11.3 Sixteenth Section & Lieu Lands: School Trust Title, Classification & Surveys

Origin

The Land Ordinance of 1785 reserved "lot No. 16" of every township for public schools, and federal law carried the policy into the lands south of Tennessee. Mississippi's school-land history has a regional twist. In the Choctaw Purchase and the older districts, section 16, or land granted in lieu where section 16 was unavailable, was reserved for the township's schools. In the Chickasaw Cession, the United States sold the lands for the Chickasaws' benefit under the 1832 Treaty of Pontotoc Creek, and the sixteenth sections there were sold rather than reserved. The resulting inequity in school funding for north Mississippi was litigated in Papasan v. Allain, 478 U.S. 265 (1986).

The Mississippi Encyclopedia reports that by the 2010s the Secretary of State's office oversaw more than 640,000 acres of sixteenth section lands managed and leased by 106 local school districts.

Trust status and management (§ 29-3-1)

"Sixteenth section school lands, or lands granted in lieu thereof, constitute property held in trust for the benefit of the public schools and must be treated as such." The board of education has control and jurisdiction under the general supervision of the state land commissioner. Since 1978 that role belongs to the Secretary of State (§ 7-11-4). The board must obtain adequate compensation for all uses except use by the public schools. If the board of supervisors declines to approve a rental value, the statute provides a three-appraiser process with appeal to chancery court. The Sixteenth Section Land Reform Act of 1978 (Laws 1978, ch. 525) reorganized this management.

Constitution § 211: no sale, limited leases

Section 211 directs the Legislature to ascertain title to sixteenth section lands and lieu lands in the Choctaw Purchase. It provides that such lands, "except as hereinafter provided, shall not be sold." Lease limits:

Lieu lands located outside the county that holds them may be sold, with the proceeds invested for the schools.

Classification (§§ 29-3-31, -33)

The board of education must survey and classify all sixteenth section lands in the Choctaw Purchase, and lieu lands, into eight categories by highest and best use: forest, agricultural, industrial, commercial, farm-residential, residential, recreational, and other. Section 29-3-33 defines each term:

• Forest land: at least 90% forest or waste, or land that yields the most revenue as timber, measured by the smallest government-survey subdivision (or 40 acres).
• Residential land: a tract the lessee or approved sublessee lives on, laid out as nearly rectangular as possible to include the house and improvements, not exceeding 5 acres.
• Farm-residential land: a residence tract used for agriculture, not exceeding 160 acres, existing on July 1, 1978. It is not allowed in counties lying wholly or partly within a levee district.

Section 29-3-33 also defines catfish farming land, and it treats oil, gas, and minerals as a separate classification. The board files its classification report with the Secretary of State's Public Lands Division and publishes notice. Objections go to the chancery clerk within 30 days of the last publication. Lands must be reclassified as needed within one year before any lease expires (§§ 29-3-37, -39).

Statutory lease terms (within the § 211 ceilings):

Surface leases reserve all timber, minerals, oil, and gas to the trust, with rights of ingress and egress (§ 29-3-83).

Limitations and adverse possession

• Constitution § 104 and § 15-1-51: statutes of limitation in civil causes do not run against the State or its subdivisions. That is why the ordinary ten-year adverse-possession statute (§ 15-1-13) does not ripen title against trust land. Surveyors should treat long-standing fences and occupation along a sixteenth-section line as evidence to show, not as a title line.
• Section 29-3-7 addresses a related question. Adverse possession for 25 years under a claim of right or title is prima facie evidence that the law authorizing a disposition of the land was complied with and that the lease or sale was duly made. It is an evidentiary presumption supporting a claimed lease or sale; it does not transfer trust land by possession alone.

Timber trespass (§ 95-5-10)

Anyone who cuts, deadens, destroys, or takes a tree without the owner's consent pays:

• double the fair market value of the tree; plus
• the reasonable cost of reforestation, up to $250 per acre.

Liability under this part is absolute; good faith and honest mistake are not defenses. If the cutting was willful or in reckless disregard, the statute adds a penalty of $55 per tree 7 inches or more in diameter at 18 inches above ground, or $10 per tree under 7 inches. Expert and attorney fees may be assessed as costs. A client who logs to a surveyor's erroneous line along a sixteenth section boundary triggers these damages, and the surveyor may face negligence claims and Board discipline.

Surveying trust boundaries

1. Retrace the PLSS lines of section 16, or of the lieu tract's legal subdivisions, from original evidence under the BLM Manual and Chapter 7. Classify corners as existent, obliterated, or lost and restore them accordingly (Chapter 7 of this guide).
2. Show occupation, don't adopt it. Show fences and encroachments with offsets (Rule 7.3), but monument the retraced section line.
3. Lease tracts. Residential lease tracts are limited to 5 acres and laid out nearly rectangular around the improvements (§ 29-3-33). Tie them to section corners, describe them by metes and bounds from a monumented commencing point (Rule 7.3), and follow the board of education's and Secretary of State's lease-survey requirements.
4. Records. Check the school board's lease files, the Secretary of State's Public Lands Division records, and the chancery clerk's records, as well as the GLO plats and notes.