"SECTION 15.-Be it further enacted, That every certificate which may be issued by the authority of this act, shall be signed by the board of land commissioners, and attested by the clerk; and for every such certificate so issued, the party claimants shall pay the sum of five dollars, one half of which shall go to the clerk, and the other be equally divided between the quorum of the board actually presiding. And it is hereby made the duty of said board, and they are required to meet at the court houses of their respective counties, on every other Thursday, then and there to transact the duties required of them by this act, and shall remain in session so long as may be necessary for the transaction of the business before the board, for which services they shall be entitled to demand and receive the fees herein allowed, and no more: Provided, that after the land offices shall have been open three months, the said board shall not be required to meet only on the first Thursday of each month, and if that day should fall on a regular court week, so as to interfere with it, then they shall meet on the next Thursday thereafter. And be it further provided, that a majority of said board shall form a quorum to transact the duties herein required of them.

"SECTION 16.-Be it further enacted, That the decision of a majority of said board of commissioners shall be necessary to entitle any person to a certificate of their claims; but if a majority of said board should decide that any claimant who presents himself, or herself, before them for a certificate of claims, is not entitled to the amount of land which they claim, said claimant may take an appeal from their decision to the next district court for the county in which said claimant may live, citing the board of commissioners to appear as defendants, where it shall be tried; and in all such cases the district attorney shall represent the interest of the republic, for which services he shall be allowed a tax-fee of ten dollars on every such case, to be paid by the appellant, together with all other costs of suit, in case he or she fails to obtain a verdict in his or her favour; but if the appellant should obtain a verdict for the amount of land which he or she claims, the costs of suit shall be paid by the republic, when the

commissioners shall issue a certificate in accordance with such decision.

"SECTION 17.-Be it further enacted, That any certificate ' of claim to land, which has been or may be obtained in the manner and form herein prescribed, shall be sufficient evidence to authorize any lawful surveyor to survey for any person holding such certificates, any land which he may point out, agreeably to all the laws which do now, or may hereafter exist on that subject Provided, also, that where more than one application is made for the same tract of land to be surveyed, the settler or occupant shall have the preference if their claims be otherwise equal.

"SECTION 19.-Be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the surveyor in all cases, before he runs a division line between two settlers claiming lands, to notify the party or parties interested, before running the same, in writing. And any survey which may be made contrary to the true intent and meaning of this section of this act, shall not be a lawful one, and the field notes of every survey which shall be returned to any land office hereafter, for the purpose of getting a title for the same, shall be under oath of the surveyor, who shall swear it was executed according to law, and shall also swear the same was made prior to the closing of the land office by the consultation, or subsequent to the opening of the same by this act; and if made prior to the closing of the land office by consultation, the same shall also be proven by at least two respectable witnesses.

"SECTION 20.-Be it further enacted, That the commissioner of the general land office is hereby authorized to grant, to all persons holding an order of survey, legally obtained previous to the closing of the land offices in one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, and having a survey which was made agreeably to said order, and in conformity to law in all respects, a patent for the same, upon the holder presenting the certificate of some board of land commissioners, that he is entitled to the quantity of land surveyed, and making such proof to them as is required by law, and upon his paying the several fees as the law requires.

"SECTION 21.-Be it further enacted, That all lands surveyed

for individuals, lying on navigable water-courses, shall front one half of the square on the water-course, and the line running at right angles with the general course of the stream, if circumstances of lines previously surveyed under the laws will permit, and all others not on navigable water-courses shall be squares, if previous lines will permit; and under no circumstances shall any one grant be located in more than two surveys.

"SECTION 22.-Be it further enacted, That each and every individual under the age of seventeen, who have volunteered in the service of their country, and who have received honourable discharges, shall be entitled to the same quantity of land as a head right, that they would be though they were twenty-one years of age, and upon the same conditions.

