
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
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[Laws in effect as of January 23, 2000]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 23, 2000 and December 4, 2001]
[CITE: 48USC747]

 
              TITLE 48--TERRITORIES AND INSULAR POSSESSIONS
 
                         CHAPTER 4--PUERTO RICO
 
                    SUBCHAPTER I--GENERAL PROVISIONS
 
Sec. 747. Public property transferred; ``control'' defined

    All property which may have been acquired in Puerto Rico by the 
United States under the cession of Spain in the treaty of peace entered 
into on the 10th day of December 1898, in any public bridges, road 
houses, water powers, highways, unnavigable streams and the beds 
thereof, subterranean waters, mines or minerals under the surface of 
private lands, all property which at the time of the cession belonged, 
under the laws of Spain then in force, to the various harbor works 
boards of Puerto Rico, all the harbor shores, docks, slips, reclaimed 
lands, and all public lands and buildings not reserved by the United 
States for public purposes prior to March 2, 1917, is placed under the 
control of the government of Puerto Rico, to be administered for the 
benefit of the people of Puerto Rico; and the Legislature of Puerto Rico 
shall have authority, subject to the limitations imposed upon all its 
acts, to legislate with respect to all matters, as it may deem 
advisable. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, as used in this 
section ``control'' includes all right, title, and interest in and to 
and jurisdiction and authority over the aforesaid property and includes 
proprietary rights of ownership, and the rights of management, 
administration, leasing, use, and development of such property.

(Mar. 2, 1917, ch. 145, Sec. 7, 39 Stat. 954; May 17, 1932, ch. 190, 47 
Stat. 158; Pub. L. 96-205, title VI, Sec. 606(b), Mar. 12, 1980, 94 
Stat. 91.)

                          Codification

    Section is comprised of that part of section 7 of act Mar. 2, 1917, 
preceding the proviso clause. The remainder of section 7 is classified 
to section 748 of this title.


                            Prior Provisions

    Provisions similar to those in this section were contained in act 
Apr. 12, 1900, ch. 191, Sec. 13, 31 Stat. 80.


                               Amendments

    1980--Pub. L. 96-205 inserted provisions defining ``control''.

                         Change of Name

    ``Puerto Rico'' substituted in text for ``Porto Rico'' pursuant to 
act May 17, 1932, which is classified to section 731a of this title.

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in section 749 of this title.
