16th Section Lands Glossary

Glossary

16th Section Lands	The Land Ordinance of 1785 established the practice of setting aside section number 16 in each township for the maintenance of public schools. The United States Congress established the Mississippi Territory in 1798. In 1803, Congress enacted laws providing for the sale of all land south of the State of Tennessee, and made provision for the reservation of Section Sixteen in each township for the support of public schools. Congressional action granting statehood to Mississippi in 1817 also called for the survey of land in the state and further provided for the reservation of Section Sixteen in each township for the support of public schools. Sixteenth Section Land is also known as Public School Trust Land.
Acquisition Cost	The purchase price of a property as reported by a state agency.
Actual Consideration	Actual dollars paid for a property.
Agency	A legislatively budgeted subdivision of state government.
Agency Lands	Those lands controlled by the several agencies of state government.
Application (Tax Forfeited)	The initial form in the process to purchase state-owned tax forfeited lands from the Secretary of State's Office. All questions on the form must be answered to the best of the applicant's ability, the form signed by the applicant(s), and notarized. A $2.50 application fee must accompany the application or it will be returned.
Appraised Value	The just and true valuation of a property, at the time of appraisal, determined by a licensed appraiser.
Aquaculture	The rearing of any plant or animal during all or any part of its life cycle in an aquatic environment.
Assignee	A person to whom a transfer or assignment of some interest in property is made.
Biennial Report	A report published by the Secretary of State every two years presenting statewide and school district profiles of the inventory and leasing activity on Sixteenth Section Lands.
Blighted	Considered blighted property when the Secretary of State’s field inspection confirms a complaint that the property is in a deteriorated or impaired condition and presents a hazard to public health, safety or welfare.
Block	A square or portion of a city or town enclosed by streets, whether partially or wholly occupied by buildings or containing only vacant lots.
Calculated Acres	Number of acres as determined by the legal description of a parcel of property as contained in a conveyance.
Chickasaw Cession Lands	Lands lying immediately north of the Choctaw Cession Lands, and ceded to the United States by treaty with the Chickasaw Indian Nation in 1832.
Choctaw Cession Lands	Lands lying south of a line made by extending the boundary line between present day Coahoma and Tunica Counties in s southeasterly direction across the state to a point on the old Natchez Trace in Webster County and then across Clay County in a generally southeasterly direction to a point on the Tombigbee River. The Choctaw Indian Nation in a series of treaties between 1805 to 1830 ceded these lands to the United States.
Claimant (Tidelands)	Any person who asserts an ownership interest in public trust tidelands adverse to the State of Mississippi as Trustee.
Coastal Wetlands Law	Mississippi Coastal Wetlands Protection Law, M.C.A. § 49-27-1 et seq., effective from and after July 1, 1973.
Conveyance	A written instrument under seal, by which some estate or interest in lands is transferred from one person to another; such as a deed, mortgage, etc.
Disputed	Describes property on which the state's title to it is not clear; there is some dispute or cloud on the title making it unavailable for sale by the state until the title is investigated and the dispute resolved.
DMR	Mississippi Department of Marine Resources.
Dryland	Land which is above the mean or ordinary high tide line; fast lands or uplands.
Easement	A non-possessory interest in public trust tidelands created by a grant or agreement which confers the limited right, liberty and privilege to use said public trust tidelands for a specific purpose and during a specific time.
Ecology	Living things in relation to each other and to their environment.
Forestry Escrow Fund	School districts are required by law to place 15% of the money received from sale in all timber in a Forestry Escrow Fund. This fund provides funding for reforestation, timber stand improvement, and forest management.
Global Positioning System (GPS)	A method of determining the legal boundaries of a parcel of property which utilizes a system of coordinates established by satellite.
Grantor	The person by whom a grant is made.
Grantee	One to whom a grant is made.
Land Classification	Current law requires that Sixteenth Section Lands be classified into one of nine land classifications. The classifications are: Forest, Agricultural, Industrial, Commercial, Residential, Farm Residential, Recreational, Catfish Farming, and Other. Land classification is determined according to the highest and best land use that will produce the maximum income from leasing. [A link could be provide here that will give a definition of each of the different land classifications.]
Lease (Tidelands)	An interest in public trust tidelands designated by a contract creating a landlord-tenant relationship between the State of Mississippi as landlord or lessor and the applicant as tenant or lessee whereby the Secretary of State, with the approval of the Governor, grants and transfers to the applicant the use, possession and control of specified public trust tidelands, for a determinate number of years, with conditions attached, at a specified rental.
Leaseholder	Person who has an estate in public trust tidelands from the State of Mississippi through an instrument of lease executed with the Secretary of State; lessee.
Leasehold Interest	The interest which the leaseholder has in the value of the lease itself.
Leasehold Value	The value of the leasehold interest.
Lease Type	Tax Forfeited - There are two lease types for tax forfeited lands: surface and mineral. Public Trust Tidelands - There are two types of leases for public trust tideland: standard and aquaculture
Legal Description	The part of a conveyance, advertisement of sale, etc. which identifies the land or premises intended to be affected.
Lieu Lands	Settlers had already moved into the area prior to the time Mississippi became a territory and provision was made for the survey of Mississippi lands. When the surveyors laid out the township and sections, some of the sections numbered 16 were already claimed by these early settlers. Other sections were reserved in treaties dealing with the Indians. In such cases the United States granted additional lands to Mississippi, in lieu of the previously settled or reserved lands.
