Arizona weekly enterprise., 1890-05-24
The Land Court Bill.
lPheniX Herald.l

The Land Court bill, which will probably be passed by Congress, is pretty we'll guarded so far as Arizona is concerned, if the bill can be pushed through in its present form which provides:
 "That said court shall not have jurisdiction to hear or determine any title to any Mexican or Spanish land grant claim over one hundred and sixty acres in extent in the Territ ory of Arizona, unless the claimant or claimants of such grant shall first execute and cause to be recorded in the county or counties in which said land is situated, quit-claim deed relinquishing to the United States all claim to said land and all interest therein. When such deeds are re- corded, the land embraced or describ- ed therein shall become a part of the public domain subject to entry and sale as other like public lands On recording such deed or deeds as afore- said, the claimant of any such grant or grants may bring an action in said court at any time within two years thereafter, and from the approval of this act for the value of said lands; and upon proof being made to the satisfaction of said court of the val idity of said grant and plaintiffs right and title to the same, in the mode and under the rules herein provided, in cases where judgment of confirm ation may be rendered, said court shall render judgment in favor of such plaintiff against the United 1 States, for the reasonable value of said land exclusive of betterments, not exceeding one dollar and twenty ] five cents per acre for the tract, and such judgment, when final, shall be charge on the Treasury of the United States Either party deeming himself aggrieved by such judgment may appeal in the same manner as provided herein, in case of confirm ation or rejection of Spanish or | Mexican grant,"
 Section 15 of the bill provides that: l 'Ifin any case it so happens that the lands decreed to any claimant under the provisions of this act, shall have been sold or granted by the United States, 1t shall be lawful for such claimants, or their legal representa- tives, at any time within one year after the rendition of the final deer ee in their favor, to execute and file in the office of the Commissioner of the General Land Office release to the United States of all right, title or claim to the land so sold or granted by the United States; and thereupon there shall be issued by the said Com missioner (under such regulations as may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior) to such claimant or his legal representative, scrip in legal subdivisions for an equal amount of acres so released, which scrip shall bs assignable ln such form as may be prescribed by said Secretary, and shall be receivable, acre for acre, in payment for any public land, not mineral, in the State or Territory in which the land grant or claim for which scrip is issued shall be located
 Under the above provisions it will be noted that the settler already on lands under any claim is protected thorough ly by the Government and that grants claimed in the Territory over l6O acres in extent must first release all titles that may be in the claimant, to the Government and if the title Is afterward proven good in the claimant the Government pays for the land or issues the claimant scrip good for like number of acres of unoccupied Government land in cases where the claim Is 160 acres or less. The idea that the settler could be busted by the terms of the bill and would be given scrip in lieu of his claim if the grant should be proven valid upon which his claim might be located, is entirely erroneous. Very complete provisions for the protection of the settler are secured by the bill if it becomes law; and any case decided by the land court can be appealed to the Supreme Court.