 2167.

made to certain Indian

chiefs, in the

Persons whose 15. That the three persons whose improvements were includimprovements were included ed in the reserves made to certain Indian chiefs, in the treaty with in the reserves the Florida Indians, of the eighteenth of September, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-three, shall be entitled to a preemption to the same quantity of land, in said district, upon the same terms and conditions as other pre-emptions, to be located under the direction of the receiver and register, upon the production of proof that they would have been entitled to the provisions of the act granting the right of pre-emption, if the reserves had not been made. [Approved, February 8, 1827.]

treaty of 18th Sept. 1823,

entitled to a pre-emption, to the same quantity of land.

A reporter of its decisions,

to be appointed by the su

preme court.

not to be paid

CHAP. 175. An act to provide for reports of the decisions of the supreme court.

1. Be it enacted, &c. That a reporter shall, from time to time, be appointed by the supreme court of the United States, to report its decisions, who shall be entitled to receive from the treasury of the United States, as an annual compensation for his serProviso; said vices, the sum of one thousand dollars: Provided nevertheless, compensation That the said compensation shall not be paid, unless the said rehim, unless he porter shall print and publish, or cause to be printed and pubdeliver, within lished, the decisions of the said court, made during the time he after such de- shall act as such reporter, within six months after such decisions cisions shall shall be made; and shall deliver eighty copies of the decisions, be made, eighty copies of so printed and published, to the secretary of state, without any the office of expense to the United States; which copies shall be distributed the secretary as follows, to wit: to the president of the United States, the

six months

said reports to

of state.

judges of the supreme court, the judges of the district courts, the attorney general of the United States, the secretaries of state, treasury, war, and navy, the comptrollers of the treasury, and the judges of the several territories of the United States, one copy

each; five copies for the use of each house of congress; and the residue of the copies shall be deposited in the library of congress : And provided also, That the said decisions shall be sold to the Proviso; said public at large at a price not exceeding five dollars a volume. be sold to the

decisions to

at 5 dolls. a

2. That in case of the death, resignation, or dismission from public at large, office, of either of the officers before mentioned, the said copies volume. of the decisions delivered to them, as aforesaid, shall belong, and be delivered over, to their successors in said offices.

3. That this act shall be and continue in force for three Act to continyears, and no longer. [Approved, February 22, 1827.]

CHAP. 176. An act to authorize the president of the United States to remove the land

office in the Choctaw district, in the state of Mississippi.

ue in force for three years.

to establish

1. Be it enacted, &c. That it shall and may be lawful for the The president president of the United States, whenever he shall deem it pro- to remove the per, to remove the land office, now located at Jackson, in the the Choctaw Choctaw land district, in the state of Mississippi, and to locate district, and and establish the same at any other convenient and suitable place the same at within the same land district. And it shall be the duty of the any other convenient place, register and receiver of said land office, so soon as the removal &c. shall be ordered, and such new location made by the president, to remove all the records, books, and papers appertaining to said land office, to the place, designated. [Approved, February 22, 1827.]

Lawful to

make entry, &c. of any

CHAP. 177. An act concerning the entry of vessels at the port of Fairfield, in Connecitcut. 1. Be it enacted, &c. That it shall be lawful to make entry of any foreign ship or vessel, and of the cargo which may be on board the same, and to unlade such cargo, or any part thereof, at the port of Fairfield, in the state of Connecticut, under the re- at the port of gulations in such cases by law provided. [Approved, February 22, 1827.]

CHAP. 178. An act to exempt Swedish and Norwegian vessels, and the merchandise imported therein, from the payment of discriminating duties of tonnage and impost, for a limited time, and for other purposes.

foreign ships

Fairfield.

the date of this

the next ses

duties of ton

$1. Be it enacted, &c. That, from and after the date of this Norwegian act, until the termination of the next session of congress, vessels vessels after truly and wholly belonging to the subjects of the king of Sweden act, until the and Norway, arriving in the United States, in ballast or with car- termination of goes, shall be exempted from the payment of any other or higher sion of conduties or charges whatsoever, than vessels of the United States gress, to be exempt from the are required to pay under like circumstances; that merchandise, payment of the produce and manufacture of the territories of the king of discriminating Sweden and Norway, imported in Swedish or Norwegian vessels, nage and imshall not be subjected to any other or higher duties than are levi- post. ed on the same kinds of merchandise when imported in American vessels; and that the exemption or privilege allowed by this act shall extend to vessels arriving, and merchandise imported, from the Swedish colony of St. Barthelemy: Provided, That the owners of vessels, arriving from said colony in the United States, shall be inhabitants of that colony, and there established and naturalized, and shall have caused their vessels to be there naturalized.

Secretary of

directed to

cause to be repaid all

2. That the secretary of the treasury be, and he is hereby, the treasury directed to cause to be repaid or remitted, all alien or discriminating duties of tonnage or impost, which since the twenty-fifth of September last may have been paid, or secured to be paid, on vessels of the description mentioned in the first section of this act, or on merchandise imported in such vessels; for the purpose of which repayment, any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated, is hereby appropriated. [Approved, February 22, 1827.j

criminating duties of tonnage or impost, &c.

The location

of lands here

law, by virtue

act of con

CHAP. 191. An act supplementary to " An act to perfect certain locations and sales of the public lands in Missouri," passed April the twenty-sixth, one thousand eight and twenty

two.

§ 1. Be it enacted, &c. That the locations of lands heretofore tofore made made according to law, by virtue of warrants issued under the according to act of congress, passed the seventeenth day of February, one of warrants is- thousand eight hundred and fifteen, for the relief of the inhabitsued under the ants of the late county of New Madrid, in the Missouri territogress, of 17th ry, who suffered by earthquakes, in lieu of lots and out lots, in Feb. 1815, for and adjacent to the villages of New Madrid and Little Prairie, and not exceeding six hundred and forty acres in the whole to any one sufferer, shall be perfected into grants in the manner ed into grants. prescribed by the last mentioned act of congress, any construction thereof to the contrary notwithstanding. [Approved, March 2, 1827.]

relief of the in

habitants of New Madrid,

to be perfect

extended to

the term of

CHAP. 192. An act to extend the time of issuing and locating military land warrants to of ficers and soldiers of the revolutionary army.

Time of issu1. Be it enacted, &c. That the time limited by the second ing and locating military section of the act, approved the twenty-fourth day of February, land warrants, one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, for issuing military land warrants to the officers and soldiers of the revolutionary army, shall be extended to the fourth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and thirty; and the time for locating the unlocated warrants shall be extended till the first day of October thereafter. [Approved, March 2, 1827.]

three years.

Vol, ir. p. 2112.

President to appoint three

CHAP. 193. An act to provide for the adjustment of claims of persons entitled to indemnification, under the first article of the treaty of Ghent, and for the distribution, among such claimants, of the sum paid, and to be paid, by the government of Great Britain, under a convention between the United States and his Britannic Majesty, concluded at London on the thirteenth of November, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-six.

§ 1. Be it enacted, &c. That the president of the United States commissioners shall be, and he is hereby, authorized, by and with the advice and one clerk. and consent of the senate, to appoint three commissioners and one clerk, who shall constitute a commission, to carry into effect the purposes of this act.

Records, &c. constituting the mixed commission under the treaty of

Ghent, to be delivered to them.

2. That all records, documents, and other papers, which were in possession of the commissioners, constituting the mixed commission under the treaty of Ghent, so far as the same are under the control of the government of the United States, shall be delivered to the commissioners under this act.