of to or appropriated by a claimant under the homestead or desert-land laws, or patented to a claimant under other public-land laws, the Secretary of the Interior is authorized, in his discretion, and under rules to be prescribed by him, to change the entry and transfer the payment to any other tract of surveyed public land, nonmineral in character, free from lawful claim, and otherwise subject to general disposition: Provided, That the Provisos. entryman, his heirs, or assigns shall file a relinquishment to be relinof all right, title, and interest in and to the land orig- quished. inally entered: Provided further, That no right or claim Right not asunder the provisions of this paragraph shall be assign- signable. able or transferable." Approved, January 27, 1922 (42 Stat. 359). An Act To amend section eight of an Act approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, entitled "An Act to repeal timberculture laws, and for other purposes." Original entry Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section eight of an Act entitled "An Act to repeal timber-culture laws, and for other purposes," approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows: "SEC. 8. That suits by the United States to vacate and annul any patent heretofore issued shall only be brought brought in six within five years from the passage of this Act, and suits years. to vacate and annul patents hereafter issued shall only be brought within six years after the date of the issuance of such patents." An Act To provide for the extension of the time within which suits may be brought to vacate and annul land patents, and for other purposes. Suits to annul patents to be Time limit in suits to annul Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That suits by the United States to vacate and annul any patent to lands heretofore erroneously issued under railroad grants. a railroad or wagon road grant shall only be brought within five years from the passage of this Act, and suits to vacate and annul patents hereafter issued shall only be brought within six years after the date of the issuance of such patents, and the limitation of section eight of chapter five hundred and sixty-one of the Acts of the second session of the Fifty-first Congress and amendments thereto is extended accordingly as to the patents herein referred to. But no patent to any lands held by a bona fide purchaser shall be vacated or annulled, but the right and title of such purchaser is hereby confirmed: Provided, That no suit shall be brought or maintained, nor Bona fide purchasers. Lands not off shall recovery be had for lands or the value thereof, cially withdrawn, that were certified or patented in lieu of other lands covered by a grant which were lost or relinquished by the grantee in consequence of the failure of the Government or its officers to withdraw the same from sale or entry. Claims of bona fide purchasers. SEC. 2. That if any person claiming to be a bona fide purchaser of any lands erroneously patented or certified shall present his claim to the Secretary of the Interior prior to the institution of a suit to cancel a patent or certification, and if it shall appear that he is a bona fide purchaser, the Secretary of the Interior shall request that suit be brought in such case against the patentee, or the corporation, company, person, or association of persons for whose benefit the certification was made, for the value of said land, which in no case shall be more than the minimum Government price thereof, and the title of Decree of court. such claimant shall stand confirmed. An adverse decision by the Secretary of the Interior on the bona fides of such claimant shall not be conclusive of his rights, and if such claimant, or one claiming to be a bona fide purchaser, but who has not submitted his claim to the Secretary of the Interior, is made a party to such suit, and if found by the court to be a bona fide purchaser, the court shall decree a confirmation of the title, and shall render a decree in behalf of the United States against the patentee, corporation, company, person, or association of persons for whose benefit the certification was made for Establishing the value of the land as hereinbefore provided. Any bona fide purchaser of lands patented or certified to a railroad company, and who is not made a party to such suit, and who has not submitted his claim to the Secretary of the Interior, may establish his right as such bona fide purchaser in any United States court having jurisdiction of the subject-matter, or at his option, as prescribed in sections three and four of chapter three hundred and seventy-six of the Acts of the second session of the Forty-ninth Congress. rights of parties. Clains of purchasers to be in cancel patent. SEC. 3. That if at any time prior to the institution of vestigated before suit by the Attorney-General to cancel any patent or entering suit to certification of lands erroneously patented or certified a claim or statement is presented to the Secretary of the Interior by or on behalf of any person or persons, corporation or corporations, claiming that such person or persons, corporation or corporations, is a bona fide purchaser or are bona fide purchasers of any patented or certified land by deed or contract, or otherwise, from or through the original patentee or corporation to which patent or certification was issued, no suit or action shall be brought to cancel or annul the patent or certification. for said land until such claim is investigated in said Department of the Interior; and if it shall appear that such person or corporation is a bona fide purchaser as aforesaid, or that such persons or corporations are such bona fide purchasers, then no such suit shall be instituted and the title of such claimant or claimants shall stand confirmed; but the Secretary of the Interior shall request that suit be brought in such case against the patentee, or the corporation, company, person, or association of persons for whose benefit the patent was issued or certification was made for the value of the land as hereinbefore specified. Approved, March 2, 1896 (29 Stat. 42). Extract from the legislative appropriation Act approved March 2, 1895 (28 Stat. 764-807). ents may be by SEC. 3. The engrossing and recording of patents for Engrossing patpublic lands may be done by means of typewriters or typewriters. other machines, under regulations to be made by the Secretary of the Interior and approved by the President. LAND LOCATORS-PUNISHMENT FOR FALSE REPRE SENTATIONS. An Act To punish persons who make false representations to settlers and others pertaining to the public lands of the United States. resentations to a misdemeanor. