Mississippi Code
Miss. Code Ann. § 29-1-87 (2026)
Patents cancelled where state has no title; refund to purchasers for cancelled patents; determination of failure of title
✓ current as of July 2026
- (1) If the State of Mississippi, through the State Fiscal Officer or Secretary of State's office, has heretofore issued or shall hereafter issue a patent or patents for any lands to which the state holds no title, or which did not belong to it at the time of the issuance of the patent or patents, or any part of which land may have caved into the river before the issuance of the patent or patents, or by oversight or otherwise two (2) patents may have been or may hereafter be issued therefor, the Secretary of State shall investigate the case and report to the Attorney General, who, if he shall find the lands so patented did not belong to the state, shall so report to the Secretary of State. If the Secretary of State shall find that such lands or any part thereof had caved into the river before the issuance of the patent, or that the patentee did not acquire any land or title under the patent, he shall mark the patent or patents or, in case of the loss of the original, a certified copy of the patents, "cancelled," and refund the purchaser the amount paid to and retained by the state for the cancelled patent or patents, if any. The Secretary of State shall certify all cancellations to the clerk of the chancery court of the county in which the patents have been recorded, and the clerk shall thereupon cancel the record of it. That part of the purchase price paid to local governmental entities by the Secretary of State shall be refunded to the purchaser of the lands by the local governmental entities that received the funds. Any fees paid to the local governmental entities shall be refunded to the purchaser by the recipient of the fees. When only a part of the purchase-money is refunded, it shall be first noted by the Secretary of State in ink across the face of the patent and then noted by the chancery clerk upon the record of patent, cancelling it in that proportion only.
- (2) Except as provided in this chapter, the question of failure of title can only be determined in a suit filed in the county in which the land is situated, and the Secretary of State or municipality, as the case may be, shall be made a party to the suit. Where the failure of title shall have been caused by the cancellation of a contract or a patent issued by the state under the requirements of any law or decree of a chancery court of this state directing cancellation in favor of prior purchasers, or through the failure of the state's title, as the case may be, where the failure shall have been caused by the striking of the land from the state land rolls under the requirements of any law of this state, the failure of title so caused shall not be required to be determined by decree of court.
Codes, 1906, § 2947; Hemingway's 1917, § 5282; 1930, § 6046; 1942, § 4143; Laws, 1904, p. 183; Laws, 1942, ch. 235.
Amended by Laws, 2018, ch. 309, SB 2787,§ 3, eff. 3/5/2018.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 2
cases, 2003–2005 · leading case: Alexander v. Daniel, 904 So. 2d 172 (Miss. 2005).
Alexander v. Daniel, 904 So. 2d 172 (Miss. 2005). “This having been said, we acknowledge that which even Alexander does not acknowledge the existence of Miss.Code Ann. § 29-1-87 (Rev.2000), which states in pertinent part: If the State of Mississippi, through the auditor or land commissioner's office, has heretofore issued or…”
Effort Alexander v. Ella Daniel (Miss. 2003). “This having been said, we acknowledge that which even Alexander does not acknowledge – the existence of Miss. Code Ann. § 29-1-87 (Rev. 2000), which states in pertinent part: If the State of Mississippi, through the auditor or land commissioner’s office, has heretofore issued or…”
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