[38 FR 12111, May 9, 1973]

§ 1821.2-3 Simultaneous filings; determination of order of priority.

(a) Two or more documents are considered as simultaneously filed when:

(1) In accordance with the regulations in § 1821.2-2, they are delivered to and received by the proper office at the same time; or

(2) They are filed pursuant to an order which specifies that documents delivered to and received by the proper office during a specified period shall be considered as simultaneously filed.

(b) Whenever it is necessary, for the purposes of the regulations in this chapter, to determine the order of priority of consideration among documents which have been simultaneously filed, such order of priority will be established by a drawing open to public view.

(c) Nothing in this regulation shall be construed as denying any preference right granted by applicable law or regulation or as validating any document which is invalid under applicable law or regulation.

[38 FR 12112, May 9, 1973]

§ 1821.2-4 Use of certified mail.

Certified mail as outlined in 39 CFR Part 58, may be used in lieu of registered mail in public land matters within the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior except where use of registered mail is specifically required by statute.

§ 1821.3 Oaths.

§ 1821.3-1 Elimination of the require

ments.

(a) Written statements in public land matters under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior need not be made under oath unless the Secretary in his discretion shall so require (43 U.S.C. 1211). All written statements in public land matters within the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior required prior to June 3, 1948, by law, or Chapter I of this title, to be made under oath, need no longer be made under oath, except as provided in this paragraph.

(1) Affidavits must be furnished where required by Parts 1840 and 1850.

(2) Final proofs required by R.S. 2294 (43 U.S.C. 254). (See §§ 1821.3-2, 2511.3-4 and 2521.6(d) of this chapter.)

(3) Statements as to the financial worth of individual sureties on bonds furnished in connection with leases, licenses or permits granted under the public land laws, known as "Affidavits of Justification," must be made in affidavit form.

(b) Unsworn statements in public land matters are subject to Title 18, U.S.C., section 1001, which makes it a crime for any person knowingly and willfully to make to any department or agency of the United States any false, fictitious or fraudulent statement or representations as to any matter within its jurisdiction.

(c) False statements as to any material fact made by an applicant in connection with applications, allowance of which is discretionary with the authorized officer, are a proper basis for rejection of the applications.

§ 1821.3-2 Officers qualified.

(a) Oaths required under the homestead, and, desert-land acts may be made before the authorized officer d the proper office for the district embracing the land sought; or before any person authorized by the laws of or pertaining to the State to administer oaths.

§ 1821.4 Notations on applications.

§ 1821.4-1 Notation of rights-of-way.

(a) In order that all persons making entry of public lands which are affected by rights-of-way may have actual notice thereof, a reference to such right-of-way should be made upon the original entry papers and upon the notice of allowance of the application issued to the entryman.

§ 1821.4-2 When notation required.

The authorized officer will make notations of rights-of-way on entry papers, only where his records show that the land involved, or some part of it, is covered by an approved application for right-of-way. See: Minneapo

lis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railway Co. v. Doughty (208 U.S. 251, 52 L. ed. 474). Applicants to enter public lands that are affected by a mere pending application for right-of-way, should be verbally informed thereof and given all necessary information as to the character and extent of the project embraced by the right-of-way application; and, further, that they must take the land subject to whatever right may have attached thereto under the right-of-way application, and at the full area of the subdivisions entered, irrespective of the questions of priority or damages, these being questions for the courts to determine.

§ 1821.5 Entries for lands in more than one land district.

§ 1821.5-1 Governing regulations.

Persons desiring to make and perfect entries of land lying partly within one land district and partly within another will be governed by §§ 1821.5, 1823.4(a) and (b).

§ 1821.5-2 Applications and fees to be filed in each office.

Complete applications must be filed in each office, together with the usual fee and commissions payable for the land in each land district, besides any other payment required by law. Each application should contain a proper reference to the other application.

§ 1821.5-3 Mining claims.

In applying for patent to a mining claim embracing land lying partly within one land district and partly within another, a full set of papers must be filed in each office, except that one abstract of title and one proof of patent expenditures will be sufficient. Only one newspaper publication and one posting on the claim will be required, but proof thereof must be filed in both offices, the statements as to posting plat and notice on the claim to be signed within the respective land districts, as well, also, as all of the other statements required in mineral patent proceedings, except such as, under the law, may be signed outside of the land district wherein the land applied for is situated. Publication, payment of fees, and the pur

§ 1821.6-2 Joint action to acquire public lands.

