§ 1609. — Limitation of actions.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 43USC1609]
TITLE 43--PUBLIC LANDS
CHAPTER 33--ALASKA NATIVE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT
Sec. 1609. Limitation of actions
(a) Complaint, time for filing; jurisdiction; commencement by State
official; certainty and finality of vested rights, titles, and
interests
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any civil action to
contest the authority of the United States to legislate on the subject
matter or the legality of this chapter shall be barred unless the
complaint is filed within one year of December 18, 1971, and no such
action shall be entertained unless it is commenced by a duly authorized
official of the State. Exclusive jurisdiction over such action is hereby
vested in the United States District Court for the District of Alaska.
The purpose of this limitation on suits is to insure that, after the
expiration of a reasonable period of time, the right, title, and
interest of the United States, the Natives, and the State of Alaska will
vest with certainty and finality and may be relied upon by all other
persons in their relations with the State, the Natives, and the United
States.
(b) Land selection; suspension and extension of rights
In the event that the State initiates litigation or voluntarily
becomes a party to litigation to contest the authority of the United
States to legislate on the subject matter or the legality of this
chapter, all rights of land selection granted to the State by the Alaska
Statehood Act shall be suspended as to any public lands which are
determined by the Secretary to be potentially valuable for mineral
development, timber, or other commercial purposes, and no selections
shall be made, no tentative approvals shall be granted, and no patents
shall be issued for such lands during the pendency of such litigation.
In the event of such suspension, the State's right of land selection
pursuant to section 6 of the Alaska Statehood Act shall be extended for
a period of time equal to the period of time the selection right was
suspended.
(Pub. L. 92-203, Sec. 10, Dec. 18, 1971, 85 Stat. 696.)
References in Text
The Alaska Statehood Act and section 6 of the Alaska Statehood Act,
referred to in subsec. (b), are Pub. L. 85-508, July 7, 1958, 72 Stat.
339, and section 6 thereof, as amended, and are set out as a note
preceding section 21 of Title 48, Territories and Insular Possessions.
For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Tables.
