Chapter XXXIV. authorizing the Courts to adjudicate the Claim of the legal Representatives of the Sieur de Bonne and of the Chevalier de Repentigny to certain Land at the Sault Ste
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Chap. XXXIV.— An Act authorizing the Courts to adjudicate the Claim of the legal Representatives of the Sieur de Bonne and of the Chevalier de Repentigny to certain Land at the Sault Ste. Marie, in the State of Michigan.April 19, 1860. *Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,* That the legal representatives of the Sieur de Bonne and of the Chevalier de Repentigny be, and theyThe legal representatives of Sieur de Bonne and the Chevalier de Repentigny may institute a suit to recover certain land in Michigan in the federal courts of that State. are hereby, authorized to present their petition to the United States district court for the district of Michigan, setting forth the nature of their claim to certain land at the Sault Ste.
Marie, in the State of Michigan, under an alleged grant, in seventeen hundred and fifty, from the governor and lieutenant-general and from the intendant-general of New France, now Canada, with evidence in support of their claim, stating the names, as near as may be, of all persons claiming adversely, and praying that the validity of the title may be inquired into and decided under the laws of nations, the laws, usages, and customs of the country from which the same was derived, and the treaties and laws of the United States; and the said court is hereby authorized to examine the same, and, in adjudicating the question of the validity of the title as against the United States, to be governed by the laws of nations and of the country from which the title was derived, and also by the principles, so far as they are applicable, which are recognized in the act of Congress approved the twenty-sixth May,1824, ch. 173.vol. iii. p. 52. eighteen hundred and twenty-four, “enabling the claimants to lands within the limits of the State of Missouri and Territory of Arkansas to institute proceedings to try the validity of the same;” and the districtDistrict attorney to defend the interests of the U.S. attorney is hereby directed to proceed, in defence of the interests of the United States in all things, as required and directed by the aforesaid act of twenty-sixth May, eighteen hundred and twenty-four: *Provided,* That839THIRTY-SIXTH CONGRESS.
Sess. I. Ch. 34, 36, 38. 1860. suit shall be instituted by the claimants within two years from the passageSuit to be brought within two years.Either party may appeal to Supreme Court. of this act, and that an appeal may be taken, either by the claimants or the United States, to the Supreme Court of the United States within one year from the date of the rendition of the decree of the district court aforesaid. Sec. 2. *And be it further enacted,* That in the case of a final decisionIf decision of court is adverse to the claim. under this act against the validity of the said claim, or in case of the failure of claimants to prosecute it within the period specified, the said claim shall be held forever barred, both in law and equity; but in the case of a final decree in favor of the validity of the grant, it shall not be construedIf in favor thereof. to affect or in any way impair any adverse sales, claims, or other rights which have been recognized by the United States within the limits of the said claim, or which, under any law of the United States may have heretofore been brought to the notice of the land commissioners or of the land officers in Michigan, or any of the land granted to the State of Michigan, or occupied by it, for the Sault Ste.
Marie canal, its tow-path and appurtenances, but for the area of any such adverse claims the legal representatives of the said De Bonne and Repentigny shall receive from the Commissioner of the General Land-Office warrants authorizing them or their assigns to enter any other lands belonging to the United States, and subject to entry at private sale at one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, which warrants shall be for sections or legal subdivisions of sections, at the option of the parties entitled to receive them.
Approved, April 19, 1860.