Southern shield., 1851-02-22
Laws of the United States,
BY AUTHORITY

TPURMC-No. l.
 AN ACT 10 grant the right of pre-emption
 to certain purchasers and settlers on the
 "Maison Rouge Grant," in the event of
 the final adjustment of the title in favor
 of the United States
 Be H enacted by the Senate and House ot Representatives of the United Sates of .aneri- co in Congress assembled. That in the event of final adjudication by the Court in favor ol the United States on the "Maison Rouge Grant," under the act of Congress approv- ed seventeenth June, eighteen hundred and forty-four, entitled "An act to provide for the ad justment of land claims within the States of Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana, and in those parts of the States of Missis- sippi and Alabama, south of the thirty first degree of North latitude, and between the Mississippi and Perdido rivers," every per son, his heirs or legal representatives, who, prior 10 the first March, eighteen hundred and torty-nine, purchased land in good faith, and for valuable consideration, from Dan iel W. Coxe, or other persons holding titles derived under the said Mason Rouge Grant, on the Ouachta river, in. the State of Louisiana, and who has improved and cult- vated the land so purchased, or any part of il, shall be, and he is hereby, athorized to enter, with the Register of the Land Office for the district in which said land may be, as nearly as practicable, by legal subdi- visions, the whole or any portion of the tract or tracts so purchased, to include the residence and improvement, upon paying 10 the United States the minimum price of public lands.
 SEC. ?. find De # farther enacted, That in the event of such final ad judication, it shall be the duty of the Register of the proper district 10 publish notice of the fact in some newspaper circulating ir the vicinity of the land, with declaration of the readi- empuoh hppIicauonS9 fGnuer tnIs dcr, arfu thereupon every person claiming a right of pre-emption under this act, shall be allowed twelve months within which to enter and pay for the land so claimed, from and after the date of such public advertisement, and in conformity with such instructions as may be given by the Commissioner of the General Land Office: ProUided, that notice specifying the particular tracts so claimed, shall be given, within three months after such hrst advertisement, to the Register, of the intention of the claimant to make such purchase of the United States, and that no sale or entry shall be permitted to land within the limits of the aforesaid Maison Rouge claim until the expiration of the aforesaid three months, and the lands en- braced in the aforesaid notices or pre- emption application shall not be liable to sale to other persons as public lands, unless after the expiration of the aforesoid term of twelve months, it shall be found that no pre-emption under this act shall have been established to the same.
 SEC. B. find 5e a further enacted, That if the residence and improvements of two or more persons entitled to pre-emption as aforesaid shall be found on any one of the smallest legal subdivisions of the public lands, the same may be entered jointly by the parties in order that they may secure and divide the same, according to their several rights, and in default of one or more of the parties taking the proper steps within the time prescribed, to secure the benefit of this act, it shall be lawful for any one of the parties of this class to make the entry of the whole of such legal subdivision for his sole benefit.
 (SigneO HOWELL COBB,
 iSpeaker of the House yt' Representatives..
 (SigneD WILLIAM R. KING,
 President Of the .Senute pro kenmore