Land patent
Encyclopedia
A land patent is a land grant
made patent by the sovereign lord over the land in question. To make a such a grant “patent”, such a sovereign lord (proprietary landowner) must document the land grant, securely sign and seal the document (patent) and openly publish the same to the public for all to see. An official land patent is the highest evidence of right
, title
, or interest to a specifically defined tract of land; usually granted by a central
, federal
, or state government
to an individual or private company.
Besides patent
, other terms for the certificate that grants such rights include first-title deed and final certificate. In the United States
, all land can be traced back to the respective land patent, to first title deed
and to claims that document titles for land originally owned by France
, Spain
, United Kingdom
, Mexico
, Russia
, or Native Americans
.
A land patent is known at law as "letters patent
" and usually issues to the original grantee and to their heirs and assigns forever. The patent stands as supreme title to the land because it secures that all evidence of title existent before its issue date was reviewed by the sovereign authority under which it was sealed and was so sealed as irrefutable; thus, at law the land patent itself so becomes the title to the land defined within its four corners.
and the Native American
peoples.
As Great Britain began to colonize colonial America
, the Crown
made large grants of territory to individuals and companies. In turn, those companies and colonial governors later made smaller grants of land based on actual surveys of the land. Thus, in colonial America on the Atlantic seaboard
, a connection was made between the surveying of a land tract and its "patenting" as private property
.
Many original colonies' land patents came from the corresponding country of control (e.g. the United Kingdom). Most such patents were permanently granted (forever). Those patents are still in force; the United States Government honors those patents by treaty law; and, as with all such land patents, they cannot be changed.
After the American Revolution
and the ratification of the Constitution of the United States for the United States of America, the United States Treasury Department was placed in charge of managing all public lands until 1812 when the General Land Office
was created to assume that duty.
In accord with specific Acts of Congress, and under the hand and seal of the President of the United States of America, the General Land Office issued more than 2 million land grants made patent (land patents) passing the title of specific parcels of public land from the nation to private parties, etc. Some such land so granted had survey costs, etc. that had to be paid and the patentees paid those fees for their land in cash, others homesteaded a claim, and still others came into ownership via one of the many donation acts that Congress passed to transfer public lands to private ownership. Whatever the method, the General Land Office followed a two-step procedure in granting a patent. First, the private claimant went to the land office in the land district where the public land (section) was located. The claimant filled out "entry" papers to select the public land, and the land office register (clerk) checked the local registrar records to make sure the claimed land was still available. The receiver (bursar) took the claimant's payment, because even homesteaders had to pay administrative fees. Next, the district land office register and receiver sent the paperwork to the General Land Office in Washington. That office double-checked the accuracy of the claim, its availability and the form of payment. Only then did the General Land Office issue a patent relative to the particular land in question and sent the same on to the President for his siganture.
The first United States land patent was issued March 4, 1788 to John Martin. That patent reserves to the United States one third of all gold
, silver
, lead and copper
within the claimed land.
Usage restrictions placed on the land are spelled out in the patent (e.g. oil and mineral rights, roadways, ditches and canals); of course such private property rights can also be thereafter negotiated in accord with the terms of private contracts. The rights inherent in patented land are carried from heir to heir, heir to assignee, or assignee to assignee and cannot be changed except by private contract (warranty deed, quitclaim deed, etc.). In most cases, the law of a particular piece of patented land will be governed by the Congressional Act or treaty under which it was acquired or by terms spelled out in the patent, for example, a Homestead Act or reservations placed on the face of the patent, or the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
which governs a proportional amount of jurisdictional dicta relative to large amounts of land in California and adjoining territories (if invoked).
