In force, Feb.[February] 16, 1839.
AN ACT supplemental to the act, entitled “An act to define the extent of possession
in cases of settlement on the public lands,” approved February 27, 1837.
1Legal possession.
Sec.[Section] 1. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly, That the said act to which this is supplemental shall be construed to mean, and
to give to the claimant, the legal possession (f0r the purposes mentioned in said act) of three hundred and
twenty acres (if the custom of the neighborhood extends to that number) of unsurveyed
lands, or one hundred and sixty acres of surveyed lands, whether the same be in one
or more separate parcels, and that the claimant shall reside on or near the same;
and that the claim of unsurveyed lands be so plainly marked that it can be designated
from the adjacent lands.
Approved, February 16, 1839.
1Joseph W. Churchill introduced HB 45 to the House of Representatives on December 18, 1838. The House referred the bill to a select committee on December
22. The committee reported back on December 31 and recommended an amendment, to which
the House concurred. The House passed the bill on January 4, 1839. The Senate passed the bill on February 12. The Council of Revision approved the bill on February 16 and the act became law.
Journal of the House of Representatives (Vandalia, IL: William Walters, 1838), 97, 117, 133-34, 148, 164, 166, 393, 414,
426; Journal of the Senate (Vandalia, IL: William Walters, 1838), 138, 155-156, 279, 298, 318, 337.
Printed Document, 1 page(s), Laws of the State of Illinois, Passed by the Eleventh General Assembly (Vandalia, IL: William Walters, 1839), 124, GA Session: 11-1,