§ 865. — Confirmation of certain lands selected by California.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 43USC865]
TITLE 43--PUBLIC LANDS
CHAPTER 20--RESERVATIONS AND GRANTS TO STATES FOR PUBLIC PURPOSES
Sec. 865. Confirmation of certain lands selected by California
All selections of any portion of the public domain, to which, prior
to July 23, 1866, no homestead, preemption, or other right had been
acquired by any settler under the laws of the United States, and not
being mineral land, nor reserved for naval, military, or Indian purposes
nor held or claimed under any valid Mexican or Spanish grant, and not
included within the limits of any city, town, or village or of the
county of San Francisco, made prior to the 23d day of July 1866, and
theretofore sold to bona fide purchasers by the State of California are
confirmed to the State of California: Provided, however, That said State
shall not receive any greater quantity of land for school or improvement
purposes than she is entitled to by law.
When selections named in the above paragraph have been made upon
lands already surveyed by authority of the United States, the
authorities of said States, where the same has not been already done,
shall notify the officer, as the Secretary of the Interior may
designate, of the land office, for the district in which the land is
situated, which notice shall be regarded as the date of the State
selection; and the said officers, as the Secretary may designate, of the
several land offices, after investigation and decision, shall, under the
instruction of the Secretary of the Interior, or such officer as he may
designate, forward all such selections to the Bureau of Land Management,
and the Secretary or such officer shall certify the same over to the
State in the usual manner.
When the State of California has made such selections from the lands
not surveyed by the authority of the United States, but which selections
have been surveyed by the authority of said State, and the land sold to
purchasers in good faith, under the laws of the State, such selections,
from said 23d of July, 1866, when marked off and designated in the
field, shall have the same force and effect as the preemption rights of
a settler upon unsurveyed public lands; and if upon a survey of such
lands by the United States, the lines of the two surveys shall be found
not to agree, the selection shall be so changed as to include those
legal subdivisions which nearest conform to the identical land included
in the State survey and selection. Upon filing with the officer as the
Secretary of the Interior may designate of the proper United States land
office of the township plat, in which any such selection of unsurveyed
land is located, the holder of the State title shall be allowed the same
time to present and prove up his purchase and claim as was allowed
preemptors under existing laws, and if found in accordance with the law
the land embraced therein shall be certified over to the State by the
Secretary of the Interior or such officer as he may designate.
(R.S. Secs. 2485-2487; 1946 Reorg. Plan No. 3, Sec. 403, eff. July 16,
1946, 11 F.R. 7876, 60 Stat. 1100.)
Codification
R.S. Sec. 2485 derived from acts July 23, 1866, ch. 219, Sec. 1, 14
Stat. 218; Mar. 3, 1875, ch. 139, Sec. 7, 18 Stat. 475. R.S. Secs. 2486,
2487 are from act July 23, 1866, ch. 219, Sec. 23, 14 Stat. 219.
Transfer of Functions
For transfer of functions of other officers, employees, and agencies
of Department of the Interior, with certain exceptions, to Secretary of
the Interior, with power to delegate, see Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1950,
Secs. 1, 2, eff. May 24, 1950, 15 F.R. 3174, 64 Stat. 1262, set out
under section 1451 of this title.
In second par., ``register of the land office,'' changed to
``officer, as the Secretary of the Interior may designate, of the land
office,''; ``registers of the several land offices,'' changed to
``officers, as the Secretary may designate, of the several land
offices,''; first reference to ``Commissioner of the General Land
Office'' changed to ``Secretary of the Interior, or such officer as he
may designate,''; ``Bureau of Land Management'' substituted for
``General Land Office''; and second reference to ``Commissioner of the
General Land Office'' changed to ``Secretary or such officer'', on
authority of section 403 of Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1946. In third par.,
``register'' changed to ``officer as the Secretary of the Interior may
designate'', and ``Commissioner of the General Land Office'' changed to
``Secretary of the Interior or such officer as he may designate'', on
authority of that plan. See note set out under section 1 of this title.