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatires of the United States of America in Congress assembled. That any person who, for a reward paid or prom- Public lands ised to him in that behalf, shall undertake to locate for making false repan intending purchaser, settler, or entryman any public purchasers, et lands of the United States subject to disposition under the public land laws, and who shall willfully and falsely represent to such intending purchaser, settler, or entryman that any tract of land shown to him is public land of the United States subject to sale, settlement, or entry, or that it is of a particular surveyed description, with intent to deceive the person to whom such representation is made, or who, in reckless disregard of the truth, shall falsely represent to any such person that any tract of land shown to him is public land of the United States subject to sale, settlement, or entry, or that it is of a particular surveyed description, thereby deceiving the person to whom such representation is made, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of not exceeding $300 or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year, or by both such fine and imprison ment. Approved, February 23, 1917 (39 Stat. 936). for. Punishment Occupants of tain cases. DISPOSSESSED OCCUPANTS. An Act For the benefit of occupying claimants. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assemDispossessed bled, That when an occupant of land, having color of lands to have title, in good faith has made valuable improvements remedies in cer- thereon, and is, in the proper action, found not to be the rightful owner thereof, such occupant shall be entitled in the Federal courts to all the rights and remedies, and, upon instituting the proper proceedings, such relief as may be given or secured to him by the statutes of the State or Territory where the land lies, although the title of the plaintiff in the action may have been granted by the United States after said improvements were so made. many. construed as af upon existence of, etc. Approved, June 1, 1874 (18 Stat. 50). END OF WAR WITH GERMANY. Joint Resolution Declaring that certain Acts of Congress, joint resolutions, and proclamations shall be construed as if the war had ended and the present or existing emergency expired. Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, War with Ger- That in the interpretation of any provision relating to Termination of, the duration or date of the termination of the present fecting legisla. War or of the present or existing emergency, meaning tion contingent thereby the war between the Imperial German Government and the Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Government and the Government and people of the United States, in any Acts of Congress, joint resolutions, or proclamations of the President containing provisions contingent upon the duration or the date of the termination of such war or of such present or existing emergency, the date when this resolution becomes effective shall be construed and treated as the date of the termination of the war or of the present or existing Date when ree- emergency, notwithstanding any provision in any Act effective to gov. of Congress or joint resolution providing any other mode of determining the date of such termination. And any Act of Congress, or any provision of any such Act, that by its terms is in force only during the existence of a state of war, or during such state of war and a limited period of time thereafter, shall be construed and administered as if such war between the Governments and people aforesaid terminated on the date when this Legislation ex- resolution becomes effective, any provision of such law. cepted. to the contrary notwithstanding; excepting, however, District of Co- from the operation and effect of this resolution the folPublic Laws, lowing Acts and proclamations, to wit: Title 2 of the olution ern. becomes lumbia rents. 1st sess., p. 297. Trading the enemy. Acts, etc. Corporation. with Ante, p. 1084. issued thereun Status of de un Act entitled "The Food Control and District of Columbia Rents Act," approved October 22, 1919 (Fortyfirst Statutes, page 297), the Act known as the Trading with the Enemy Act, approved October 6, 1917 (Fortieth Vol. 40, p. 411. Statutes, page 411), and all amendments thereto, and Liberty bond the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Liberty Bond Vol. 40, pp. 35, Acts, the Supplement to the Second Liberty Bond Act, 288,503, 844, and the Victory Liberty Loan Act; titles 1 and 3 of the War Finance War Finance Corporation Act (Fortieth Statutes, page Vol. 40, pp. 506) as amended by the Act approved March 3, 1919 506, 1818. (Fortieth Statutes, page 1313), and Public Resolution Numbered 55, Sixty-sixth Congress, entitled "Joint resolution directing the War Finance Corporation to take certain action for the relief of the present depression in the agricultural sections of the country, and for other purposes," passed January 4, 1921; also the proclama-, Proclamations tions issued under the authority conferred by the Acts der. herein excepted from the effect and operation of this resolution: Provided, however, That nothing herein con- Provisos. tained, shall be construed as effective to terminate the serters military status of any person now in desertion from the military or naval service of the United States, nor to terminate the liability to prosecution and punishment, Violators of seunder the selective service law, approved May 18, 1917 law. (Fortieth Statutes, page 76), of any person who failed to comply with the provisions of said Act, or of Acts amendatory thereof: Provided further, That the Act entitled "An Act to amend section 3, title 1, of the Act entitled 'An Act to punish acts of interference with Punishing obforeign relations, the neutrality, and the foreign com- structions to sale merce of the United States, to punish espionage, and listments, etc., better to enforce the criminal laws of the United States, Vol. 40, p. 553, and for other purposes,' approved June 15, 1917 repealed. (Fortieth Statutes, page 217), and for other purposes," approved May 16, 1918 (Fortieth Statutes, page 553), be, and the same is hereby, repealed, and that said section 3 of said Act approved June 15, 1917, is hereby Former provirevived and restored with the same force and effect as originally enacted. lective service Vol. 40, p. 76. Amendment to espionage Act. of bonds, to en repealed. sion revived. from prosecution tions. Nothing herein contained shall be held to exempt from, No exemption prosecution or to relieve from punishment any offense for prior violaheretofore committed in violation of any Act hereby repealed or which may be committed while it remains in force as herein provided.35 Approved, March 3, 1921 (41-1359). This act is here given for the reason that a number of public land laws provide for certain conditions during the war with Germany. |