An Act To provide additional regulations for homestead and preemption entries of public lands. en preemption Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That before final proof shall be submitted by any person claiming to enter agricultural lands under the laws providing for preemption or homestead entries, such per- Homestead and son shall file with the register of the proper land office tries. a notice of his or her intention to make such proof, stat-proof. ing therein the description of lands to be entered and the names of the witnesses by whom the necessary facts will be established. Upon the filing of such notice the register shall publish a notice, that such application has been Publication. made, once a week for the period of thirty days, in a newspaper to be by him designated as published nearest to such land, and he shall also post such notice in some conspicuous place in his office for the same period. Such notice shall contain the names of the witnesses as stated in the application. At the expiration of said period of thirty days the claimant shall be entitled to make proof in the manner heretofore provided by law. The Secretary of the Interior shall make all necessary rules for giving effect to the foregoing provisions. Approved, March 3, 1879 (20 Stat., 472). An Act To amend sections twenty-two hundred and sixty-two and twenty-three hundred and one of the Revised Statutes of the United States in relation to the settler's affidavit in preemption and commuted homestead entries. where and before Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives Affidavit, of the United States of America in Congress assembled, whom made. That the affidavit required to be made by sections twentytwo hundred and sixty-two and twenty-three hundred and one of the Revised Statutes of the United States may be made before the clerk of the county court or of any court of record of the county and State or district and Territory in which the lands are situated; and if said lands are situated in any unorganized county, such affidavit may be made in a similar manner in any adjacent county in said State or Territory, and the affidavit, so made and duly subscribed, shall have the same force and effect as if made before the register or receiver of the proper land district; and the same shall be transmitted by such clerk of the court to the register and receiver with the fee and charges allowed by law. Approved, June 9, 1880 (21 Stat., 169). An Act To withdraw certain public lands from private entry, and for other purposes. proof. SEC. 7. That the "act to provide additional regulations Completing for homestead and preemption entries of public land," approved March third, eighteen hundred and seventynine, shall not be construed to forbid the taking of testi mony for final proof within ten days following the day Time extended, In vacancy in office of register or ing officer may advertised as upon which such final proof shall be made, in cases where accident or unavoidable delays have prevented the applicant or witnesses from making such proof on the date specified. Approved, March 2, 1889 (25 Stat., 854). An Act For the relief of certain settlers on the public lands of the United States and to authorize the taking and filing of final proofs in certain cases. SEC. 2. That hereafter, when a vacancy shall occur in receiver, remain- any of the land offices of the United States by reason of take final proofs. the death, resignation, or removal of either the register or receiver, and the time set for taking final proofs falls within the vacancy thus caused, the remaining officer may proceed to take said final proofs, in the absence of any contest or protest, reduce the same to writing, and place it on file in the office to be considered and passed upon when the vacancy is filled. Compulsory attendance of wit isters and ceivers. re Issuance and pœnas. Approved, October 1, 1890 (26 Stat., 657). An Act Providing for the compulsory attendance of witnesses before registers and receivers of the land office. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives nesses before reg- of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That registers and receivers of the land office, or either of them, in all matters requiring a hearing before them, are authorized and empowered to issue subpoenas directservice of subing the attendance of witnesses, which subpoenas may be served by any person by delivering a true copy thereof to such witness, and when served, witnesses shall be Service by per- required to attend in obedience thereto: Provided, That authorized if any subpoena be served under the provisions of this act by any person other than an officer authorized by the laws of the United States, or of the State or Territory in which the depositions are taken, the service thereof shall be proved by the affidavit of the person serving the same: Place and time Provided further, That said subpoenas shall be served within the county in which attendance is required, and at least five days before attendance is required. officers. of service. Fees. Penalty for refusal to appear. SEC. 2. That witnesses shall have the right to receive their fee for one day's attendance and mileage in advance. The fees and mileage of witnesses shall be the same as that provided by law in the district courts of the United States in the district in which such land offices are situated; and the witness shall be entitled to receive his fee for attendance in advance from day to day during the hearing. SEC. 3. That any person wilfully neglecting or refusing obedience to such subpoena, or neglecting or refusing to appear and testify when subpoenaed, his fees having been paid if demanded, shall be deemed guilty of a misde meanor, for which he shall be punished by indictment in' the district court of the United States or inthe district courts of the Territories exercising the jurisdiction of circuit or district courts of the United States. The punishment for such offense, upon conviction, shall be a fine of not more than two hundred dollars, or imprisonment not to exceed ninety days, or both, at the discretion of the court: Provided, That if such witness has been prevented from Exception. obeying such subpoena without fault upon his part he shall not be punished under the provisions of this act. nonresidents. of Persons em SEC. 4. That whenever the witness resides outside the Deposition county in which the hearing occurs, any party to the proceeding may take the testimony of such witness in the county of such witness's residence in the form of depositions by giving ten days' written notice of the time and written notice. place of taking such depositions to the opposite party or parties. The depositions may be taken before any powered to take United States commissioner, notary public, judge or depositions. clerk of a court of record. Subpoenas for witnesses before the officer taking depositions may issue from the office of the register or