Title 43 — Public Lands
Chapter 12 — Reclamation and Irrigation of Lands by Federal Government
§ 544. Limitation as to holdings prior to final payment of charges; forfeiture of excess holding
Statutory text
No person shall at any one time or in any manner, except as hereinafter otherwise provided, acquire, own, or hold irrigable land for which entry or water-right application shall have been made under the said reclamation Act of and Acts supplementary thereto and amendatory thereof, before final payment in full of all installments of building and betterment 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 ownership 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 satisfaction of mortgages, by inheritance, or by devise, may be held for five years and no longer after its acquisition, and water may be temporarily furnished during that time; and every excess holding prohibited as aforesaid shall be forfeited to the United States by proceedings instituted 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.
Legislative history
Reconstructed from this section’s Code source credit and amendment notes, resolved against the local Statutes at Large. Editorial notes are evidence, not the law that made the change.
Pub. L. 62–278 § 3 · 37 Stat. 265
Enacted · 43 U.S.C. § 544
Aug. 9, 1912, ch. 278, § 3, 37 Stat. 266
Source evidence
Code source credit
Aug. 9, 1912, ch. 278, § 3, 37 Stat. 266Enacted provision · exact public law section
Sec. 3. Certificate of final payment. That upon full and final payment being made of all amounts due on account of the building and betterment charges to the United States or its successors 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 Proviso. Single holdings limited. annual charges for operation and maintenance: Provided, That no person shall at any one time or in any manner, except as hereinafter otherwise provided, acquire, own, or hold irrigable land for which entry or water right application shall have been made under the said reclamation Act of June seventeenth, nineteen hundred and two, and Acts supplementary thereto and amendatory thereof, before final payment in full of all instalments of building and betterment 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 ownership 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 Excess acquired by descent, etc. said Acts nor a water right sold or recognized for such excess; but any such excess land acquired at any time in good faith by descent, by will, or by foreclosure of any lien may be held for two years and no Forfeiture of prohibited excess. longer after its acquisition; and every excess holding prohibited as aforesaid shall be forfeited to the United States by proceedings instituted by the Attorney General for that purpose in any court of competent jurisdiction; and this proviso shall be recited in every patent and water-right certificate issued by the United States under the provisions of this Act.
1 of 1 references resolved to an enrolled provision
Editorial Notes
References in Text
The reclamation Act of , 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 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.
Codification
Section comprises part of section 3 of act . Remainder of section 3 is set out as section 543 of this title.
Amendments
1956—Act , increased period during which land could be held from two years to five years, and to authorize delivery of water for that period.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Amendment of Existing Contracts
For provisions authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to amend existing contracts under the Federal reclamation laws to conform to the provisions of this section, see section 3 of act , set out as a note under section 423e of this title.
Credits
1912–1956 · 2 acts
- 1912Aug. 9, 1912, ch. 278, § 3, 37 Stat. 266
- 1956July 11, 1956, ch. 563, § 2, 70 Stat. 524.
Show as published
(Aug. 9, 1912, ch. 278, § 3, 37 Stat. 266; July 11, 1956, ch. 563, § 2, 70 Stat. 524.)