Land patent
A land patent, also referred to as a letters patent (which can also apply to inventions), is a deed conveying property by the federal government to a landowner outside of the original 13 colonies. Originally the federal agency was the General Land Office (GLO), which was replaced by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).
As a grant by the federal government, these patents are more often litigated in federal rather than state court.
New York
The State of New York had a Commissioners of the Land Office that issued letters patent, separate from the federal government. As many as 854 reported cases by New York courts discuss this. Only 0.8% of New York is owned by the federal government, making it one of only 5 states having less than 1% of its state owned by the federal government.[1]
New Jersey
Very few decisions in the last century in New Jersey discuss land patents. One federal case ruled against the federal government in a dispute over 1,010.8 acres in Sussex County, Delaware, which turned on a royal grant of land to William Penn in the 1600s:
| “ | 2. The basic title to the land and waters of the State of Delaware rests on two deeds of feoffment from James, Duke of York, to William Penn, each dated August 24, 1682. One deed conveys a tract of land lying within a circle of twelve miles from the Town of New Castle; the other includes a tract of land extending south from New Castle. 9 These deeds contained covenants for further assurance. On March 22, 1682/3 letters patent of Charles II under the Great Seal of England were issued to the Duke of York for the same lands and waters described in the former deeds of feoffment from York to William Penn. 10 "There is no doubt that these letters were delivered to the Duke"; 11 later delivered to Penn; and were never thereafter surrendered or abandoned. The letters gave "powers of government and other proprietary and seignorial rights" to York "along with ownership in fee." 12 Whether Penn enjoyed governmental powers under the deeds of feoffment or they passed to him by estoppel from York is immaterial since later letters patent of August 20, 1694, from the Crown to Penn confirmed his title to such powers. | ” |
United States v. 1,010.8 Acres Situate in Sussex Cty., 56 F. Supp. 120, 126 (D. Del. 1944). This federal court ruled that the state, not any local government, should receive the funds from the federal government.
Texas
About 540 reported decisions, two-thirds of them federal, discuss land patents in Texas. Due to its history as its own sovereign nation, federal ownership of land in Texas is a relatively small 1.9%, and thus federal land parents are relatively rare there.[1]
California
The federal government owns 45.4% of the land in California, which is ranked #7 among the highest percentage of federal land ownership.[1]