Because most people become familiar with land rights only when they acquire real estate either by inheritance or through the process of a purchase contract, they never learn the difference between land and the property appurtenant to it. Accordingly, their familiarity with land law remains virtually non-existant;and, they only become accustomed to State statutory regulations relative to the property appurtenant to the land, that is to say: property taxing, zoning and building codes, etc.
of statehood (the Republic of Texas is an exception as it retained its unappropriated lands, and Hawaii
as it was a conquered territory). The Enabling Act requires that all of the unappropriated (not yet privately owned) lands be forever disclaimed by the territory and the people of the territory, to the United States for its disposition. For example, the enabling act of the Washington Territory
declares, in part:
After the right and title to land was disclaimed by the people of the territory, it was held in trust by the United States until someone proved a claim to it; typically by homesteading
the land for a certain period of time. Once a proper claim is filed, the General Land Office
(now the Bureau of Land Management
) certifies that a survey was paid for along with another sum of money. Then pursuant to the various land acts of Congress, such as the Homestead Act
s, the land was then granted to the private domain by letters patent under the signature and seal
of the President of the United States of America.
An excerpt from [a] Homestead Act
- “The purchaser shall acquire absolute title by the purchase, and be entitled to a patent from the United States, on payment of the office fees and sum of money…” Thirty-Seventh Congress
, Session II. Cu. 75 Section 2 (1862). All land patents are supported by one or more acts of Congress.
Definition - Absolute Title: “As applied to title to land, an exclusive title, or at least a title which excludes all others not compatible with it. An absolute title to land cannot exist at the same time in different persons or in different governments.” Black’s Law Dictionary 6th Edition.
. An example of Congress granting land through patents to fictitious entities is the railroad grants made to compensate the railroad companies for building railroads across America.
A Land Patent is permanent and cannot be changed by the government after its issuance except in case of fraud, clerical error, or failure to pay the initial administrative fees. A statute of limitations applies.
Land grant
A land grant is a gift of real estate – land or its privileges – made by a government or other authority as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service...
made patent by the sovereign lord over the land in question. To make a such a grant “patent”, such a sovereign lord (proprietary landowner) must document the land grant, securely sign and seal the document (patent) and openly publish the same to the public for all to see. An official land patent is the highest evidence of right
Right
Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory...
, title
Title (property)
Title is a legal term for a bundle of rights in a piece of property in which a party may own either a legal interest or an equitable interest. The rights in the bundle may be separated and held by different parties. It may also refer to a formal document that serves as evidence of ownership...
, or interest to a specifically defined tract of land; usually granted by a central
Central government
A central government also known as a national government, union government and in federal states, the federal government, is the government at the level of the nation-state. The structure of central governments varies from institution to institution...
, federal
Federal government
The federal government is the common government of a federation. The structure of federal governments varies from institution to institution. Based on a broad definition of a basic federal political system, there are two or more levels of government that exist within an established territory and...
, or state government
State government
A state government is the government of a subnational entity in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or be subject to the direct control of the federal government...
to an individual or private company.
Besides patent
Patent
A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....
, other terms for the certificate that grants such rights include first-title deed and final certificate. In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, all land can be traced back to the respective land patent, to first title deed
Deed
A deed is any legal instrument in writing which passes, or affirms or confirms something which passes, an interest, right, or property and that is signed, attested, delivered, and in some jurisdictions sealed...
and to claims that document titles for land originally owned by France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, or Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
.
A land patent is known at law as "letters patent
Letters patent
Letters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch or president, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or corporation...
" and usually issues to the original grantee and to their heirs and assigns forever. The patent stands as supreme title to the land because it secures that all evidence of title existent before its issue date was reviewed by the sovereign authority under which it was sealed and was so sealed as irrefutable; thus, at law the land patent itself so becomes the title to the land defined within its four corners.
Brief history
Depending on which part of the country, land in the United States of America was acquired by purchase, war, or treaty from the United Kingdom, France, Spain, Mexico, Russia, the Kingdom of HawaiiKingdom of Hawaii
The Kingdom of Hawaii was established during the years 1795 to 1810 with the subjugation of the smaller independent chiefdoms of Oahu, Maui, Molokai, Lānai, Kauai and Niihau by the chiefdom of Hawaii into one unified government...
and the Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
peoples.
As Great Britain began to colonize colonial America
Colonial America
The colonial history of the United States covers the history from the start of European settlement and especially the history of the thirteen colonies of Britain until they declared independence in 1776. In the late 16th century, England, France, Spain and the Netherlands launched major...
