Title 43, Public LandsRelease 119-102

§178 Patents for Lands in New Mexico; Lands Contiguous to Spanish or Mexican Land Grants

Title 43 › CHAPTER 7 — HOMESTEADS › SUBCHAPTER I — GENERAL PROVISIONS › § 178

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Secretary of the Interior can give a patent (official title) for up to 160 acres of public land in New Mexico that is next to a Spanish or Mexican land grant if a U.S. citizen, their ancestors, or grantors have openly and peacefully claimed and used the land as theirs for more than 20 years, with improvements or some farming, and can prove it. The person must pay $1.25 per acre. If they held more than 160 acres, the Secretary picks which parts (up to 160 acres) to patent. Coal and other minerals stay owned by the United States. The government can sell or lease those minerals and allow its buyers or lessees to enter the land to look for and mine them. "Citizen" also includes corporations formed under U.S. or state laws.

Full Legal Text

Title 43, §178

Public Lands, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Whenever it shall be shown to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Interior that a tract or tracts of public land, contiguous to a Spanish or Mexican land grant, in the State of New Mexico, not exceeding in the aggregate one hundred and sixty acres, has or have been held in good faith and in peaceful, adverse possession by a citizen of the United States, his ancestors or grantors, for more than twenty years under claim or color of title, and that valuable improvements have been placed on such land, or some part thereof has been reduced to cultivation, the Secretary may, in his discretion, upon the payment of $1.25 per acre, cause a patent or patents to issue for such land to any such citizens: Provided, That where the area or areas so held by any such citizen is in excess of one hundred and sixty acres the Secretary may determine what particular subdivisions, not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres in the aggregate, to any such citizen may be patented hereunder: Provided further, That coal and all other minerals contained therein are reserved to the United States; that said coal and other minerals shall be subject to sale or disposal by the United States under applicable leasing and mineral land laws, and permittees, lessees, or grantees of the United States shall have the right to enter upon said lands for the purpose of prospecting for and mining such deposits: Provided further, That the term “citizen”, as used in this section, shall be held to include a corporation organized under the laws of the United States or any State or Territory thereof.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

43 U.S.C. § 178

Title 43, Public Lands

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102