Texas Almanac, 1947-1948 Page: 79
This book is part of the collection entitled: Texas Almanac and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Texas State Historical Association.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
STATE CONSTITUTION. 79
Article XIll.-(Continued.); Article XIV.
provide a method for determining what lands
ave been forfeited and for giving effect of
escheats; and all such rights of forfeiture
and escheat to the State shall, ipso facto,
inure to the protection of the innocent holders
of junior titles, as provided in Secs. 2, 3 and
4 of this article.
Sec. 2. Lands Not Recorded, Archived or in
Possession.-Any claim of title or right to
land in Texas, issued prior to the 13th day
of November, 1835, not duly recorded in the
county where the land was situated at the
time of such record, or not duly archived in
the General Land Office, or not in the actual
possession of the grantee thereof, or some
person claiming under him, prior to the ac-
cruing of junior title thereto from the sov-
ereignty of the soil, under circumstances
reasonably calculated to give notice to said
junior grantee, has never had, and shall not
have, standing or effect against such junior
title, or color of title, acquired without such
or actual notice of such prior claim of title
or right; and no condition annexed to such
grants, not archived or recorded, or occupied
as aforesaid, has been or ever shall be re-
leased or waived, but actual performance of
all such conditions shall be proved by the
person or persons claiming under such title
or claim of right in order to maintain action
thereon, and the holder of such junior title,
or color of title, shall have all the rights of
the government which have heretofore ex-
isted, or now exist, arising from the non-
performance of all such conditions.
Se. 3. Nonpayment of Taxes; Presump-
tions.-Nonpayment of taxes on any claim
of title to land dated prior to the 13th day
of November, 1835, not recorded or archived,
as provided in Sec. 2, by the person or per-
sons so claiming or those under whom he or
they so claim, from that date up to t the date
of the adoption of this Constitution, shall
be held to be a presumption that the right
thereto has reverted to the State, and that
said claim is a stale demand, which presump-
tion shall only be rebutted by payment of all
taxes on said lands, State, county and city or
town, to be assessed on the fair value of
such lands by the Comptroller, and paid to
him, without commutation or deduction for
any part of the above period.
Sec. 4. Titles Not to Be Recorded or Ar-
chived; Actual Possession; "Duly Recorded"
Defined.-No claim of title or right of land
which issued prior to the 13th day of Novem-
ber, 1835, which has not been duly recorded
in the county where the land was situated
at the time of such record, or which has not
been duly archived in the General Land Of-
fice, shall ever hereafter be deposited in the
General Land Office, or recorded in this State,
or delineated on the maps, or used as evi-
dence in any of the court s of this State, and
the same are stale claims; but this shall not
affect such rights or presumptions as arise
from actual possession. By the words "duly
recorded" as used in Secs. 2 and 4 of this
article it is meant that such claim of title
or right to land shall have been recorded in
the proper office, and that mere errors in the
certificate of registration, or informality, not
affecting the fairness and good faith of the
holder thereof, with which the record was
made, shall not be held to vitiate such
record.
Sec. 5. Certain Claims Declared Void.-All
claims, locations, surveys, grants and titles
of any kind which are declared null and void
by the Constitution of the Republic or State
of Texas are, and the same shall remain for-
ever, null and void.
Sec. 6. Forgers of Land Titles.-The Legis-
lature shall pass stringent laws for the detec-
tion and conviction of all forgers of land
titles, and may make such appropriations of
money for that purpose as may be necessai,Sec. 7. Certain Sections Not a Repeal of
Laws.-Secs. 2, 3, 4 and 5 of this article shall
not be so construed as to set aside or repeal
any law or laws of the Republic or State of
Texas, releasing the claimants of headrights
of colonists of a league of land, or less, from
compliance with the conditions on which their
grants were made.
ARTICLE XIV. - PUBLIC LANDS AND
LAND OFFICE.
Sec. 1. General Land Office; Grants to Be
Registered in; Land Office to Be Self-Sus-
taining.-There shall be one General Land
Office in the State. which shall be at the seat
of government, where all land titles which
have emanated or may hereafter emanate
from the State shall be registered, except
those titles the registration of which may be
prohibited by this Constitution. It shall be
the duty of the Legislature at the earliest
practicable time to make the Land Office
self-sustaining, and from time to time the
Legislature may establish such subordinate
offices as may be deemed necessary.
Sec. 2. Revival, Survey and Location of
Genuine Certificates.-All unsatisfied genuine
land certificates barred by Sec. 4, Art X, of
the Constitution of 1869, by reason, of the
holders or owners thereof failing to have
them surveyed and returned to the Land
Office by the 1st day of January, 1875, are
hereby revived All unsatisfied genuine land
certificates now in existence shall be sur-
veyed and returned to the General Land
Office within fie years after the adoption
of this Constitution, or be forever barred,
and all genuine land certificates hereafter
issued by the State shall be surveyed and
returned to the General Land Office within
five years after issuance, or be forever
barred, provided, that all genuine land cer-
tificates heretofore or hereafter issued shall
be located, sure eyed or patented only upon
vacant and unappropriated public domain,
and not upon any land titled or equitably
owned under color of title from the sover-
eignty of the State, evidence of the appro-
priation of which is on the county records or
in the General Land Office, or when the ap-
propriation is evidenced by the occupation of
the owner, or of some person holding for him.
Sec. 3. Grants to Railways.-The Legisla-
ture shall have no power to grant any of the
lands of this State to any railway company
except upon the following restrictions and
conditions.
First. That there shall never be granted to
any such corporation more than sixteen sec-
tions to the mile, and no reservation of any
part of the public domain for the purpose of
satisfying such grant shall ever be made.
Second. That no land certificate shall be
issued to such company until they have
equipped, constructed and in running order
at least ten miles of road, and on failure of
such company to comply with the terms of
its charter, or to alienate its land at a period
to be fixed by law, in no event to exceed
twelve years from the issuance of the patent,
all said land shall be forfeited to the State
and become a portion of the public domain,
and liable to location and survey. The Legis-
lature shall pass general laws only, to give
effect to the provisions of this section.
Sec. 4. Sale of Lands to Actual Settlers.-
No certificate for land shall be sold at the
Land Office except to actual settlers upon
the same, and in lots not to exceed one hun-
dred and sixty acres.
Sec 5. Alienation of Railroad Grants; Duty
of Attorney General.-All lands heretofore or
hereafter granted to railroad companies.
where the charter or law of the State re-
quired or shall hereafter require their alien-
ation within a certain period, on pain of
forfeiture, or is silent on the subject of
forfeiture, and which lands hale not been or
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This book can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Matching Search Results
View nine pages within this book that match your search.Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Book.
Texas Almanac, 1947-1948, book, 1947; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117136/m1/81/?q=%22oil-gas%22: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.