US LAWS, STATUTES & CODES ON-LINE

US Supreme Court Decisions On-Line | US Laws

[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 30USC30]

 
                   TITLE 30--MINERAL LANDS AND MINING
 
           CHAPTER 2--MINERAL LANDS AND REGULATIONS IN GENERAL
 
Sec. 30. Adverse claims; oath of claimants; requisites; waiver; 
        stay of land office proceedings; judicial determination of right 
        of possession; successful claimants' filing of judgment roll, 
        certificate of labor, and description of claim in land office, 
        and acreage and fee payments; issuance of patents for entire or 
        partial claims upon certification of land office proceedings and 
        judgment roll; alienation of patent title
        
    Where an adverse claim is filed during the period of publication, it 
shall be upon oath of the person or persons making the same, and shall 
show the nature, boundaries, and extent of such adverse claim, and all 
proceedings, except the publication of notice and making and filing of 
the affidavit thereof, shall be stayed until the controversy shall have 
been settled or decided by a court of competent jurisdiction, or the 
adverse claim waived. It shall be the duty of the adverse claimant, 
within thirty days after filing his claim, to commence proceedings in a 
court of competent jurisdiction, to determine the question of the right 
of possession, and prosecute the same with reasonable diligence to final 
judgment; and a failure so to do shall be a waiver of his adverse claim. 
After such judgment shall have been rendered, the party entitled to the 
possession of the claim, or any portion thereof, may, without giving 
further notice, file a certified copy of the judgment roll with the 
register of the land office, together with the certificate of the 
Director of the Bureau of Land Management that the requisite amount of 
labor has been expended or improvements made thereon, and the 
description required in other cases, and shall pay to the register $5 
per acre for his claim, together with the proper fees, whereupon the 
whole proceedings and the judgment roll shall be certified by the 
register to the Director of the Bureau of Land Management, and a patent 
shall issue thereon for the claim, or such portion thereof as the 
applicant shall appear, from the decision of the court, to rightly 
possess. If it appears from the decision of the court that several 
parties are entitled to separate and different portions of the claim, 
each party may pay for his portion of the claim, with the proper fees, 
and file the certificate and description by the Director of the Bureau 
of Land Management whereupon the register shall certify the proceedings 
and judgment roll to the Director of the Bureau of Land Management, as 
in the preceding case, and patents shall issue to the several parties 
according to their respective rights. Nothing herein contained shall be 
construed to prevent the alienation of the title conveyed by a patent 
for a mining claim to any person whatever.

(R.S. Sec. 2326; Mar. 3, 1925, ch. 462, 43 Stat. 1144, 1145; 1946 Reorg. 
Plan No. 3, Sec. 403, eff. July 16, 1946, 11 F.R. 7876, 60 Stat. 1100.)

                          Codification

    R.S. Sec. 2326 derived from act May 10, 1872, ch. 152, Sec. 7, 17 
Stat. 93.


                               Amendments

    1925--Act Mar. 3, 1925, affected words, in third and fourth 
sentences of text, now reading ``United States supervisor of surveys'', 
and words, in third sentence of text, now reading ``pay to the register 
$5 per acre.'' Such words formerly read ``surveyor-general'', and ``pay 
to the receiver five dollars per acre'', respectively. Such act is 
treated more fully in notes under section 29 of this title.

                          Transfer of Functions

    Director of the Bureau of Land Management substituted for United 
States Supervisor of Surveys following the words ``certificate of the'' 
in sentence beginning ``After such judgment'' and following the words 
``description by the'' in sentence beginning ``If it appears''. In the 
establishment of the Bureau of Land Management by Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 
1946, Sec. 403, eff. July 16, 1946, 11 F.R. 7876, 60 Stat. 1100, set out 
in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees, the 
office of Supervisor of Surveys was abolished and the functions and 
powers were transferred to the Secretary of the Interior, to be 
performed by such officers or agencies of the Department as might be 
designated by the Secretary. Under that authority, the functions and 
powers formerly exercised by the Supervisor of Surveys were delegated to 
the Chief Cadastral Engineer, subject to the supervision of the Director 
of the Bureau of Land Management. In the general reorganization and 
realignment of functions of the Bureau, the office of the Chief 
Cadastral Engineer was abolished, and the functions of that office have 
been delegated to the Director of the Bureau of Land Management. See 43 
C.F.R. Sec. 9180.0-3(a)(1).
    ``Director of the Bureau of Land Management'' was substituted for 
``Commissioner of the General Land Office'' following the words 
``register to the'' in sentence beginning ``After such judgment'' and in 
sentence beginning ``If it appears'' following the words ``judgment roll 
to the'' on authority of Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1946, set Sec. 403, set 
out in the Appendix to Title 5. Section 403 of Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 
1946, abolished the office of the Commissioner of the General Land 
Office and consolidated the functions of the General Land Office with 
the Grazing Service to form the Bureau of Land Management.
    Office of register of district land office abolished and all 
functions of register transferred to Secretary of the Interior, or to 
officers and agencies of Department of the Interior as Secretary may 
designate, by Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1946, Sec. 403, set out in the 
Appendix to Title 5.

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in sections 24, 29, 33, 37, 38, 39, 40, 
42, 46, 47, 48, 49, 102, 541b of this title; title 16 section 460mm-1; 
title 25 section 640d-10; title 43 sections 1712, 1714, 1732.