CLAIM, a challenge of ownership of a thing which is wrongfully withheld from the possession of the claimant. The assertion of liability of some one, to the party making it, to do some service or pay a sum of money. The possession of a settler upon lands owned by a government which is not used for any particular purpose, and•from which no benefit is derived. When a new section of country is opened up, the government gives to each settler a certain amount of land on condition that he will live there, and improve and cultivate the soil for a definite time. The land taken is called a claim, and the settler receives an absolute title to the property when the conditions have been com plied with. The ground must be staked out so that the particular claim may be identified. Mining claims are of this nature. Generally it is required that they be staked out, that a de scription of the claim be filed and that a certain amount of work be done within a speci fied time. These claims are considered personal property until the conditions are complied with, and are subject to sale and transfer, it being necessary for all but the original settler to be able to show how and through whom he ac quired title, in order to get a complete and absolute title from the government, as it is necessary to show that the land has been used, and in what manner, for a definite length of time, before the settler acquires his title from the government.
There are claims for labor and wages by mechanics for work done, by materialmen for material furnished or by pilots for pilotage. When filed of record these claims become liens against the property which has been benefited by the work, matenal or care bestowed upon it.
Claims, when filed in the name of a munic ipal corporation for improvements, such as opening or widening a street, laying sewers or any municipal improvement, are liens against the property benefited.