"SECTION 23.-Be it further enacted, That all single men who were in the republic at the date of the declaration of independence, and entitled under the constitution to one-third of a league of land, and who have since married, or may marry within the next twelve months, shall be entitled to the additional quantity of two-thirds of a league and labor of land: Provided, that the benefits of this section shall only extend to those who have contributed to the support and defence of their country : and provided, this additional quantity shall not be allowed to any whose wife has received a league of land of this government.*

"SECTION 24.-Be it further enacted, That whereas many persons have received titles under the colonization laws as colonists from the different commissioners of the county, and whereas many conditions were by the law attached to said titles, that all such conditions be, and are hereby cancelled, and the titles to all such lands are hereby ratified and confirmed: Provided, that such persons shall pay, or cause to be paid, to the president of the board of land commissioners of the county where such land may be situated, within six months after the opening of the land office, all money which may be due or owing on the same:

For further provisions, in regard to emigrants at the present time, see emendatory law, January 4, 1839.

provided, that the condition of remaining in the country, and the provision prohibiting the sale to aliens, shall not be repealed by this law. And further provided, That no title by this act shall be confirmed, which was illegal or invalid ab initio. And further provided, That this act shall not extend to any grantee or individual for a greater amouut of land than one league and one labor. "SECTION 25.-Be it further enacted, That no person shall, by virtue of an improvement, have a right to claim more than one league and one labor of land, and that improvement shall consist in the clearing and fencing in a farmer-like manner, at least four acres and this privilege shall not extend to any person or persons who have previously received a title to the quantum of land to which they were entitled, nor to any person or persons entitled to a grant of land by purchase.

:

"SECTION 26.-Be it further enacted, That it is hereby declared, that all empresarios' contracts having ceased on the day of the declaration of independence, all the vacant lands of Texas are the property of this republic, and subject alone to the dispo sition of the government of the same.

"SECTION 27.-Be it further enacted, That in order to settle the claims of empresarios, each and every one of the same are hereby authorized to institute a suit against the president of the republic of Texas, which suit or suits shall be tried in the county in which is situated the seat of government, and shall be tried as all other land suits are required to be tried. And should any empresario who should thus sue, fail to establish the claim for which he sues, he shall pay all the costs of suit: Provided, that neither aliens nor the assignees of aliens shall be entitled to the benefits of this act.

"SECTION 29.-Be it further enacted, That every volunteer who arrived in this republic after the second day of March, 1836, and before the first of August, 1836, and has received, or may hereafter receive, an honourable discharge, and has taken the oath prescribed by the constitution, or who may have died, shall receive the quantity of land by this act secured to original colonists: Provided, that the priority of location mentioned in the thirty-eighth section of this act shall be adhered to: And further

C C

provided, that none but the person who served, or his heirs, shall be entitled to the benefit of this provision, and all augmentation shall accrue to the original claimants, and not to the persons to whom it may have been transferred: Provided, no person who is entitled to the benefit of the first part of this section of this act, shall be entitled to the benefits of the latter part of the same; every person who has arrived in this republic since the declaration of independence, and previous to the 1st of October, 1837, who is a free white person, and the head of a family, and who actually resides within the government with his family, shall be entitled to a conditioned grant of twelve hundred and eighty acres of land, by paying the fees of office, and of surveying. The conditions of said grant shall be that both grantee and his or her family shall remain and reside within the republic, and do and perform all the duties required of other like citizens, for the term of three years; after which time, he or she shall receive an unconditional deed for said land; and in no case whatever shall a grant of that description be made, unless it be satisfactorily proven that all the conditions and provisions of the law have been complied with. And all single free white men who have emigrated to this republic since the declaration of independence, and previous to the 1st of October, 1837, they shall be entitled to an additional quantity of six hundred and forty acres of land upon the same conditions as above named, and all laws contrary to the meaning and provisions of this section are hereby repealed.

"SECTION 30.-Be it further enacted, That all officers and soldiers who engaged in the service of Texas previous to the 1st of March, 1837, whose families are now here, or may arrive within twelve months from the date of their discharges, shall be entitled to the same quantity of land as they would have been entitled to, if their families had emigrated with them to the country.

"SECTION 31.-Be it further enacted, That the board of land commissioners are hereby authorized to grant to persons claiming lands of this government, under the 29th section of this act, a certificate of their claims, upon the same proof being made to them