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Title 43, Public LandsRelease 119-102

§981 Indemnity to States on Sale of Lands

Title 43 › CHAPTER 23 — GRANTS OF SWAMP AND OVERFLOWED LANDS › § 981

Last updated Aug 21, 2026|Official source

Summary

A State can recover the purchase price or take replacement land when property bought from the United States before March 2, 1855 is shown to be “swamp lands” under the Act approved September 28, 1850. An authorized agent of the State must prove this to the Secretary of the Interior or the officer the Secretary names. If proved, the original purchase money is paid to the State where the land is. If the land was held by warrant or scrip, the State may select an equal amount of public land open to entry at $1.25 per acre or less, and receive patents. The officer’s ruling must be approved by the Secretary of the Interior. One-line term: swamp lands — lands described by the Sept. 28, 1850 Act.

Full Legal Text

Title 43, §981

Public Lands, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Upon proof by the authorized agent of the State, before the Secretary of the Interior or such officer as he may designate, that any of the lands purchased by any person from the United States, prior to March 2, 1855, were “swamp lands”, within the true intent and meaning of the Act entitled “An Act to enable the State of Arkansas and other States to reclaim the swamp lands within their limits”, approved September 28, 1850, the purchase money shall be paid over to the State wherein said land is situate; and when the lands have been located by warrant or scrip, the said State shall be authorized to locate a like quantity of any of the public lands subject to entry, at $1.25 per acre, or less, and patents shall issue therefor. The decision of the Secretary or such officer shall be first approved by the Secretary of the Interior.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Act approved September 28, 1850, referred to in text, is act Sept. 28, 1850, ch. 84, 9 Stat. 519, which is not classified to the Code. Codification R.S. § 2482 derived from act Mar. 2, 1855, ch. 147, § 2, 10 Stat. 634, 635.

Executive Documents

Transfer of Functions

For

Transfer of Functions

of other officers, employees, and agencies of Department of the Interior, with certain exceptions, to Secretary of the Interior, with power to delegate, see Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1950, §§ 1, 2, eff. May 24, 1950, 15 F.R. 3174, 64 Stat. 1262, set out under section 1451 of this title. “Secretary of the Interior or such officer as he may designate” substituted for “Commissioner of the General Land Office” on authority of section 403 of Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1946, which abolished General Land Office and Commissioner thereof and transferred functions of General Land Office to a new agency in Department of the Interior to be known as Bureau of Land Management. See section 403 of Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1946, set out as a note under section 1 of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

43 U.S.C. § 981

Title 43, Public Lands

Last Updated

Aug 21, 2026

Release point: 119-102