Warrants granted by the Proprietary himself in England,
under such particular terms and conditions as he thought
proper to impose. The claims, being thus admitted on record,
stood as it were to the credit of the parties until they saw
occasion to use or to assign them. When Warrant was
obtained it barred provisionally such, or so many rights of the
party as were necessary to cover it. The Warrants were
signed by the Governor and directed to the Surveyor General,
who, after their execution by himself or his deputies, returned
Certificates of the surveys, under his signature, to the
Secretary's office, but addressed, according to the style then in use,
" to the Lieutenant General," after which, no objection,
appearing, (c) grants or patents were issued conformably
thereto under the great seal, signed by the Governor, and
endorsed by the Secretary and Surveyor General agreeably to the
instructions on that head which have already been inserted.
The title was then complete and the rights on which it was
founded were satisfied and cancelled. In order to shew more
clearly the nature of those proceedings, which form the
ground work of landed estates in Maryland, and of that
system which is the professed subject of our enquiry, it is
thought well to give in this place some extracts from the
earliest land records, in which will be seen the original forms of
Warrants, Certificates, and Patents, with their general
properties and relation. It is not intended however, in this
place, to go into a particular explanation of the nature and
operation of these several instruments, for which reason the
examples are not presented in any studied order, but,
chiefly in the accidental succesion in which they are found on
record.
¾
(d) Came into the Province the 8th of August 1637, Mr.
Thomas Copley and Mr. John Knolls who transported R H.
LG, WK, &c.
Richard Garnett, senior, who transported his wife,
Richard Garnett his son, ¾¾¾¾ maid servant.
(c) These terms are used indifferently to express a donation or other
free investiture of lands or tenements (not to mention offices, privileges
&c.) made under the public seal of a Kingdom, State or other
acknowledged power. The word Grant requires no explanation. The
appellation of Patent is an abbreviation (using the adjective as a substantive) of
Letters Patent, by which is meant a Writing open or public, as being
attested by the public seal. The only difference between the two is that the
term Grant is by custom often applied to the thing granted, while the
name of a Patent is almost always used to express the Instrument or
evidence of the Grant.
(d) There are some entries preceeding these, but by means of chasms
they are rather unintelligible; these have been occasioned by damage
sustained by the original records before they were transcribed into the
book from which the entries are here taken.
Source: John Kilty. Land Holder's Assistant and Land Office Guide. Baltimore: G. Dobbin & Murphy, 1808. MSA L 25529.
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