30 U.S.C. § 71
Section 71 · Entry of unappropriated or unreserved Federal coal lands; eligibility; application; acreage limitation; price per acre
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case Watt v. Western Nuclear, Inc. (1983)
Most recently applied in Bergum v. Musselshell County (March 2016)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Every person above the age of twenty-one years, who is a citizen of the United States, or who has declared his intention to become such, or any association of persons severally qualified as above, shall, upon application to the register of the proper land office, have the right to enter, by legal subdivisions, any quantity of vacant coal lands of the United States not otherwise appropriated or reserved by competent authority, not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres to such individual person, or three hundred and twenty acres to such association, upon payment to the register of not less than $10 per acre for such lands, where the same shall be situated more than fifteen miles from any completed railroad, and not less than $20 per acre for such lands as shall be within fifteen miles of such road.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Codification
R.S. §2347 derived from act Mar. 3, 1873, ch. 279, §1, 17 Stat. 607.
Amendments
1925—Act Mar. 3, 1925, affected words which now read “upon payment to the register of not less than.” Such words originally read “upon payment to the receiver of not less than.” Such act consolidated the offices of receiver and register.
Transfer of Functions
Office of register of district land office abolished and all functions of register transferred to Secretary of the Interior, or to officers and agencies of Department of the Interior as Secretary may designate, by Reorg. Plan No. 3 of 1946, §403, eff. July 16, 1946, 11 F.R. 7876, 60 Stat. 1100, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.
See also note set out under section 1 of this title.
Indian Lands Excepted
Commenting on this section and sections 72 to 76 of this title the Department of the Interior says:
“While there may be some Indian lands still subject to coal entry by virtue of the provisions of law opening such lands to entry, the coal land laws generally were superseded by the leasing Act of Feb. 25, 1920, 41 Stat. 437 [section 181 et seq. of this title], and it is at least questionable whether the coal land laws should be carried into the Code.”
Cross References
Agricultural entries on lands withdrawn or classified as coal lands or valuable for coal, see sections 83 to 85 of this title.
Disposition of coal deposits, form and manner, see section 193 of this title.
Leases and prospecting permits, see section 201 et seq. of this title.
State selections of lands withdrawn or classified as coal lands or valuable for coal under grants by Congress, see section 90 of this title.
Submerged lands, mineral rights generally, see section 1301 et seq. of Title 43, Public Lands.
Surface rights of entrymen, protection of, when entry under nonmineral land laws of lands subsequently classified, claimed, or reported as coal lands, see section 81 of this title.