Title 43—Public Lands: Interior--Volume 1
PART 1870—ADJUDICATION PRINCIPLES AND PROCEDURES
§ 1871.0-3   Authority.
The Act of September 20, 1922 (42 Stat. 857; 43 U.S.C. 1161-1163), as modified by section 403 of Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1946 (60 Stat. 1100), reads as follows:
Sec. 1161. The Secretary of the Interior, or such officer as he may designate, is authorized to decide upon principles of equity and justice, as recognized in courts of equity, and in accordance with regulations to be approved by the Secretary of the Interior, consistently with such principles, all cases of suspended entries of public lands and of suspended preemption land claims, and to adjudge in what cases patents shall issue upon the same.
Sec. 1162. Every such adjudication shall be approved by the Secretary of the Interior and shall operate only to divest the United States of the title to the land embraced thereby, without prejudice to the rights of conflicting claimants.
Sec. 1163. Where patents have been already issued on entries which are approved by the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of the Interior, or such officer as he may designate, upon the canceling of the outstanding patent, is authorized to issue a new patent, on such approval, to the person who made the entry, his heirs or assigns.
§ 1871.1   Equitable adjudication.
§ 1871.1-1   Cases subject to equitable adjudication.
The cases subject to equitable adjudication by the Director, Bureau of Land Management, cover the following:
(a) Substantial compliance: All classes of entries in connection with which the law has been substantially complied with and legal notice given, but the necessary citizenship status not acquired, sufficient proof not submitted, or full compliance with law not effected within the period authorized by law, or where the final proof testimony, or affidavits of the entryman or claimant were executed before an officer duly authorized to administer oaths but outside the county or land district, in which the land is situated, and special cases deemed proper by the Director, Bureau of Land Management, where the error or informality is satisfactorily explained as being the result of ignorance, mistake, or some obstacle over which the party had no control, or any other sufficient reason not indicating bad faith there being no lawful adverse claim.