Mississippi Code Title 29. Public Lands, Buildings and Property § 29-1-39

The Secretary of State with the approval of the Governor may contract to sell any state forfeited tax lands, including state lands lying within municipalities, even though said lands may have been subdivided into blocks, lots, divisions, or otherwise and sold to the state by such descriptions. The purchase price required in the contract for the sale of state forfeited tax land shall be the same as that required in direct sale of state forfeited tax lands. In the event the Secretary of State with the approval of the governor shall decide that any state forfeited tax land shall be contracted for sale, the Secretary of State with the approval of the governor shall fix a price for the sale of such lands. Said contract for the sale of such lands shall provide that a part of the purchase price shall be paid in cash, and that the balance of such purchase price shall be paid in equal annual installments extending over a period not to exceed five (5) years, said period to be fixed by the Secretary of State. The purchaser in said contract of sale shall agree that he shall pay all installments of the purchase price and all taxes and special assessments that may become due on said lands during the continuance or life of said contract, that he shall not cut any merchantable timber nor commit any waste of any kind on said land without the written permission of the Secretary of State and that he shall not allow any other person to cut any merchantable timber therefrom or permit any waste of any kind thereon until said purchaser has secured a patent from the state in accordance with his contract of sale. Contracts for sale of state forfeited tax lands shall not be transferred nor assigned without the written consent of the Secretary of State. All applications for contracts of sale shall be made on written forms prepared by the attorney general and approved by the Secretary of State and shall be kept on file in the office of the Secretary of State as public records. At such time as the purchaser shall have paid the entire purchase money under any contract of sale and shall have complied with all of the other provisions of said contract of sale, the Secretary of State shall issue a state land patent as in other cases of the sale of state lands.