Secretary of State; Land Records

Miss. Code Ann. tit. 7, ch. 11
in effect

Miss. Code Ann. § 7-11-1 Repealed.

Repealed by Laws, 1978, ch. 458, § 29, eff from and after January 1, 1980. § 7-11-1 . [Codes, 1892, § 2566; 1906, § 2904; Hemingway’s 1917, § 5239; 1930, § 6008; 1942, § 4067; Laws, 1910, ch. 197; Laws, 1936, ch. 174; Laws, 1938, Ex. ch. 30; Laws, 1942, ch. 236; Laws, 1944, ch. 222] Editor’s Notes — Former § 7-11-1 established the office of land commissioner.

Miss. Code Ann. § 7-11-2 Abolition of office of State Land Commissioner; transferral of duties and responsibilities to Secretary of State.

The office of State Land Commissioner as heretofore existing is hereby abolished, and all the duties, responsibilities and title of said office are transferred to the office of Secretary of State, who shall perform the duties heretofore performed by the elected State Land Commissioner for the State of Mississippi.

Miss. Code Ann. § 7-11-3 Custodian of records of former land office.

The Secretary of State shall have custody of the records of the surveyor general’s office turned over to this state by the United States, all field notes, plats and maps of surveys of lands belonging to the old office of swamp land commissioner and all other papers, documents and records which were formerly kept in the land office. All such records now in the possession of any other officer shall be delivered to the secretary of state.

Miss. Code Ann. § 7-11-4 “State land commissioner,” “land commissioner,” “state land office,” “land office” to mean Secretary of State.

The words “state land commissioner,” “land commissioner,” “state land office” and “land office” shall mean the secretary of state wherever they appear in sections 3-5-11, 21-33-69, 21-37-49, 25-7-83, 27-3-43, 27-29-1, 27-35-65, 27-35-69, 27-39-319, 27-45-21, 29-1-1, 29-1-5, 29-1-7, 29-1-9, 29-1-13, 29-1-17, 29-1-21, 29-1-25, 29-1-27, 29-1-31, 29-1-33, 29-1-35, 29-1-37, 29-1-43, 29-1-49, 29-1-51, 29-1-53, 29-1-55, 29-1-57, 29-1-59, 29-1-61, 29-1-63, 29-1-65, 29-1-67, 29-1-69, 29-1-71, 29-1-77, 29-1-79, 29-1-83, 29-1-85, 29-1-87, 29-1-89, 29-1-91, 29-1-93, 29-1-95, 29-1-99, 29-1-101, 29-1-107, 29-1-111, 29-1-113, 29-1-115, 29-1-119, 29-1-123, 29-1-131, 29-1-133, 33-11-11, 49-5-1, 51-29-81, 51-29-85, 51-29-87, 51-33-43, 51-33-45, 51-35-159, 55-3-9, 55-7-13, 55-13-31, 59-9-21, 59-9-67, 89-11-3, 89-11-15, 89-11-19, 89-11-21, 89-11-27 and 89-11-29, Mississippi Code of 1972, or in any other place where they appear in the laws of this state.

Miss. Code Ann. § 7-11-5 Repealed.

Repealed by Laws, 1978, ch. 458, § 29, eff from and after January 1, 1980. § 7-11-5 . [Codes, 1892, § 2559; 1906, § 2897; Hemingway’s 1917, § 5232; 1930, § 6009; 1942, § 4068; Laws, 1896, ch. 50; Laws, 1964, ch. 542, § 3] Editor’s Notes — Former § 7-11-5 prescribed office hours for the land office.

Miss. Code Ann. § 7-11-6 Assistant Secretary of State to perform functions of state land office; employment of additional personnel; transition of power by state land commissioner.

The Secretary of State shall appoint a competent attorney to be designated as an assistant secretary of state, who shall have the responsibilities of performing the function of the former state land office in addition to any other duties as assigned by the Secretary of State. The secretary of state is empowered and authorized to employ such office assistants, clerical employees and field inspectors on either a temporary or permanent basis as shall be necessary to perform the former duties and functions of the state land office. The Assistant Secretary of State hereby created shall be in addition to any other assistant secretaries of state previously designated or heretofore authorized. The State Land Commissioner elected pursuant to Section 7-11-1 shall deliver the seal, all records, reports and other property of the state land office to the Secretary of State prior to the expiration of his term of office.

Miss. Code Ann. § 7-11-7 Repealed.

Repealed by Laws, 1978, ch. 458, § 29, eff from and after January 1, 1980. § 7-11-7 . [Codes 1892, § 2560; 1906, § 2898; Hemingway’s 1917, § 5233; 1930, § 6010; 1942, § 4069] Editor’s Notes — Former § 7-11-7 provided for the seal of the land office.

Miss. Code Ann. § 7-11-8 Functions assigned to Secretary of State to be merged and coordinated with those of former state land office.

It is the intent of the legislature that the functions assigned to the Secretary of State by this chapter shall be merged and coordinated with similar functions being exercised by the state land office on January 1, 1980.

Miss. Code Ann. § 7-11-9 Repealed.