(a) Ten or more persons may file in the proper office applications in a single group under any one or more of the laws relating to the acquisition of lands in Alaska, including the Homestead Laws (30 Stat. 409; 32 Stat. 1028; 48 U.S.C. 371), Small Tract Laws (52 Stat. 609, 59 Stat. 467; 43 U.S.C. 682a), Home-Site Law (48 Stat. 809; 48 U.S.C. 461) and Town-Site Laws (R.S. 23802389, as amended, 43 U.S.C. 711-722; 26 Stat. 1099; 48 U.S.C. 355). Each application must be complete in itself except that information common to more than one application in a group need not be duplicated at length but may appear in or as an appendix to one such application and be adopted by reference made in the other applications.

(b) Where certain requirements must be met before an application to enter or purchase may be filed, a statement of intention to meet such requirements, signed by each prospective applicant, must be submitted in lieu of an application. Upon compliance with applicable requirements as to residence or otherwise, each such person must file an actual application as required by law.

(c) Each group of applications filed hereunder should be accompanied by two copies of a diagram showing the plan of development contemplated by the applicants. Each such application may describe the land covered by it in terms of a lot or tract as set forth in such diagram or the preliminary diagram specified in this paragraph. The diagram should include specific information as to the relative location and areal extent of each tract or site which it is contemplated will be devoted to school and other municipal or common purposes, to stores or other commercial enterprises, to housing and to agriculture and grazing. Assistance in the preparation of a preliminary diagram, which need not pertain to a particular tract of land, may be obtained by communicating in person or by mail with the U.S. Department of the Interior, Washington, D.C., 20240. Such preliminary diagram may be used as the basis for the diagram to be filed with the group of applications and which must relate to specific land.

(d) Upon the filing of such a diagram by the applicants or their authorized representative, a petition or petitions may be filed requesting the withdrawal of the lands to be devoted to school and other municipal or common purposes.

(e) If any of the applications involve unsurveyed public lands, such applications may also be accompanied by a petition, either joint or several, for the withdrawal of the lands in behalf of specified applicants, the survey, and, in appropriate cases, the classification under the Small Tract Law, of such lands. The filing of such applications confers of itself no right upon the applicants. If the withdrawal is made, and the land classified, applicants shall have the first right to acquire the interests for which they have applied, to the extent permitted by statute. Any application, entry or withdrawal made pursuant to this section shall be subject to all valid prior claims.

(f) Persons who propose to file applications in a group under paragraph (a) of this section, by a writing to be filed in the proper office, may designate a representative or representatives who may, at their direction and in their

behalf, make the actual filing of the applications, previously executed by the applicants and accompanying and supporting documents; pay any or all fees and costs in connection therewith; and, in complete satisfaction of the requirements of § 2511.1(a) of this chapter, personally examine the lands sought to be entered and make and file a statement setting forth the information otherwise required of each individual applicant by § 2511.1-6(a) of this chapter.

(g) Where ten or more settlers are entitled by statute to request and receive a free survey of the lands upon which they have settled, they may file a joint petition stating the facts as to compliance with law by each of them. Such petition must be corroborated by two witnesses having knowledge of the facts.

(h) Where the costs of any survey made under this section are required by statute to be borne by one who seeks the survey, the necessary deposit for costs must be made. The individual applicant is ultimately responsible in such instances for the costs entailed in satisfying his request for such a survey, but persons who file joint or group petitions for such surveys may share the costs thereof in any proportion they may determine.

[35 FR 9514, June 13, 1970. Redesignated at 49 FR 35300, Sept. 6, 1984]

Subpart 1822-Payments and Repayments

AUTHORITY: Sec. 4, 21 Stat. 287, as amended; 43 U.S.C. 263.

SOURCE: 35 FR 9519, June 13, 1970, unless otherwise noted.

§ 1822.0-3 Authority for repayments.

The repayment of moneys received by the Government and covered into the U.S. Treasury, in connection with the disposal or attempted disposal of the public lands, is authorized by sections 2362 and 2363, Revised Statutes (43 U.S.C. 689, 690). The general laws providing for the return of such moneys are contained in the act of June 16, 1880 (21 Stat. 287; 43 U.S.C. 263) and the Act of June 14, 1960 (43 U.S.C. 1374).

§ 1822.1-2 Forms of remittances.

(a) Subject to the condition set forth in paragraph (b) of this section, forms of remittances that will be accepted in payment of fees, rentals, purchase price, and other charges required by the regulations in this chapter include cash and currency of the United States and checks, money orders, and bank drafts made payable to the Bureau of Land Management. Checks or drafts are accepted subject to collection and final payment without cost to the Government office.

(b) Personal checks are an acceptable form of remittance except where the regulations in this chapter specifically provide otherwise.

(R.S. 2478; 43 U.S.C. 1201)

§ 1822.2 Repayments.

§ 1822.2-1 Filing of applications.

Applications for repayment should be filed on a form approved by the Director with the authorized officer of the proper office.

