A bill to provide for the sale of certain lands in Macon and Cherokee Counties, [North Carolina], 1846

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[ Note: This document contains both printed and written text. ]
[added text (appears to be different ink and hand): JTM Hewson ]

SENATE DOCUMENT -- NO. VIII.
A BILL
TO PROVIDE
FOR THE SALE OF CERTAIN LANDS
IN
MACON AND CHEROKEE COUNTIES,
Which have been surrendered to the
State.

RALEIGH:
W.R. GALES, PRINTER TO THE LEGISLATURE.

1846.






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BILL.


WHEREAS, under the Act of the last General Assembly, entitled "An Act more effectually to secure the debts due for Cherokee Lands, and to facilitate the collection of the same," several tracts of land, commonly known as the "Cherokee Lands," were surrendered to the State, and ought to be again sold, as well to secure homes to the first purchasers, as for the benefit of the State, no revenue whatever being derived by the State from said lands at present. For remedy whereof --
I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That all the lands surrendered


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by insolvents under the provisions of said Act, shall be again sold, under the following rules and restrictions, that is to say : the County Court of Cherokee, (a majority of the Justices of said County being present,) shall appoint one discreet person residing in Cherokee County, and the Governor shall appoint two others from some County west of the Blue Ridge other than Cherokee, who shall constitute a Board of Valuation, whose duty it shall be [added text (appears to be different ink and hand): or a majority of them ] to value the lands so surrendered to the State, at a fair cash valuation, in the following manner : 1st. at their present worth, including the improvements placed upon them by the former purchasers or their assigns. 2d, the worth of said lands when in a wild and unimproved state, taking into consideration in both cases the locality of said lands, and the facilities the purchasers may have in the transportation of their produce to market. And the said Board of Valuation shall make out duplicate lists of each class of valuation as soon as may be ; one copy of each class of such lists to be filed in the Clerk's Office of the County Court of Cherokee, and the other they shall transmit to the Governor ; and such copy filed in the Clerk's Office as by this Act directed, shall be kept by the Clerk among the records of said Court.
II. Be it further enacted, That the first purchasers who have surrendered said lands, their heirs, devisees or assigns respectively, shall have a preemption right to purchase the lands they or either of them have so surrendered, at the valuation by said Board as "unimproved lands," the said purchasers first paying one fourth of the purchase money, and


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giving bond with approved security to the agent of the State, heretofore appointed under the Act passed at the session of the General Assembly, held on the third Monday of
November, A.D. 1840, entitled "An Act authorizing the Governor to appoint an agent in the County of Macon or Cherokee" ; and such bonds for the payment of the purchase money, shall be made payable in four equal annual instalments [installments], bearing interest from date. And upon such bonds when due and unpaid, suit shall be brought as upon the other bonds given for Cherokee lands, under the laws now in force concerning Cherokee bonds : Provided, nevertheless, that no suit shall be instituted in any Court of the State, [added text (appears to be different ink and hand): Upon any of the Cherokee bonds ] when the amount sued for is within the jurisdiction of a Justice of the Peace.
III. Be it further enacted, That is the person or persons who surrendered said lands, his, her, or their heirs, devisees or assigns, should fail to comply with the requisitions of the second section of this Act, within three months after the valuation by the said board, then and in that case, the said agent for the State is hereby authorised [authorized] and required to sell and dispose of any tract or tracts so surrendered to any other person or persons desirous of purchasing the same, at the price of "improved lands," upon such purchaser or purchasers giving the necessary bonds as required in said second section.
IV. Be it further enacted, That whenever it shall appear to said agent that a part of any tract of land surrendered under the Act of
1844, had been


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previously sold by the purchaser from the State, to any other person or persons, then and in that case, it shall be the duty of the agent to have due regard to the interest of such sub-purchaser at the time of surrender, and to resell to each under the provisions of this Act, according to the interest he or she may have had at the time of such surrender.
V. Be it further enacted, That the pre-emption right granted by the second section of this Act, shall not extend to any person or persons who are not actual settlers on the lands, or who do not desire to become permanent residents in said County of Cherokee : Provided, That nothing in this Act contained, shall interfere with any right which any person or persons may have acquired under any existing law of the State.
VI. Be it further enacted, That each and every purchaser of any section or sections of said lands, having obtained a certificate from the board constituted by this Act, shall have full power and authority to institute an action of ejectment in the name of the State of North Carolina, against any person or persons who may be in possession of such section of land, and shall, on application, refuse to deliver up quiet and peaceable possession thereof, or who shall intrude upon said purchasers after they enter into possession, or who may hold over after their tenancy shall have expired. And the certificate of the Board to such purchaser or his assignee, shall be evidence of title and right to sustain said action. Provided,


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nevertheless, the said purchaser shall give bond and security for the payment of all costs accruing in said action, in case of his failure to recover.
VII. Be it further enacted, That as a full compensation for the performance by them of the duties mentioned in the first and second sections of this Act, the said agent and board of valuation, shall each be entitled to receive $ [word omitted] per day for each day he shall be necessarily employed therein, to be allowed by the Governor, upon the affidavits of said agent and the members of said board, verifying the number of days so employed, and when allowed, to be paid out of the moneys in the hands of the agent, arising from the sales of Cherokee Lands.





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Law of No [North] Carolina

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