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1692. Citizens and bona fide residents. Any citizen of this state, and all persons who have or shall come into the state with the bona fide intent of becoming residents and citizens thereof, shall have the right and privilege of making entries of, and obtaining grants for, vacant and unappropriated lands.

Code, s. 2754; 1869-70, c. 19, s. 1.

II. WHAT MAY BE GRANTED.

1693. Land subject to. All vacant and unappropriated lands, belonging to the state, shall be subject to entry by any citizen thereof, in the manner hereinafter provided, except

1. Lands covered by navigable waters.

2. Lands covered by the waters of any lake, or which, though now covered, may hereafter be gained therefrom by the recession, draining, or diminution of such waters, or have been so gained heretofore, and not lawfully entered.

3. Marsh or swamp land, where the quantity of land in any one marsh or swamp exceeds two thousand acres, or where, if of less quantity, the same has been surveyed by the state, or by the state board of education, with a view to draining and reclaiming the

same.

Code, s. 2751; R. C., c. 42, s. 1; 1854-5, c. 21.

1694. What swamp lands may be. Marsh or swamp lands, lying in a swamp where the quantity of land in that swamp or marsh does not in the whole swamp or marsh exceed two thousand acres, and

which has not been surveyed by the state or state board of education, and marsh or swamp lands, unsurveyed as aforesaid, not exceeding fifty acres in one body, though lying within a marsh or swamp of a greater number of acres than two thousand, may be entered, when the same shall be situated altogether between the lines of tracts heretofore granted.

Code, s. 2751; R. C., c. 42, s. 1; 1854-5, c. 21.

1695. Swamp lands defined. The words "marsh and swamp land" wherever employed in this chapter, and the words "swamp lands" employed in the statutes creating the literary fund and literary board of North Carolina and the state board of education of North Carolina, or in any act in relation thereto, shall be construed to include all those lands which have been or may now be known. and called "swamp" or "marsh" lands, "pocosin bay," "briary bay" and "savanna," and all lands which may be covered by the waters of any lake or pond.

1891, c. 302.

1696. Land covered by water, for wharves. Persons owning lands on any navigable sound, river, creek or arm of the sea, for the purpose of erecting wharves on the side of the deep waters thereof, next to their lands, may make entries of the lands covered by water, adjacent to their own, as far as the deep water of such sound, river, creek, or arm of the sea, and obtain title as in other cases. But persons making such entries shall be confined to straight lines, including only the fronts of their own tracts, and shall in no respect obstruct or impair navigation. When any such entry shall be made in front of the lands in any incorporated town, the town corporation shall regulate the line on deep water, to which wharves may be built. This shall not affect existing rights. For all lands thus entered there shall be paid into the treasury not less than one dollar per acre. When any person shall have erected a wharf on public lands of the description aforesaid, before the first day of January, one thousand nine hundred and three, such person shall have liberty to enter said land, including his wharf, under the restrictions and upon the terms above set forth: Provided, no land covered by water shall be subject to entry within thirty feet of any wharf, pier or stand used as a wharf already in existence, or which may hereafter be erected by any person on his own land or land under his control, or on an extended line thereof; but land covered by water as aforesaid for the space of thirty feet from the landing place or line of any wharf, pier or stand used as a wharf, as aforesaid, shall remain open for the free ingress and egress of said owner and other persons to and from said wharf, pier or stand: Provided

further, no person shall be allowed to enter and obtain a grant for any land in the waters of Onslow county, in which the tide ebbs and flows, within thirty feet of the shore at low-water mark, unless the enterer shall be the owner of the adjacent shore.

Code, s. 2751; R. C., c. 42, s. 1; 1854-5, c. 21; 1889, c. 555; 1893, c. 17; 1893, c. 4; 1893, c. 349; 1901, c. 364; 1891, c. 532.

1697. Fisheries established. Whenever any person shall acquire title to lands covered by navigable water as required by law for wharves, the owner or person so acquiring title shall have the right to establish fisheries upon said lands; but this right shall not authorize any person to obstruct navigation.

Code, s. 2752; 1874-5, c. 183, ss. 1, 6.

1698. Prior right of fishery in whom. Whenever the owners of lands covered by navigable waters shall improve the same by clearing off and cutting therefrom logs, roots, stumps or other obstructions, so that the said land may be used for the purpose of drawing or hauling nets or seines thereon for the purpose of taking or catching fish, then and in that case the person who makes or causes to be made the said, improvements, his heirs and assigns, shall have prior right to the use of the land so improved, in drawing, hauling, drifting or setting nets or seines thereon, and it shall be unlawful for any person, without the consent of such owner, to draw or haul nets or seines upon the land so improved by the owner thereof for the purpose of drawing or hauling nets or seines thereon. This section shall apply where the owner of such lands shall erect, or shall have erected, platforms or structures of any kind thereon to be used in fishing with nets and seines.