§ 1822.2-2 Statement of grounds for repayment.

Where an application is filed, it should be accompanied by a statement by the applicant setting forth fully the grounds upon which repayment is claimed.

§ 1822.3 Act of June 16, 1880.

§ 1822.3-1 Statutory provisions.

(a) Act of June 16, 1880. The Act of June 16, 1880 (21 Stat. 287; 43 U.S.C. 263) provides for the repayment of fees, commissions, purchase money, and excesses paid in connection with entries of the public lands canceled for conflict, or where, from any cause, the entry was erroneously allowed. This clause directs that said moneys shall be repaid to the person who made such entry, or to his heirs or assigns, and it requires the surrender of the receipts issued and the execution of a proper relinquishment of all claims to the lands acquired under the invalid entry.

§ 1822.3-2 Applications.

(a) Claims for repayment should be made on a form approved by the Director or the equivalent thereof, which application must contain a statement that the title to the land under the invalid entry has not been sold or assigned and that the same has not become a matter of record.

(b) In cases where the entry has been made a matter of record, in the archives of the county recording officer, there should be added to the form of application the words "except as shown by accompanying evidence," in which event the evidence hereinafter required must be furnished.

(c) A duly executed relinquishment must be furnished by the applicant on a form approved by the Director.

(d) The relinquishment must be witnessed by two persons.

§ 1822.3-3 Recording of reconveyance.

(a) When not required. In all cases where patent has been issued, upon an invalid entry, a full reconveyance to the United States of all right and title to the land acquired under the patent and entry must be furnished, which deed must be recorded. If a certificate of the recording officer is produced showing that neither the entry nor the patent has been recorded, it is unnecessary to record the reconveyance in case the patent is surrendered.

(b) When required. If, however, the patent cannot be surrendered,

or

should the entry or patent have been recorded, it is necessary that the proper party or parties execute a full reconveyance to the United States and have the same recorded as indicated in the next following sections.

(c) When quitclaim deed required. Where title under an invalid entry or patent has become a matter of record, a duly executed quitclaim deed, relinquishing to the United States all right, title, and claim to the land, acquired under the entry, or patent, must accompany the application for repayment.

(d) Recording of quitclaim deed. The deed referred to in the preceding section must be duly recorded, and a certificate must also be produced from the proper recording officer of the county wherein the land is situated, showing that said deed is so recorded and that the records of his office do not exhibit any other conveyance or encumbrance of the title to the land.

(e) Conformance to State laws. The reconveyance to the United States must conform in every particular to the laws of the State in which the Iland is located relative to transfers of real property.

(f) Reconveyance unnecessary. If the applicant has also acquired the valid title conveyed by the United States, a reconveyance of the land is unnecessary, but a relinquishment, waiving all claim under the illegal entry, is required, together with corroborative evidence of the facts, preferably an abstract of title and a statement in full in support of the claim for repayment.

§ 1822.3-4 Repayment to heirs, executors,

administrators.

(a) Where application is made by heirs, satisfactory proof of heirship is required. This must be the best evidence that can be obtained and must show that the parties applying are the heirs and the only heirs of the deceased.

(b) Proof of heirship should be made in the form of a statement, corroborated by two witnesses, setting forth the date of the death of the intestate; whether the intestate left surviving a husband or wife, as the case may be; the full name and age of such husband or wife; the names and ages of all chil

dren; and also state whether there is any issue of a deceased child or children. The statement should set forth all the facts, in order that the Bureau of Land Management may determine who are the legal heirs, in accordance with the laws of descent and distribution of the State where the land is situated.

(c) In case there are minor heirs not under the guardianship of a duly appointed guardian, and the amount to be repaid is $200 or less, the surviving parent may execute the application as the natural guardian of such heirs. Such application should be supplemented with a statement setting forth all the facts in detail.

(d) Where application is made by executors, a certificate of executorship from the probate court must accompany the application.

(e) Where application is made by administrators, the original, or a certified copy, of the letters of administration must be furnished.

§ 1822.3-5 Repayment to assignees.

(a) Those persons are assignees, within the meaning of the statutes authorizing the repayment of purchase money, who purchase the land after the entries thereof are completed and take assignments of the title under such entries prior to complete cancellation thereof, when the entries fail of confirmation for reasons contemplated by the law.

(b) Where applications are made by assignees, the applicants must show their right to repayment by furnishing properly authenticated abstracts of title, or the original deeds or instruments of assignment, or certified copies thereof.

(c) In the place of an abstract of title the applicant may furnish a certificate of the recording officer of the county in which the land is situated, showing all alienations or liens affecting title to the land in connection with the entry upon which the claim for repayment is based.

(d) The applicants must also show that they have not been indemnified by their grantors or assignors for the failure of title, and that title has not