, the Crown
The Crown
The Crown is a corporation sole that in the Commonwealth realms and any provincial or state sub-divisions thereof represents the legal embodiment of governance, whether executive, legislative, or judicial...
made large grants of territory to individuals and companies. In turn, those companies and colonial governors later made smaller grants of land based on actual surveys of the land. Thus, in colonial America on the Atlantic seaboard
Atlantic Seaboard
The Atlantic seaboard watershed is a watershed of North America along both*the Atlantic Canada coast south of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence Watershed &*the East Coast of the United States north of the watershed of the Okeechobee Waterway....
, a connection was made between the surveying of a land tract and its "patenting" as private property
Private property
Private property is the right of persons and firms to obtain, own, control, employ, dispose of, and bequeath land, capital, and other forms of property. Private property is distinguishable from public property, which refers to assets owned by a state, community or government rather than by...
.
Many original colonies' land patents came from the corresponding country of control (e.g. the United Kingdom). Most such patents were permanently granted (forever). Those patents are still in force; the United States Government honors those patents by treaty law; and, as with all such land patents, they cannot be changed.
After the American Revolution
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political upheaval during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire, combining to become the United States of America...
and the ratification of the Constitution of the United States for the United States of America, the United States Treasury Department was placed in charge of managing all public lands until 1812 when the General Land Office
General Land Office
The General Land Office was an independent agency of the United States government responsible for public domain lands in the United States. It was created in 1812 to take over functions previously conducted by the United States Department of the Treasury...
was created to assume that duty.
In accord with specific Acts of Congress, and under the hand and seal of the President of the United States of America, the General Land Office issued more than 2 million land grants made patent (land patents) passing the title of specific parcels of public land from the nation to private parties, etc. Some such land so granted had survey costs, etc. that had to be paid and the patentees paid those fees for their land in cash, others homesteaded a claim, and still others came into ownership via one of the many donation acts that Congress passed to transfer public lands to private ownership. Whatever the method, the General Land Office followed a two-step procedure in granting a patent. First, the private claimant went to the land office in the land district where the public land (section) was located. The claimant filled out "entry" papers to select the public land, and the land office register (clerk) checked the local registrar records to make sure the claimed land was still available. The receiver (bursar) took the claimant's payment, because even homesteaders had to pay administrative fees. Next, the district land office register and receiver sent the paperwork to the General Land Office in Washington. That office double-checked the accuracy of the claim, its availability and the form of payment. Only then did the General Land Office issue a patent relative to the particular land in question and sent the same on to the President for his siganture.
The first United States land patent was issued March 4, 1788 to John Martin. That patent reserves to the United States one third of all gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...
, silver
Silver
Silver is a metallic chemical element with the chemical symbol Ag and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it has the highest electrical conductivity of any element and the highest thermal conductivity of any metal...
, lead and copper
Copper
Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu and atomic number 29. It is a ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. Pure copper is soft and malleable; an exposed surface has a reddish-orange tarnish...
within the claimed land.
Usage restrictions placed on the land are spelled out in the patent (e.g. oil and mineral rights, roadways, ditches and canals); of course such private property rights can also be thereafter negotiated in accord with the terms of private contracts. The rights inherent in patented land are carried from heir to heir, heir to assignee, or assignee to assignee and cannot be changed except by private contract (warranty deed, quitclaim deed, etc.). In most cases, the law of a particular piece of patented land will be governed by the Congressional Act or treaty under which it was acquired or by terms spelled out in the patent, for example, a Homestead Act or reservations placed on the face of the patent, or the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is the peace treaty, largely dictated by the United States to the interim government of a militarily occupied Mexico City, that ended the Mexican-American War on February 2, 1848...
which governs a proportional amount of jurisdictional dicta relative to large amounts of land in California and adjoining territories (if invoked).
Because most people become familiar with land rights only when they acquire real estate either by inheritance or through the process of a purchase contract, they never learn the difference between land and the property appurtenant to it. Accordingly, their familiarity with land law remains virtually non-existant;and, they only become accustomed to State statutory regulations relative to the property appurtenant to the land, that is to say: property taxing, zoning and building codes, etc.
