For many landowners, land patents are a vaguely defined or even foreign concept.

These days,
the vast majority of regular Americans own their homes or properties through a deed or title
issued by their local jurisdiction. In exchange, they pay property taxes, respect local building
codes, follow local laws, and generally fulfill the roles and duties of strait-laced citizens.

Holders of land patents may enjoy additional privileges to which regular deed-holders aren't
entitled. In laymen's terms, land patents take land ownership to the next level. Indeed, these
legal designations may provide their holders with certain privileges that aren't typically
associated with land ownership in the United States. What follows is a basic outline of the legal
theory that underlies land patents.

Origins of Land Patents

The concept of the land patent originated in the early days of the American Republic. As has
been well documented, the United States acquired its lands by entering into various treaties
with its former owners. While it's perfectly reasonable to pass judgment on the means by which
early American governments obtained much of the country's area, the fact remains that the
treaties that established those governments' claims to the land are technically in force to this
day. As the United States grew, the General Land Office was tasked with managing and
disbursing the country's treaty-acquired lands. By issuing land patents to landowners and settlers
who applied for them, the office essentially transferred the rights conferred by the treaty to
these individuals. These rights were held in perpetuity and said to take precedence over any
subsequent legal strictures, including state laws and constitutional clauses.

Basic Principles

Over time, the General Land Office sank into obscurity and was replaced by the Bureau of Land
Management. Today, the BLM continues to issue land patents to owner-occupants and absentee
landowners for a variety of reasons. In most cases, these patents are issued to protect
landowners' mineral and drilling rights from state governments and resource extraction firms.
It's important to reiterate that state constitutions and statutes are generally deemed to be
subordinate to federal land patents. The reason for this is simple: As a condition of admittance to
the Union, 49 out of 50 states signed so-called "enabling acts" that formally ceded their lands to
the federal government. Since the Republic of Texas never officially ceded its lands to the U.S.
government during the annexation process, it stands as the one "outlier" state. Accordingly, it's
questionable whether federal land patents have supremacy over patents and deeds that the
government in Austin issues.

Legal Precedents

Over the years, various parties have charged that land patents are archaic instruments that can
be abused by unscrupulous landowners and corporations. The legal spats that have arisen from
these charges have produced a sizable body of legal precedence that supports the basic concept
of land patents. Key court decisions include:
Pacific Coast Dairy v. Department of Agriculture, 1943: Affirmed that federal law holds
precedence over state law in federal enclaves within states, e.g. military reservations

Arlington Hotel v. Fant: Established the right of the federal government to appropriate state-
held lands for the "public good"

Surplus Trading Company v. Cook: Confirmed that states could not place tax liens on businesses
that owned land and did business within federal enclaves

In each of these cases, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the supremacy of federal property rights
over local and state laws. This is the nub of the legal theory of land patents.

Benefits and Inherent Value

For the private citizens known as freeholders, land patents offer several clear benefits. They may
free landowners from responsibility for honoring liens on their property, including those
imposed by the state for unpaid taxes. Further, they may permit their holders to retain the title
to their lands in the face of state threats of seizure or eviction. They can also be transferred
easily by means of inheritance. Perhaps most importantly, land patents permit their holders to
dispose with their land as they see fit. This attribute can be particularly useful during disputes
over mineral and drilling rights.

It's one thing to understand the basic concept of a land patent. It's another thing entirely to put
this knowledge to good use.

You might be pleased to learn that you don't need a fancy legal degree or years of experience in
the real estate industry to file a successful land patent. Depending on the complexity of your
case, you might just need to follow a few simple steps to obtain your very own land patent.

1. Prove Your Right

First, you'll need to prove that you own the property for which you're filing a land patent. To do
this, you'll need to procure or produce a certified copy of the warranty deed to your property.
The local authority that oversees the management of local properties will issue this document.
In most cases, this will be your county or municipal clerk's office. If you own your property
through a quitclaim deed, you'll need to prove that you're its legal owner by establishing a
"chain of title" between your deed and the original warranty deed. In other words, you'll need to
produce certified copies of every quitclaim deed that stands between you and the property's
warranty deed. These will also be available at your county or municipal clerk's office.
2. Confirm Its Location

Next, you'll need to confirm the exact location and bounds of your property. This might seem like
a silly step, but it's absolutely essential to the patent filing process. The best way to obtain an
official "description" of your property is to obtain a certified plat map from your county clerk's
office. If none exists, you may need to hire a licensed surveyor to draw a plat that can pass
muster with local, state and federal authorities.

3. Obtain the Land Patent

Once you have your property deed and description in hand, visit your local Bureau of Land
Management branch to request a legal copy of your land patent. It's important to note that the
patent to your land isn't just lying around your local BLM office. The agency must use the official
documents that you present to produce an original, legally binding copy of the patent.

4. Draw Up a Declaration of Acceptance

While you're waiting for the BLM to produce your official land patent, you'll need to draw up an
official "declaration of acceptance." This document will convey your acceptance of the
restrictions that your patent imposes. In effect, it reaffirms your respect for federal law and
ensures that you adhere to any restrictions that the patent places on your utilization of the land.
You may need to consult a legal professional to ensure that the wording of your declaration of
acceptance doesn't stray outside the bounds of commonly accepted land law parlance.

5. Revisit the Clerk

Once you've obtained your land patent, you'll be ready to take the final step. Compile all of the
documents that you've obtained or created over the course of your journey into a single package
and file it with your county or municipal clerk. This package will take the place of your original
warranty or quitclaim deed and serve as the final word in any disputes that arise over your
ownership of the land.

Some folks speak ill of landowners who go through the trouble of obtaining a land patent. They
argue that patent-holders are unscrupulous individuals who wish to strengthen their legal basis
for evading taxes or avoiding past debts.

In most cases, this couldn't be farther from the truth. In fact, your land patent filing may be a
selfless act. Since the federal government grants these assignations in perpetuity, your patent
will endure long after your passing. Whether they know it or not, your children, grandchildren,
and all of their landowning heirs will be in your debt.

Still curious? You're in luck! In our next post, we'll cover the ways to obtain a federal land patent.