§ 12. Certain patents and grants ratified. All patents of lands issued before July eleventh, eighteen hundred and eighty-one, pursuant to resolutions of the commissioners of the land office, and sold by them at private sale to purchasers in good faith, purporting to convey the right, title and interest of the people of this state in and to any state lands, except lands under water in the bay or harbor of New York or adjacent thereto, have been ratified and confirmed, to as full an extent as though the same had been sold at public auction, according to law, but not so as to affect any action pending July eleventh, eighteen hundred and eighty-one, or to impair, release or discharge any right, claim or interest of any person in and to such lands. All grants made by the commissioners of the land office prior to March twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and forty-one, of parts of lots for which payments were made and certified in the manner prescribed by law, have been confirmed.