of August 1791, the aforesaid part of the land was not liable
to a common warrant, being the right of the said Hurst.
The certificate of purchase does not describe or specify
the land intended to be sold:¾it is one of a number of
certificates, given by the intendant for a certain number of acres
in the reserves of Baltimore county, without ascertaining
their precise situation, or giving any other designation than,
generally, that they lie in the reserves.
There is a greater number of certificates of purchase,
given by the intendant, the margins of which contain names,
descriptions, or designations of the land, altho' not
sufficiently certain and full; and, in some cases, the land so named,
designated, or described, has, on caveat, been considered the
right of the purchaser, altho' no survey had been by him
returned to the office. The chancellor has admitted the caveat,
because no time is limited by the contract with the intendant,
or by any act of assembly, within which the survey is to be
made.
In disputes also between purchasers from the intendant, of
the first mentioned kind, viz. purchasers of land in the
reserves without any particular name, description or
designation, the chancellor has decided in favour of the party, who
has produced some proof independant of the certificate of
purchase, or entry in the intendants books, to ascertain the
land intended to be purchased:
But hitherto there has been no contest between a purchaser
of the first aforesaid kind, who has neglected to make his
survey, and a person, who has had vacant land in the reserves
surveyed under a warrant; there has been no contest of this
sort, in which the purchaser has prevailed¾there can indeed
hardly be conceived a case in which he ought to prevail. For,
if a man has chosen to purchase of the intendant, without any
name or particular designation, and after vacant land in the
reserves has been by law made liable to a warrant, he neglects
to ascertain his purchase until some person discovers vacancy,
and surveys it under a warrant, and if he then claims the
vacancy, as comprehended in his purchase, the certificate of
which, and the entry of which on the intendants books, gives
no information, whereby the holder of a warrant may be
cautioned against the invasion of another's right;¾there must,
in this case arise a presumption or at least suspicion, that the
purchaser has waited, to avail himself of another's labour and
money.
It hath been alledged, by a purchaser of the aforesaid kind,
that, when he obtained a certificate of his purchase of a
definite number of acres, which certificate provides, that, if the
number should prove greater, he shall pay for the surplus,
and, if less, he shall have a deduction,¾he purchased a privilege
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