Repealed by Laws, 1978, ch. 458, § 29, eff from and after January 1, 1980. § 7-11-9 . [Codes, 1892, § 2566; 1906, § 2904; Hemingway’s 1917, § 5239; 1930, § 6008; 1942, § 4067; Laws, 1910, ch. 197; Laws, 1936, ch. 174; Laws, 1938, Ex. ch. 30; Laws, 1942, ch. 236; Laws, 1944, ch. 222] Editor’s Notes — Former § 7-11-9 provided for the employment of a deputy land commissioner and other land office personnel.

Miss. Code Ann. § 7-11-11 Duties and powers of Secretary of State.

The Secretary of State shall have charge of the swamp and the overflowed lands and indemnity lands in lieu thereof, the internal improvement lands, the lands forfeited to the state for nonpayment of taxes after the time allowed by law for redemption shall have expired, and of all other public lands belonging to or under the control of the state. The regulation, sale and disposition of all such lands shall be made through the secretary of state’s office. The secretary of state shall sign all conveyances and leases of any and all state-owned lands and shall record same in a book kept in his office for such purposes.

Miss. Code Ann. § 7-11-13 Land records.

All state land records, all levee land records, and all other land records, except assessment rolls, shall be kept in the office of the Secretary of State and be held by him. The Secretary of State shall keep a record of all state-owned lands in a separate and well bound book. He is authorized and empowered to request of any board, commission, department or other state agency having under its jurisdiction state-owned lands the records herein required to be recorded in his office, and it shall be the duty of any state agency to comply with the request of the Secretary of State.

Miss. Code Ann. § 7-11-15 Form of records.

The Secretary of State shall secure a sufficient number of suitable and well bound books for each county, so that the lands now or hereafter owned by the state may be complied therein. The books, in addition to the necessary columns on which to list all necessary information with reference to the lands owned, shall contain a column on which to number all patents or contracts issued and any other information. The order of arrangement and all other matters pertaining thereto are hereby specifically left to the discretion of the Secretary of State. In addition to the foregoing records, the Secretary of State shall provide and cause to be kept a separate register of the several different classes of lands, with appropriate references to other records or documents for information concerning the whole class, and of each parcel, if need be. He may cause correct township maps to be prepared from the field notes of original surveys, with all errors in the location of natural objects, if any there be, corrected, which maps may be supplied to the several counties at reasonable prices; and he may, in like manner, have maps and plats lithographed and sold. The Secretary of State shall procure a sufficient number of forms of certificates which shall be used by the chancery clerks of each of the various counties in certifying to the Secretary of State’s office lands sold to the state for unpaid taxes in his county, and the Secretary of State shall provide such certificates in such form that they may be bond by him and used as a part of the permanent records of his office. The said chancery clerks shall use only such forms of certificates in certifying said lands to the Secretary of State’s office, and failure to do so shall subject such chancery clerk so refusing or failing to do so, and his bondsman, to a penalty of five hundred dollars ($500.00), which penalty shall be collected by the Attorney General in a suit therefor filed in the name of the State of Mississippi. Such certificates, before being filed by the Secretary of State, shall be examined by the Attorney General. The Secretary of State, with the approval of the Attorney General, shall strike from such certificates all lands which, by reason of insufficient description or other cause, in the opinion of the Attorney General are not the property of the state; and the title of the state to such lands as may be thus stricken off shall be thereby relinquished.

Miss. Code Ann. § 7-11-17 Records preserved and bound.

The land records in the Secretary of State’s office shall be carefully preserved and valuable records shall be bound and rebound when necessary.

Miss. Code Ann. § 7-11-19 Copies of records.

The Secretary of State shall furnish to any party interested therein a copy or exemplification of any record, patent, plat, diagram, township plat or map, field notes, surveys or other paper or document deposited in the office of the Secretary of State and relating to the selection, location and survey of the public lands or otherwise concerning the same, upon the party paying therefor the fees allowed by law.

Miss. Code Ann. § 7-11-21 Repealed.

Repealed by Laws, 1983, ch. 469, § 10, eff from and after July 1, 1983. § 7-11-21 . [Codes, 1892, § 2572; 1906, § 2910; Hemingway’s 1917, § 5245; 1930, § 6029; 1942, § 4111; Am Laws, 1978, ch. 458, § 14] Editor’s Notes — Former § 7-11-21 prohibited the land commissioner or any land office employees from buying state-owned land.

Miss. Code Ann. § 7-11-23 Repealed.

Repealed by Laws 1978, ch. 458, § 29, eff from and after January 1, 1980. § 7-11-23 . [Codes, 1892, § 2583; 1906, § 2922; Hemingway’s 1917, § 5257; 1930, § 6052; 1942, § 4150] Editor’s Notes — Former § 7-11-23 required monthly reports to be submitted by the land commissioner to the auditor of public accounts.

Miss. Code Ann. § 7-11-25 Report to legislature.

The Secretary of State shall make a report to the legislature at each regular session of all the business transactions in the Secretary of State’s office pertaining to public lands for the preceding fiscal year. He shall state therein the monthly sale of land, of what class and where situated, amount of purchase-money received for each, the totals of his monthly reports to the auditor of fees collected; and he shall make such recommendations as may seem proper.

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