372 LAND OFFICE. [ART. 54.

opposition be made to the issue of such patent, the party or
parties making such opposition shall, by a day to be designated
by the Commissioner of the Land Office not exceeding thirty
days, file in the Land Office their objections in writing to the
issue of said patent.

13. The said commissioner shall fix some day not less than ten
nor more than twenty days after the objections are filed, to hear
such application, and shall then hear the respective parties if they
appear before him, and if not, he shall proceed to determine ex
parte the rights of the parties claiming to be interested, and
shall, within thirty days after such hearing, decide in favor of or
reject the application as to him shall seem right and proper, filing
his reasons therefor in writing.

14. The said commissioner shall have full power and authority
to hear and determine all disputes which may arise concerning
the validity of surveys made under warrants or orders issued by
him; and also all disputes concerning the issuing of patents, and
in all disputes that come before him, he shall have full power to
decree thereon according to equity and good conscience, and the
principles established in courts of equity.

15. In any matter pending in the Land Office in which the
commissioner for the time being may have been counsel, may be
interested or related to the parties, and on that account incompe-
tent to act, he shall certify the same in writing to the Judge of
the Second Judicial District, who shall thereupon hear and decide
such case or appoint some person to do so, which decision shall
have the same effect and be liable to the same incidents as the
decision of the Commissioner of the Land Office.

16. Any vacant land, whether cultivated or uncultivated, and
any land which has escheated by reason of the last owner in fee
simple dying intestate thereof and without heirs, may be taken
up by any person not an alien by complying with the provisions
herein contained.

17*. Any person desiring to take up vacant or escheat lands,
shall obtain a warrant from the Commissioner of the Land Office,
directed to the surveyor of the county in which the land lies, or
to which it may be contiguous, requiring him, his deputy or
authorized agent, to survey the same and return a certificate of
survey to the Land Office within one year from the date of the