Patents

 
• This is a copy of the first patent for a single track of public lands, issued march 4th, 1788 at the Office of Commissioners of the Board of Treasury in New York City. This and subsequent patents prepared by the Treasury Department, personally signed by the president, countersigned by the Secretary of State, and recorded by the State Department - before delivery. Note the covenant for Gold, Silver, Lead and Copper Mines.

 
• This patent is the third patent issued by the U.S. government. Note: Fourth line down, "for carrying into effect a contract between the United States and the State of Pennsylvania". All land patents are contracts between the original owner, his heirs and assigns and the United States, forever. Go to the U.S. constitution; Article one, Section 10 (No State shall pass laws impairing the Obligations of Contracts) There are no covenants on this patent. It was signed by President George Washington.

 
• This is to show that land patents come in many different formats. Before there were copying machines a person would freehand copy the document, and it would be proof read by another and signed as that it was an exact copy of the original and fix their seal. 

 
• This is another land patent with no covenants. The Act of Congress on this patent is probably used on most patents in the upper mid states. Every patent has one or more Acts of Congress. The Acts of Congress on a land patent are called "Authority". Land patents can be from one-half page to 32 pages long.

Patent June 1st 1874

 
• This is very rare, to find a patent with local control. The control has to do with the water that flows over the land. Subject to any vested and accrued water fights for mining, agricultural, manufacturing, or other purposes, and rights to ditches and reservoirs used in connection with such water rights, as may be recognized and acknowledged by the local customs, laws, and decisions of courts, and also subject to the rights of proprietor of a vein or lode to extract and remove his ore therefrom, should the same be found to penetrate or intersect the premises hereby granted, as provided by law. Also, this is a script patent. Colleges in the East could not get money from the government to expand their programs, so Congress would grant them the right to issue script. The script would be sold and the purchaser would go west. In his travels he could sell the script for face value, more or less, or buy land with it. Paper was easier to conceal than Gold and Silver.

 
• This is a Texas land patent. When Texas became a state, the unappropriated land was retained by the state and NOT the United States as in all other states. The Texas land patents have the seal of The State as well as the U.S. There is an, heir to this land patent in Merced, California. There is quite a history story. So if you are looking for the land patent to land in Texas it will be in Austin in the state archives.

 
• All patents have one or more acts of congress, this one has several. The only place there can be a covenant is in the patent. To apply a covenant on the land after the patent is issued is a collateral attack on the patent. "To change from the original" You will note the covenant is to protect the California Condor. It is rare a covenant can be removed from a patent, as this one can. As in all patents the covenants are very specific. The use of the land is spelled out. This land can never be owned by anyone who is not a citizen of the U.S.

 
• This patent has more technical covenants I have ever seen in a patent. It should be read very carefully. In Summa v California; 466 U.S. 198 (1984) "if it is not in the patent proceedings {Patent proceedings consist of the patent and the acts of congress that are on the patent} it shall be barred" If your U.S. Land Patent has no such covenants, then "Owner is free to   do with his property what he wills, absent criminal intent, constitutional limitations, or liability for tortuous activities in connection therewith. "Michael ANNUNZIATA v Larry MILLER; 241 NJ. Super. 275" (Feb. 14, 1990) 

 
• The reason for displaying these patents is to show why Before you sign any papers for the purchase of any land in the United States, demand a citified copy of the U.S. Land Patent. The patent is the only place a covenant can be placed. You can be told land patents are not issued any more. They are issued almost ever day some place in the United States. We will get it later. No excuse is, as good as a citified copy of the patent to the land. Read the Fine print on the last page, it is very important.

 
• The later patents issued, the more covenants they have and the more stringent they are. This patent mentions (6) the covenants running with the land. The only place   covenants, reservations, conditions and conditions can be put on the land is in the land patent. All others are a collateral attack on the patent. "U.S. v Coronado Beach. 255 U.S. 472. ( Decided March 28, 1921)

• Note covenants. How precise they are. 

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