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| LAND-HOLDER'S ASSISTANT.
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was propounded by governor Copley to the council, by what
authority the board had usually granted warrants for
resurvey of lands: to which some of the members answered that
there was a law, they believed, relating to that matter; but
though upon this information an order was passed " that the
said law be produced and inspected," I have examined in
vain the subsequent proceedings of the council for the
production of such a law, and I believe that the resurveying of
lands already held by grant, or under certificate, had its
origin in Maryland merely in the reason and utility of the
thing, supported perhaps by precedents from the older
colony of Virginia. It was a proceeding which naturally arose
from the incorrectness of original surveys and the desire of
individuals to ascertain with precision the quantities and
bounds of their land; besides which it presented a variety of
conveniences and advantages too obvious to be overlooked
by a people engaged with the utmost eagerness, in
extending and improving their landed possessions. The first
peculiarity that occurs relative to warrants of resurvey is that
they were not generally granted as matter of right, but were
during the entire period of the proprietary government
preceded by petitions, stating the reason or object of the
application. The most common grounds assigned were the
uncertainty of existing bounds, and the desire of the
parties to connect several adjoining tracts in one survey; for,
from the commencement to the present time, it has been
essential that the lands included in a resurvey should be
contiguous to each other. The privilege of taking in adjoining
vacancy, over and above the quantities originally granted,
which is now a main object of resurveys, did not for many
years attach to this kind of warrant, which was in fact
considered a matter of special favour, and in some cases refused
when applied for. The general ground of refusal was the
effect alledged or supposed of the intended resurvey upon
the interest of other persons, and particularly of minors: but
the interest of the (b) proprietary was also attended to on
these occasions, and although the warrants were not often
refused, the benefit aimed at of adding surplus or vacant land
to the original tracts, was in many instances kept in reserve,
to be accorded or not as the proprietary or his council might
think proper when the quantity and value of such land was
known by the return of the certificates. Nevertheless the
the warrant of resurvey was permitted to be used to many
advantageous purposes. Among these was the excluding of
(b) The government did not encourage resurveys in the neighbourhood
of the manors and reserves, round the former of which they frequently laid,
as has been seen, additional reserves or interdictions of some miles in
extent, for fear of having their real bounds encroached upon.
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