Former U.S. territories
In the territory states, when the territory agreed to enter the Union of the United States of America, an Enabling Act was agreed to as a condition precedentCondition precedent
Condition precedent refers to an event or state of affairs that is required before something else will occur. In contract law, a condition precedent is an event which must occur, unless its non-occurrence is excused, before performance under a contract becomes due, i.e., before any contractual...
of statehood (the Republic of Texas is an exception as it retained its unappropriated lands, and Hawaii
Hawaii
Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...
as it was a conquered territory). The Enabling Act requires that all of the unappropriated (not yet privately owned) lands be forever disclaimed by the territory and the people of the territory, to the United States for its disposition. For example, the enabling act of the Washington Territory
Washington Territory
The Territory of Washington was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from February 8, 1853, until November 11, 1889, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Washington....
declares, in part:
"...that the people inhabiting said proposed States do agree and declare that they forever disclaim all right and title to the unappropriated public lands lying within the boundaries thereof, and to all lands lying within said limits owned or held by any Indian or Indian tribes; and that until the title thereto shall have been extinguished by the United States, the same shall be and remain subject to the disposition of the United States. .."
After the right and title to land was disclaimed by the people of the territory, it was held in trust by the United States until someone proved a claim to it; typically by homesteading
Homesteading
Broadly defined, homesteading is a lifestyle of simple self-sufficiency.-Current practice:The term may apply to anyone who follows the back-to-the-land movement by adopting a sustainable, self-sufficient lifestyle. While land is no longer freely available in most areas of the world, homesteading...
the land for a certain period of time. Once a proper claim is filed, the General Land Office
General Land Office
The General Land Office was an independent agency of the United States government responsible for public domain lands in the United States. It was created in 1812 to take over functions previously conducted by the United States Department of the Treasury...
(now the Bureau of Land Management
Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior which administers America's public lands, totaling approximately , or one-eighth of the landmass of the country. The BLM also manages of subsurface mineral estate underlying federal, state and private...
) certifies that a survey was paid for along with another sum of money. Then pursuant to the various land acts of Congress, such as the Homestead Act
Homestead Act
A homestead act is one of three United States federal laws that gave an applicant freehold title to an area called a "homestead" – typically 160 acres of undeveloped federal land west of the Mississippi River....
s, the land was then granted to the private domain by letters patent under the signature and seal
Seal of the President of the United States
The Seal of the President of the United States is used to mark correspondence from the U.S. president to the United States Congress, and is also used as a symbol of the presidency. The central design, based on the Great Seal of the United States, is the official coat of arms of the U.S...
of the President of the United States of America.
An excerpt from [a] Homestead Act
Homestead Act
A homestead act is one of three United States federal laws that gave an applicant freehold title to an area called a "homestead" – typically 160 acres of undeveloped federal land west of the Mississippi River....
- “The purchaser shall acquire absolute title by the purchase, and be entitled to a patent from the United States, on payment of the office fees and sum of money…” Thirty-Seventh Congress
37th United States Congress
The Thirty-seventh United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1861 to March 4, 1863, during the first two...
, Session II. Cu. 75 Section 2 (1862). All land patents are supported by one or more acts of Congress.
Definition - Absolute Title: “As applied to title to land, an exclusive title, or at least a title which excludes all others not compatible with it. An absolute title to land cannot exist at the same time in different persons or in different governments.” Black’s Law Dictionary 6th Edition.
Miscellaneous
Fictitious entities, like trusts, corporations, etc., cannot obtain land patents except by express act of the United States CongressUnited States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
. An example of Congress granting land through patents to fictitious entities is the railroad grants made to compensate the railroad companies for building railroads across America.
A Land Patent is permanent and cannot be changed by the government after its issuance except in case of fraud, clerical error, or failure to pay the initial administrative fees. A statute of limitations applies.
External links
- Land Patent information available from Bureau of Land Management
- Land Patent background information at U.S. government archives