Code, s. 2753; 1874-5, c. 183, ss. 2, 3, 4.

1699. What void; not color of title. Every entry made, and every grant issued, for any lands not authorized by this chapter to be entered or granted, shall be void; and every grant of land made since the sixth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and ninetythree, in pursuance of the statutes regulating entries and grants shall, if such land or any portion thereof has been heretofore granted by this state, so far as relates to any such land heretofore granted, be absolutely void for all purposes whatever, shall confer no rights whatever upon the grantee or grantees therein or those claiming under such grantee or grantees, and shall in no case and under no circumstances constitute any color of title whatsoever to any person whomsoever.

Code, s. 2755; 1893, c. 490; R. C., c. 42, s. 2.

III. ENTRY-TAKER.

1700. How elected; term of office. The board of commissioners of the several counties shall elect one person to receive entries of claims for lands within each county; and such entry-taker shall hold his office for four years.

Code, s. 2756.

1701. Register of deeds acts as, when. When a vacancy exists in the office of entry-taker, the register of deeds shall act as entrytaker until such vacancy is filled by an election by the commissioners. The register of deeds, in such case, shall take charge of the books belonging to the office, shall discharge all the duties and receive the emoluments, and shall be subject to the rules, regulations and penalties prescribed for entry-takers.

Code, s. 2757; 1868-9, c. 100, s. 2; 1868-9, c. 173, s. 2.

1702. Who issues warrant on death of entry-taker. In all cases where an entry shall be made, and the entry-taker shall die or resign before a warrant shall be issued thereupon, his successor shall issue a

warrant.

Code, s. 2772; R. C., c. 42, s. 15; 1835, c. 19.

1703. Oath of office; fees. The entry-taker shall take the oath of office and receive the fees, and no other, prescribed in the chapters respectively entitled Oaths and Salaries and Fees.

Code, s. 2760; 1868-9, c. 173, s. 5.

1704. Office of entry-taker at courthouse. The entry-taker shall keep his office at the courthouse of his county, or within one mile thereof, on pain of forfeiting one hundred dollars to the county, to be sued for by the county treasurer.

Code, s. 2759; 1868-9, c. 173, s. 4.

1705. Makes annual returns. Every entry-taker shall make return to the secretary of state annually, on the first day of January, of all lands entered with him, under a penalty of two hundred dollars.

Code, s. 2775; R. C., c. 42, s. 18; 1796, c. 455, s. 9; 1881, c. 265.

1706. Penalty failing to make returns, how recovered. The secretary of state shall furnish the attorney general, at every spring term of the superior court of Wake county, with a certificate of failure in every case where an entry-taker shall fail to make return according to law; and the attorney general shall move for judgment

against such entry-taker and his sureties, and the courts shall give judgment accordingly.

Code, s. 2776; R. C., c. 42, s. 19; 1833, c. 15.

IV. ENTRIES.

1707. In writing, and describe land. The claimant of land shall produce to the entry-taker a writing, signed by such claimant, setting forth where the land is situated, the nearest water-courses and remarkable places, and such water-courses and remarkable places as may be therein, the natural boundaries and the lines of any other person, if any, which divide it from other lands; and every such writing shall be one-quarter sheet of paper at least.

Code, s. 2765; R. C., c. 42, s. 11; 1777, c. 114, s. 5; 1783, c. 185, s. 11; 1885, c. 132; 1891, c. 70; 1893, cc. 120, 270; 1903, c. 272, s. 3.

1708. Duty of entry-taker. The entry-taker shall immediately endorse the same with the name of the claimant, the number of acres claimed, and date of the entry; and shall copy the same in a book well bound, and ruled with a large margin into spaces of equal distance, each space to contain one entry only, and every entry to be made in the order of time in which it shall be received, and numbered in the margin. The entry-taker shall thereupon cause a copy of the entry to be posted for thirty days at three public places in the township or townships in which the land covered by the entry is located. A copy of the entry shall also be posted for thirty days at the courthouse door of the county in which such land lies, and advertised for thirty days in a newspaper published at the county seat of such county. If there be no newspaper published in such county, then the advertisement provided for shall be made in the nearest newspaper.

Code, s. 2765; 1903, c. 272, s. 3.

1709. Protest filed, when and by whom. If any person shall claim title to or an interest in the land covered by the entry, or any part thereof, he shall, within the time of advertisement as above provided, file his protest in writing with the entry-taker against the issuing of a warrant thereon; and upon the filing of such protest, the entry-taker shall certify copies of the entry and protest to the superior court, and thereupon a notice shall be issued by the clerk of the superior court to the claimant, commanding him to appear at the next term of said court and show cause why his entry shall not be declared inoperative and void.

Code, s. 2765; 1903, c. 272, s. 3.

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