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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 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.
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