# United States Statutes at Large/Volume 2/12th Congress/1st Session/Chapter 62

Chap. LXII.—An Act to authorize the granting of Patents for Land, according to the Surveys that have been made; and to grant Donation Rights to certain Claimants of Land in the district of Detroit, and for other purposes.
Act of March 3, 1817, ch. 99. Patents, to be granted to persons whose claims have been confirmed.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That patents shall be granted to the persons whose claims to land have been confirmed in the district of Detroit, in conformity to the surveys which have been made under the direction of the surveyor general, and the general plat of which has been returned to the Secretary of the Treasury, notwithstanding the surveys shall not, in every respect, correspond with the description of the tracts as confirmed by the commissioners for adjusting land claims in ​Proviso, that the confirmation shall be conformable to law.the said district: Provided, that the confirmation of the commissioners and certificate of the register shall, in every other respect, be conformable to law.
Donation of vacant lands, how regulated.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That every person, whose claim has been confirmed by the commissioners aforesaid to a tract of land bordering on the river Detroit, and whose tract, as confirmed, does not extend in depth eighty arpens, French measure, shall be entitled to a donation of any vacant tract of land adjacent to and back of the land confirmed to him as aforesaid, provided that such donation shall not exceed forty arpens, French measure, in depth, nor in quantity of land that contained in the tract already confirmed to him, nor shall in any case the tract confirmed as aforesaid, and that allowed as a donation, together exceed eighty arpens, French measure, in depth, and in all cases where, by reason of bends in the said river, and of adjacent prior claims, each claimant cannot obtain a tract equal in quantity to the tract already confirmed to him, the vacant land applicable to the object shall be divided between the claimants in such manner as shall appear to the commissioners for adjusting the claims most equitable. And every person claiming a donation in virtue of this section shall, on or before the first day of December next, deliver to the register of the land-office at Detroit, a notice, in writing, of the situation and extent of his claim, which he shall file in his office on receiving twenty-five cents from the party or parties for each claim; and if such person shall neglect to deliver such notice within the time limited, his right to a donation, under this section, shall become void. And the commissioners for adjusting claims to land in the said district shall, as soon as may be after the first of December next, proceed to examine and decide, according to the provisions of this section, on the claims filed as aforesaid; and when it shall appear to the said commissioners thatCommissioners to give a certificate. the claimant is entitled to a donation of land, they shall give a certificate stating the circumstances of the case, and that the claimant is entitled to receive a patent for such a tract of land by virtue of this section, which tract shall be surveyed in conformity with the decision of the commissioners, at the expense of the party, under the direction of the surveyor general, by such of his assistants residing in the said district as the said surveyor general shall appoint for that purpose. The expense of surveying shall be the same, and the plats of surveys and transcript of the decisions of the commissioners in favour of claimants shall be made and transmitted to the Secretary of the Treasury in the same manner; and the certificates granted by the commissioners shall be entered with the register of the land-office, and certificates of the register be granted to the party or parties on payment of the same fees, and patents granted, in every respect, in the same manner as is directed by the third section of an act, entituledAct of March 3, 1807, ch. 34. “An act regulating the grants of land in the territory of Michigan,” passed the third day of March, one thousand eight hundred and seven.
Heirs of Joseph Harrison may be permitted to make an entry in the land-office for the district of Detroit.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the heirs of Joseph Harrison, late of Detroit, deceased, be permitted to enter with the register of the land-office, for the district of Detroit, their claim to any tract or tracts of land in the said district; and such entry shall have the same effect, and the commissioners shall have the same powers, and act thereon in the same manner, as if the entry had been made before the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and nine; and in case of a decision in favour of their claim or claims, a patent or patents shall be granted for the lands so claimed and confirmed to them, any law to the contrary notwithstanding.
Approved, April 23, 1812.