Littoral	Pertaining to property abutting an ocean, sea or lake rather than a river or stream (see riparian).
Lot	Any portion, piece, division or parcel of land.
Market Value	The most probable price in terms of money which a property should bring in a competitive and open market under all conditions requisite to a fair sale, the buyer and seller, each acting prudently, knowledgeably and assuming the price is not affected by undue stimulus.
Mean High Water	The arithmetic mean of all the high waters occurring in a particular nineteen-year tidal epoch period or for a shorter period of time after corrections are applied to the short term observations to reduce these values to the equivalent nineteen-year value.
Mineral Acres	Acres where the mineral interests have been retained in whole or in part.
Net Adverse Impact	Any degree of overall reduction or loss of public trust tidelands and/or tidelands functions after mitigation is completed.
Occupancy	Any act of possession.
Parcel	A description of property, formally set forth in a conveyance, together with the boundaries thereof, in order to easily identify it.
Parcel Number	The number assigned by a county to a parcel of property for identification purposes.
Patent	The document by which the state grants ownership of public lands to an individual.
Person	A natural person, partnership, joint stock company, corporation, unincorporated association or society, or the state and any agency thereof, or any county, municipality, or political subdivision, or any other corporation of any character whatsoever.
Plat Book	A book of maps, available in the county chancery clerk's office, of land subdivided into lots, with street, alleys, etc.
Principal Fund	Most income from Sixteenth Section land is expendable by the local school districts. However, income from easements and rights of way, sales of lieu lands, permanent damages to school trust lands, sale of non-renewable resources, sale of buildings and improvements is not expendable. This money must be placed in a permanent fund known as the Principal Fund. The school districts invest the money in the Principal Fund, and the interest income from investment is expendable. School districts may elect to place income from the sale of timber in the Principal Fund, or they may spend it.
Public Access	Direct and free access by members of the general public to the lands and waters and their waterbottoms which constitute the public trust tidelands, or the portion thereof which is the subject of a lease.
Quitclaim Deed	A deed of conveyance operating by way of release; that is, intended to pass any title, interest, or claim which the grantor may have in the premises, but not professing that such title is valid, nor containing any warranty or covenants for title.
Reclamation	The process of restoring land which has become submerged or artificially altered fast land to its original botanical and/or geological condition.
Reported Acres	Number of acres that a state agency represents are under its jurisdiction.
Riparian	Pertaining to property abutting a river or stream rather than the ocean or sea (see littoral).
School Board	The governing body of the county and municipal school district.
Section/Township/ Range	Section -- A division or parcel of land, on the government survey, comprising one square mile or 640 acres. Township - a division of land six miles square, containing thirty-six sections. Range - one of the divisions of a state, a row or tier of townships as appearing on a map.
Site	A parcel of land controlled by a state agency, the site name being determined by reasonable convenience, common usage, or physical location.
Sixteenth Section Lands	The Land Ordinance of 1785 established the practice of setting aside section number 16 in each township for the maintenance of public schools. The United States Congress established the Mississippi Territory in 1798. In 1803, Congress enacted laws providing for the sale of all land south of the State of Tennessee, and made provision for the reservation of Section Sixteen in each township for the support of public schools. Congressional action granting statehood to Mississippi in 1917 also called for the survey of land in the sate and further provided for the reservation of Section Sixteen in each township for the support public schools. Sixteenth Section Land is also known as Public School Trust Land. [A link could be provided here to the essay on the history of 16th section and current law governing the use and leasing of the land that was published in the Biennial Report]
Special Patent	A taxforfeited lands patent issued to a qualifying former owner or heir who can produce satisfactory, sworn evidence that his nonpayment of taxes for the year in question was due to a mistake, oversight, or unintentional default.
Strike Off	The process by which the state removes a piece of property from its records thereby giving up its jurisdiction and claim to it.
Sub-Agency	A subdivision of a state agency, e.g., the Institutions of Higher Learning are subdivided by each university.
Subdivision	Division into smaller parts.
Submerged Land or Submerged Water Bottoms	Lands which remain covered by waters, where the tides ebb and flow, at ordinary low tides.
Tax Forfeited Applicant	The person or company applying for the acquisition of a tax forfeited parcel.
Tax Forfeited Market Value	Market Value, As used in taxforfeited lands, is the price of the property on the open market.
Tidelands	Those lands which are daily covered and uncovered by water by the action of the tides, up to the mean line of the ordinary high tides.
Tidelands Applicant	Any person making application for a lease of public trust tidelands.
Township	The public land survey system established during the founding of the nation called for surveying all lands in six-mile square blocks. Each six-mile square block is called a township. Each township is divided into 36 one-mile square blocks called sections. The sections in a township are numbered 1 through 36 beginning in the northeast corner of the township. Numbering of sections in a Township runs east to west across the first row of sections, then west to east across the second and alternately thereafter so that section 36 is in the southeast corner of the section.
Upland	Land which is above the mean high tide line; dry land or fast land.
Use (Tidelands)	To serve for any purpose of an occupant or lessee.
Warranty Deed	A deed which contains a covenant of warranty from the grantor of lands.