43 U.S.C. § 541 — When patent or final certificate issued

Page 189 TITLE 43—PUBLIC LANDS § 544 SUBCHAPTER XIV—PATENTS AND FINAL WATER-RIGHT CERTIFICATES § 541. When patent or final certificate issued Any homestead entryman under the Act of June seventeenth, nineteen hundred and two, known as the reclamation Act, including entrymen on ceded Indian lands, may, at any time after having complied with the provisions of law applicable to such lands as to residence reclamation, and cultivation, submit proof of such residence, reclamation, and cultivation, which proof, if found regular and satisfactory, shall entitle the entryman to a patent, and all purchasers of water-right certificates on rec- lamation projects shall be entitled to a final water-right certificate upon proof of the cultiva- tion and reclamation of the land to which the certificate applies, to the extent required by the reclamation Act for homestead entrymen: Pro- vided, That no such patent or final water-right certificate shall issue until after the payment of all sums due the United States on account of such land or water right at the time of the sub- mission of proof entitling the homestead or desert-land entryman to such patent or the pur- chaser to such final water-right certificate. (Aug. 9, 1912, ch. 278, § 1, 37 Stat. 265; Feb. 15, 1917, ch. 71, 39 Stat. 920.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT Act of June 17, 1902, known as the reclamation Act, referred to in text, is act June 17, 1902, ch. 1093, 32 Stat. 388, which is classified generally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 371 of this title and Tables. § 542. Reservation of lien for charges; enforce- ment of lien; redemption Every patent and water-right certificate issued under this subchapter shall expressly re- serve to the United States a prior lien on the land patented or for which water right is cer- tified, together with all water rights appur- tenant or belonging thereto, superior to all other liens, claims, or demands whatsoever for the payment of all sums due or to become due to the United States or its successors in control of the irrigation project in connection with such lands and water rights. Upon default of payment of any amount so due title to the land shall pass to the United States free of all encumbrance, subject to the right of the defaulting debtor or any mortgagee, lien holder, judgment debtor, or subsequent pur- chaser to redeem the land within one year after the notice of such default shall have been given by payment of all moneys due, with 8 per cen- tum interest and cost. And the United States, at its option, acting through the Secretary of the Interior, may cause land to be sold at any time after such failure to redeem, and from the pro- ceeds of the sale there shall be paid into the rec- lamation fund all moneys due, with interest as herein provided, and costs. The balance of the proceeds, if any, shall be the property of the de- faulting debtor or his assignee: Provided, That in case of sale after failure to redeem under this section the United States shall be authorized to bid in such land at not more than the amount in default, including interest and costs. (Aug. 9, 1912, ch. 278, § 2, 37 Stat. 266.) § 543. Certificate of final payment and release of lien Upon full and final payment being made of all amounts due on account of the building and bet- terment charges to the United States or its suc- cessors in control of the project, the United States or its successors, as the case may be, shall issue upon request a certificate certifying that payment of the building and betterment charges in full has been made and that the lien upon the land has been so far satisfied and is no longer of any force or effect except the lien for annual charges for operation and maintenance. (Aug. 9, 1912, ch. 278, § 3, 37 Stat. 266.) Editorial Notes CODIFICATION Section comprises part of section 3 of act Aug. 9, 1912. Remainder of section 3 is set out as section 544 of this title. § 544. Limitation as to holdings prior to final pay- ment of charges; forfeiture of excess holding No person shall at any one time or in any manner, except as hereinafter otherwise pro- vided, acquire, own, or hold irrigable land for which entry or water-right application shall have been made under the said reclamation Act of June 17, 1902 and Acts supplementary thereto and amendatory thereof, before final payment in full of all installments of building and better- ment charges shall have been made on account of such land in excess of one farm unit as fixed by the Secretary of the Interior as the limit of area per entry of public land or per single own- ership of private land for which a water right may be purchased respectively, nor in any case in excess of one hundred and sixty acres, nor shall water be furnished under said Acts nor a water right sold or recognized for such excess; but any such excess land acquired by foreclosure or other process of law, by conveyance in satis- faction of mortgages, by inheritance, or by de- vise, may be held for five years and no longer after its acquisition, and water may be tempo- rarily furnished during that time; and every ex- cess holding prohibited as aforesaid shall be for- feited to the United States by proceedings insti- tuted by the Attorney General for that purpose in any court of competent jurisdiction. The above provision shall be recited in every patent and water-right certificate issued by the United States under the provisions of this subchapter. (Aug. 9, 1912, ch. 278, § 3, 37 Stat. 266; July 11, 1956, ch. 563, § 2, 70 Stat. 524.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT The reclamation Act of June 17, 1902, referred to in text, is identified in section 541 of this title as act June 17, 1902, ch. 1093, 32 Stat. 388, which is classified gen- erally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 371 of this title and Tables.