16 U.S.C. § 55 — Leases of land in park; mortgages by lessees

submitted 136 years ago by ch. 1263 to r/title-16-CONSERVATION · 335 words · no verdicts yet

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This law lets the Interior Secretary lease land in Yosemite National Park to businesses. Leases can run up to 20 years, cover small tracts, and support things like hotels. Lessees can mortgage their leases with the Secretary's approval, but the mortgage stays subject to lease terms.

This section lets the Secretary of the Interior lease land inside Yosemite National Park for hotels and related buildings, and lets lessees mortgage those leases. The Secretary can grant leases of up to 20 years, at annual rents, on terms the Secretary sets. These leases go to a person, corporation, or company the Secretary has authorized to do business in Yosemite. Each leased tract can't be more than 20 acres, and no more than 10 such tracts can exist in the park. The leases are meant to serve visitor comfort and convenience, letting lessees build and maintain substantial hotels, and buildings to protect motor cars, stagecoaches, livestock, and equipment. If the Secretary chooses, a lease can include a provision for appraising the hotel or other buildings the lessee built, when the lease ends. If a new lease then goes to someone other than the original lessee, the new lessee must pay the original lessee the appraised value of those buildings. A lessee can mortgage their rights and property in the park, including their lease or contract with the Secretary, but only with the Secretary's approval. The mortgage must be signed in duplicate and delivered to the Secretary for approval. Once approved, the Secretary keeps one copy on file as an official record. Any mortgage, lien, or other encumbrance created this way stays subject to the government's right to enforce the lease or contract's terms against the lessee. If someone buys the property through a foreclosure of the mortgage, they take it subject to all the same conditions the original lessee or contractor agreed to.

the actual law source: uscode.house.gov ↗public domain

The Secretary of the Interior is authorized and empowered to grant leases, for periods of not exceeding twenty years, at annual rentals, and under terms and conditions to be determined by him, to any person, corporation, or company he may authorize to transact business in the Yosemite National Park, for separate tracts of land, not exceeding twenty acres each, at such places, not to exceed ten in number, to any person, corporation, or company in said park, as the comfort and convenience of visitors may require, for the construction and maintenance of substantial hotel buildings and buildings for the protection of motor cars, stages, stock and equipment, and so forth. Such leases may, at the option of the Secretary of the Interior, contain appropriate provisions for the appraisement, at the expiration of the lease, of the value of such hotel and other buildings (or portions thereof) as may be constructed by the lessees, respectively, and the payment of the same to the lessees in case a new lease be made to persons other than said lessees, such payments to be made by such new lessees, respectively.

Any person or corporation or company holding a lease or leases within said park for the purposes above described is authorized, with the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, to execute mortgages upon his or its rights and properties, including his or its contract or contracts with the Secretary of the Interior; such mortgages shall be executed in duplicate and delivered to the Secretary of the Interior for his approval, and upon his approval thereof he shall retain one of said duplicates and file the same for record in his office.

Any mortgage, lien, or encumbrance created under the provisions hereof shall be subject to the rights of the Government to compel the enforcement of the terms of the lease or contract of the mortgagor, and any purchaser under a foreclosure of such encumbrance shall take subject to all the conditions assumed by the original lessee or contractor.

Source credit: (Oct. 1, 1890, ch. 1263, § 2, 26 Stat. 651; July 23, 1914, ch. 206, 38 Stat. 554; June 12, 1917, ch. 27, § 1, 40 Stat. 153.)

history & why it existsrecord from the source credit

1890Enacted · Act of Oct. 1, 1890, ch. 1263 · 26 Stat. 651
1914Amended · Act of July 23, 1914, ch. 206 · 38 Stat. 554
1917Amended · Act of June 12, 1917, ch. 27 · 40 Stat. 153

A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by ch. 1263 on 1890-10-01.

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