Chapter CLXVII. *to confirm certain Private Land Claims in the Territory of New Mexico.* June 21, 1860. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* That the private land claims in the Territory of New Mexico, as recommended for confirmation by th
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Chap. CLXVII.— An Act *to confirm certain Private Land Claims in the Territory of New Mexico.* June 21, 1860. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* That the private land claims in the Territory of New Mexico, as recommended for confirmation by the Certain private land claims in New Mexico confirmed.surveyor-general of that Territory, and in his letter to the Commissioner of the General Land Office, of the twelfth of January, eighteen hundred and fifty eight, designated as numbers one, three, four, six, eight, nine, ten, twelve, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen, and the claim of E.
W. Eaton, not entered on the corrected list of numbers, but E. W. Eaton.standing on the original docket and abstract returns of the surveyor-general as number sixteen, be, and they are hereby, confirmed: *Provided,* That the claim number nine, in the name of John Scolley and others, John Scolley.shall not be confirmed for more than five square leagues; and that the claim number seventeen, in the name of Cornelio Vigil and Ceran St. Cornelio Vigil. Ceran St. Vrain.Vrain, shall not be confirmed for more than eleven square leagues to each of said claimants.
Sec. 2. *And be it further enacted,* That in surveying the claim of said Survey and location of claims of Scotley, Vigil, and St. Vrain.John Scol*ly* it shall be lawful for him to locate the five square leagues confirmed to him in a square body in any part of the tract of twenty-five square leagues claimed by him; and that in surveying the claims of said Cornelia Vigil and Ceran St. Vrain, the location shall be made as follows, namely: the survey shall first be made of all tracts occupied by actual settlers holding possession under titles or promises to settle, which have heretofore been given by said Vigil and St.
Vrain, in the tracts claimed by them, and after deducting the area of all such tracts from the area embraced in twenty-two square leagues, the remainder shall be located in two equal tracts, each of square form, in any part of the tract claimed by the said Vigil and St. Vrain selected by them; and it shall be the duty of the surveyor-general of New Mexico immediately to proceed to make the surveys and locations authorized and required by the terms of this section. Sec. 3. *And be it further enacted,* That the private land claims in the Certain other private land claims in New Mexico, confirmed;Territory of New Mexico, as recommended for confirmation by said surveyor-general in his reports and abstract marked exhibit A, as communicated to Congress by the Secretary of the Interior in his letter dated the third of February eighteen hundred and sixty, and numbered from twenty to thirty-eight, both inclusive, be, and the same are hereby, confirmed, with the exception of the claim numbered twenty-six, in the name of except that of Juan B.
Vigil.Juan B. Vigil, which claim, numbered twenty-six, is not confirmed. Sec. 4. *And be it further enacted,* That the foregoing confirmation shall 72 THIRTY-SIXTH CONGRESS. Sess. I. Ch. 167, 179. 1860. Effect of confirmation.only be construed as quit-claims or relinquishments, on the part of the United States, and shall not affect the adverse rights of any other person or persons whomsoever. Juan B. Vigil truly institute suit, &c. Sec. 5. *And be it further enacted,* That it shall or may be lawful for the said Juan B.
Vigil or any person claiming title under him, to institute suit against the United States for the lands claimed and embraced in said claim number twenty-six, not confirmed under the provisions of the third section of this act; said suit to be instituted in the supreme court of the Territory of New Mexico, to be defended by the district-attorney of the United States for said Territory, under the direction of the Attorney-General of the United States, with the right of appeal to either party from the decision of said supreme court to the Supreme Court of the United States, if such appeal be asked for within one year from the rendition of the judgment in said supreme court of the Territory of New Proviso.Mexico, and not thereafter: *Provided* That if the suit authorized by this section be not instituted within two years from the passage of this act, the said claimants shall be presumed to have abandoned all right or title to the lands embraced in said claim number twenty-six, and said lands shall thenceforth be held and deemed to be public lands belonging to the United Proviso.States: *And provided further,* That in the determination of the suit authorized to be instituted by the terms of this section, the courts shall be Vol. ix. p. 922.governed by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the law of nations, the laws, usages, and customs of the government front which the claim is derived, the principles of equity, and the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, so far as they are applicable.
Heirs of Luis Maria Baca. Sec. 6. *And be it further enacted,* That it shall be lawful for the heirs of Luis Maria Baca, who make claim to the said tract, of land as is claimed by the town of Las Begas, to select instead of the land claimed by them, an equal quantity of vacant land, not mineral, in the Territory of New Mexico, to be located by them in square bodies, nut exceeding five in number. And it shall be the duty of the surveyor-general of New Survey and location.Mexico, to make survey and location of the lands so selected by said heirs of Baca when thereunto required by them: *Provided, however,* That the Proviso.right hereby granted to said heirs of Baca shall continue in force during three years from the passage of this act, and no longer.
Approved, June 21, 1860.