# United States Statutes at Large/Volume 4/20th Congress/1st Session/Chapter 71

Chap. LXXI.—An Act for the relief of purchasers of the public lands that have reverted for non-payment of the purchase money.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That, in all cases where public ​Where public lands have been purchased, on which a further credit has not been taken under the provision of the act of March 2, 1821, ch. 21, and have reverted, or are liable to revert, to the United States, for failure to pay the purchase money.lands have been purchased, on which a further credit has not been taken under the provisions of the act of the second of March, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-one, and have reverted, or are liable to revert, to the United States, for failure to pay the purchase money, or have been sold by the United States by reason of such failure to pay, and in all cases where one twentieth of the purchase money shall have been deposited and forfeited to the United States, it shall be the duty of the register of the land office, where the purchase or deposit was made, to issue, upon application, to the person, or persons, legally entitled to the benefit of the payments made previous to such reversion or sale, his, her, or their legal representatives, or assigns, a certificate for the amount so paid, and not refunded, which shall be received and credited as cash in payment of any public land that has been heretofore, or may hereafter be, sold by the United States, in the state or territory in which such original purchase or deposit was made.Fees.
Duty of the commissioner of the general land office to prescribe the form of such certificates.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the commissioner of the general land office to prescribe the form of such certificates, which shall, in every case, specify the tract or tracts of land so reverted or sold, the amount paid, date of payments, and by whom made; and it shall be the duty of the register issuing such certificates, to keep a record of the same, and to forward to the general land office, at the close of each month, an abstract of the certificates issued during the month;Fees. and for each certificate, the officer issuing the same shall be entitled to receive, from the applicant, the sum of fifty cents.
Certificates, when received in payment for lands, shall be entered in the books of the land office where received, and transmitted to the general land office.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the said certificates, when received in payment for lands, shall be entered in the books of the land office, where received, and transmitted with the accounts of the receiver of the public moneys, to the general land office, in such manner as the commissioner of said office shall prescribe; and if, upon comparison of the original with the returned from the office whence any certificate issued, it shall appear to the satisfaction of the said commissioner, that such certificate has been issued and duly paid, according to the true intent and meaning of this act, the same shall be passed to the credit of the person paying the same as so much cash.
Lands sold at New York or Pittsburg, &c.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That, for any moneys forfeited, on lands sold at New York or Pittsburg, the certificate shall be issued by the Secretary of the Treasury; which certificate shall be received in payment for lands at any of the land offices of the United States, as the certificates issued in conformity to the foregoing provisions of this act are made receivable.
Certificates not to be issued to any person, except, &c.Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That, in no case, shall a certificate be issued to any person, except to the person who originally forfeited the lands, or to his heir or heirs; nor shall a grant issue, or the lands purchased with any scrip be transferred, until six months after the certificate shall have been deposited in the office.
Where any tract of land returned as sold to the general land office shall have been paid for in forged or altered certificates.Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That, if any tract of land returned as sold to the general land office, shall have been paid for in forged or altered certificates, such sale shall be void, and the land subject to be sold again, at public or private sale, as the case may be; and in case any such forged or altered certificate shall be received upon any debt for land heretofore sold, or in part payment of any tract of land that may be hereafter sold, it shall be the duty of the commissioner of the general land office, by advertisement, or in such other manner as he shall direct, to give notice thereof to the person making such payment; and if, within six months after notice, such person shall not pay into the proper land office the amount so falsely paid, the tract of land upon which such payment was made, shall, with all money actually paid thereon, be forfeited to the United States.
Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That, where two or more persons ​Where two or more persons become the purchaser or purchasers of a section or fractional section. Proviso.have become the purchasers of a section or fractional section, the register of the land office for the district in which the lands lie, shall on application of the parties, and a surrender of the original certificate, issue separate certificates, of the same date with the original, to each of the purchasers, or their assignees, in conformity with the division agreed on by them: Provided, That, in no case, shall the fractions so purchased be divided by other than north, and south, or east and west lines; nor shall any certificate for less than eighty acres.
Approved, May 23, 1828.