receiver, or may be issued by the officer taking the depositions, and disobedience thereof, as defined in this act, shall also be punished; and the witness shall receive the same fees and mileage and be subject to Penalty for the same penalties in all respects as in case of violation of a subpoena to appear before the register or receiver, and subject to the same limitations. The fees of the Fees. officer taking the depositions shall be the same as those allowed in the State or Territorial courts, and shall be paid by the party taking the deposition, and an itemized account of the fees shall be made by the officer taking the depositions and attached to the depositions. ronappearance. SEC. 5. That whenever the taking of any depositions Depositions in behalf of opposing" taken in pursuance of the foregoing provisions of this act parties. is concluded the opposite party may proceed at once at his own expense to take depositions in his own behalf, at Expenses. the same time and place and before the same officer: Provided, That he shall, before taking of the depositions in the first instance is entered upon, give notice to the opposing Notice. party, or any agent or attorney representing him in the taking of said depositions, of his intention to do so. Approved, January 31, 1903 (32 Stat., 790). An Act To authorize the Commissioner of the General Land Office to transmit original papers to be used as evidence. furnished in legal Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives Papers to be of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That process. whenever the register of any United States land office shall be served with a subpoena duces tecum or other valid legal process requiring him to produce, in any United States court or in any court of record of any State, the original application for entry of public lands or the 61002°-S. Doc. 547, 64-1-8 tify Commissioner Office. papers. final proof of residence and cultivation or any other origiRegister to no-nal papers on file in the General Land Office of the United of General Land States on which a patent to land has been issued or which furnish the basis for such patent, it shall be the duty of such register to at once notify the Commissioner of the General Land Office of the service of such process, specifying the particular papers he is required to produce, and upon receipt of such notice from any register of a United States land office the Commissioner of the General Transmission of Land Office shall at once transmit to such register the original papers specified in such notice, and which such register is required to produce, and to attach to such papers a certificate, under seal of his office, properly authenticating them as the original papers upon which papermenticated patent was issued; and such papers so authenticated shall ceived as evidence. be received in evidence in all courts of the United States and in the several State courts of the States of the Union: Return of docu- Provided, That the Secretary of the Interior shall make rules and regulations to secure the return of such documents to the General Land Office, after use in evidence, without cost to the United States. ments. for. Notary public. Perjury defined. Approved, April 19, 1904 (33 Stat., 186). Extract from "An act to amend section five hundred and fifty-eight of the Code of Law for the District of Columbia," approved June 29, 1906 (34 Stat., 622). "That no notary public shall be authorized to take acknowledgments, administer oaths, certify papers or perform any official acts in connection with matters in which he is counsel, attorney or agent, or in which he may be in any way interested before any of the departments aforesaid." Extract from the penal code, approved March 4, 1909 (35 Stat., 1111). SEC. 125. Whoever, having taken an oath before a competent tribunal, officer, or person, in any case in which a law of the United States authorizes an oath to be administered, that he will testify, declare, depose, or certify truly, or that any written testimony, declaration, deposition, or certificate by him subscribed, is true, shall willfully and contrary to such oath state or subscribe any material matter which he does not believe to be true, is Punishment guilty of perjury, and shall be fined not more than two thousand dollars and imprisoned not more than five years. SEC. 126. Whoever shall procure another to commit any perjury is guilty of subornation of perjury, and punishable as in the preceding section prescribed. Subornation of perjury. COMMUTATION. An Act Relating to commutations of homestead entries, and to confirm such entries when commutation proofs were received by local land officers prematurely. * * * * * commutation. SEC. 2. That all commutations of homestead entries Allowance of shall be allowed after the expiration of fourteen months from date of settlement. An Act To repeal timber-culture laws, and for other purposes. * * * * * clerical errors of lands after final SEC. 7. That whenever it shall appear to the Commis- Correction sioner of the General Land Office that a clerical error has been committed in the entry of any of the public lands such entry may be suspended, upon proper notification to the claimant, through the local land office, until the error has been corrected; and all entries made under the Sales, etc.. of preemption, homestead, desert-land, or timber-culture entry. laws, in which final proof and payment may have been made and certificates issued and to which there are no adverse claims originating prior to final entry and which have been sold or incumbered prior to the first day of March, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight, and after final entry, to bona fide purchasers, or incumbrancers, for a valuable consideration, shall, unless, upon an investigation by a Government agent, fraud on the part of a purchaser has been found, be confirmed and patented upon presentation of satisfactory proof to the Land Department of such sale or incumbrance: Provided, That after Patent the lapse of two years from the date of the issuance of the receiver's receipt upon the final entry of any tract of land under the homestead, timber-culture, desert-land, or preemption laws, or under this act, and when there shall be no pending contest or protest against the validity of such entry, the entryman shall be entitled to a patent conveying the land by him entered, and the same shall be issued to him; but this proviso shall not be construed to require the delay of two years from the date of said entry before the issuing of a patent therefor. Approved, March 3, 1891 (26 Stat., 1098). An Act To amend section eight of an act approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-one, entitled "An act to repeal timber-culture laws and for other purposes." Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section eight of an act entitled "An act to repeal timberculture laws, and for other purposes," approved March two years. after |