New York · statute · N.Y. Public Lands Law · 88 active provisions
PUBLIC LANDS LAW Laws 1909, Chap. 50. AN ACT relating to the public lands, constituting chapter forty-six of the consolidated laws. Became a law February 17, 1909, with the approval of the Governor. Passed by a two-thirds vote. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows…
ARTICLE 1 SHORT TITLE Section 1. Short title.
Section 1. Short title. This chapter shall be known as the "Public Lands Law."
ARTICLE 2 OFFICE OF GENERAL SERVICES Section 2. State-owned real property inventory and management program. 2-a. Certain transfers of jurisdiction over state-owned lands and declarations of abandonment by the commissioner of general services. 2-b. Transfers of certain funds. 3. Powers and duties; leases. 4. Vesting of…
§ 2. State-owned real property inventory and management program. 1. Definitions. As used in this section, unless the context otherwise requires: a. "State agency" shall mean any department, division, board, commission, bureau, office or other agency of the state other than a public authority or public benefit corporati…
§ 2-a. Certain transfers of jurisdiction over state-owned lands and declarations of abandonment by the commissioner of general services. 1. When the commissioner of general services proposes to transfer jurisdiction over state lands pursuant to subdivision four of section three without the application or consent therei…
§ 2-b. Transfers of certain funds. Subject to the approval of the director of the budget, any funds which have been appropriated and/or allocated for the operation or maintenance of state-owned real property abandoned under section thirty-a shall be transferred to the office of general services for the continued operat…
§ 3. Powers and duties; leases. 1. The office of general services shall have the general care and superintendence of all state lands, the superintendence whereof is not vested in some officer or in a state department or a division, bureau or agency thereof. 2. The commissioner of general services may, subject to such r…
§ 4. Vesting of crown lands in the people of the state. The absolute property of all messuages, lands, tenements and hereditaments, and of all rents, royalties, franchises, prerogatives, privileges, escheats, forfeitures, debts, dues, duties and services by whatsoever names respectively the same are called and known in…
§ 5. Letters patent, form and contents; to be recorded in the office of the secretary of state. All letters patent shall be in such form as the commissioner of general services directs. All letters patent granting unappropriated state lands, as defined by this chapter, shall contain an exception and reservation of all…
§ 6. Determination of claims based on alleged failure of title. Whenever a legal claim is made for a refund of purchase-money because of the alleged failure of the title of the state to lands sold or granted under its authority including any right, title or interest of the state in and to lands under water, the commiss…
§ 7. Partition of lands held by the state in joint tenancy or tenancy in common. Whenever the commissioner of general services directs, the attorney-general shall cause partition to be made of any real property held in joint tenancy or tenancy in common, in which the people of the state are interested, and for that pur…
§ 8. Trespasses upon state lands. Where, in the judgment of the commissioner of general services, sufficient information has been provided to her or him that a possible trespass upon state-owned lands has occurred then the commissioner may investigate such allegations of trespass upon state-owned lands. The commissione…
§ 9. Penalty for trespasses. Every person who shall trespass upon Indian lands or any lands belonging to the state and under the general care and superintendence of the commissioner of general services, any lands belonging to the state which are under the jurisdiction of any other state agency, department, board, offic…
§ 10. Power to investigate before grant. Before granting any lands or any interest therein, including lands under water, the commissioner of general services may summarily inquire into the rights of the person applying for such grant, on such proof as, by regulation, the commissioner may prescribe. The commissioner may…
§ 11. Power to confirm defective grant. Whenever a sale is lawfully made, or directed to be made by the commissioner of general services, or has been made by his predecessor, the board of commissioners of the land office, including a sale of land under water, if, at the time of the making of the grant, the necessary ju…
§ 12. Certain patents and grants ratified. All patents of lands issued before July eleventh, eighteen hundred and eighty-one, pursuant to resolutions of the commissioners of the land office, and sold by them at private sale to purchasers in good faith, purporting to convey the right, title and interest of the people of…
§ 12-a. Certain patents ratified and confirmed. Patents of real property escheated to the state, granted before the sixteenth day of May, eighteen hundred and ninety-two, pursuant to resolutions of the commissioners of the land office, adopted under or in pursuance of chapter two hundred and seventy-nine of the laws of…
§ 13. Grants to heirs, devisees or successors in interest. Where an application for a grant of land, including land under water, is made by any person who dies before a grant is ordered or issued, the heirs or devisees of such person shall be entitled to such grant as if the application had been made by such heirs or d…
§ 14. Time of performing conditions of grant. 1. The commissioner of general services may, unless otherwise provided, fix a reasonable time, not less than one year, for the performance of conditions by the grantees of lands, including lands under water, directed to be granted on the performance of conditions. If such c…
§ 15. Prohibitions as to grants in Lake George. 1. No grant or lease of any of the islands in Lake George, or of any land upon any of such islands, shall be made by the commissioner of general services. 2. No grant or lease of any lands under water in Lake George shall be made by the commissioner unless the conservatio…
§ 15-a. Filling in the state owned bed of Lake George prohibited. 1. No person or corporation shall fill in or cause to be filled in any land of the state of New York lying below the mean low water line of Lake George by dumping or placing rock, stone, concrete, dirt or other similar material on said land without first…
§ 16. Reservation of Esopus island. Esopus island, in Dutchess county, is reserved from settlement, occupancy, lease or sale, and dedicated and set apart as a public park. The commissioner of general services shall have the same powers to protect such island from trespass as he has over other public lands.
§ 17. Payment of incumbrances on public lands; adverse claims; costs. The commissioner of general services, whenever he deems it for the best interest of the state may cause to be paid off and canceled any charges, assessments, or incumbrances, other than the lien of a tax under article ten of the tax law, existing on…
§ 17-a. Abandonment of claims under defective tax sales; recovery of taxes paid thereon by state. Where the claim of title of the state to any land is based on a tax sale, which title in the opinion of the attorney-general would be declared void by the courts, the commissioner of general services, on the filing with hi…