Pennsylvania Act 1784-1083 (session 2) — LAND OFFICE - PUBLIC LANDS - GRANTS AND PATENTS

Act text

AN ACT

For opening the Land Office, for granting and disposing of the unappropriated lands within this state.

Section 2. Be it therefore enacted, and it is hereby enacted by the Representatives of the Freemen of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met, and by the authority of the same, That the Land Office shall be opened, for the lands already purchased from the Indians, on the first day of July next, at the rate of ten pounds for every hundred acres, with the usual fees of granting, surveying and patenting, excepting such tracts as shall be surveyed westward of the Allegheny mountain, which shall be three pounds ten shillings, and no more; and that the several officers of the Land Office are hereby fully empowered and directed to do and perform every act and thing incident, or in any wise appertaining, to their said offices, with respect to receiving, filing and entering locations, granting warrants on the same, receiving the consideration, directing copies of warrants, or other rights, receiving returns, and issuing patents of conformation as heretofore, agreeable to the former customs and usages of the said offices.

Section 3. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That every applicant for lands shall produce to the Secretary of the Land Office a particular description of the lands applied for, with a certificate from two justices of the peace of the proper county, specifying whether the said lands be improved or not, and, if improved, how long since the said improvement was made, that interest may be charged accordingly.

Compiler's Note: Section 28 of Act 207 of 2004 provided that any and all references in any other law to a "district justice" or "justice of the peace" shall be deemed to be references to a magisterial district judge.

Section 4. And be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the quantity of land granted to any one person shall not exceed four hundred acres, and that all grantees under this act, as well as all claimants of unpatented lands whatsoever, be and they are hereby confined to the same time, with respect to patenting, as is limited and directed by the law of this state, entitled "An act for establishing a Land Office, and for other purposes therein mentioned," and the law, entitled "An act to vest certain powers in the President of this state, together with the other officers therein named, and for other purposes therein mentioned."

Section 5. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all persons possessed of old rights, unsatisfied warrants, or other grants from the late proprietaries, be and they are hereby confined, in locating the same, to the lands already purchased from the Indians; and in order to prevent disputes touching the same, it is hereby enjoined on the commissioners appointed for making a further purchase, that they ascertain, in their negotiations with the Indians, with the greatest possible precision, the line between the lands already purchased and those that shall be by them purchased.