LAWS OF MARYLAND.—1781. 165
SEC. 5. And be it enacted. That any lands within this state,
of which any person lias or shall hereafter die seized in fee-
simple, without any heir of the whole blood who could have in-
herited if he had been a subject of this state, or without leaving
any relation of the half blood within two degrees, that is, first
cousins, as the same are reckoned by the common law, such
lands shall escheat to the state, and the commissioners appointed
to preserve British property may agree for the sale of the same,
(giving the preference to those who have already applied to the
land office for the pre-emption, and to those who shall first here-
after discover and apply to purchase at two thirds of the real
value of such lands in specie, bills of credit, or crop tobacco in-
spected since the fifteenth day of September last, weighing not
less than nine hundred pounds net each hogshead, to the value
as the same would have sold for in the year seventeen hundred
and seventy-four,) on condition that one-half of the considera-
tion be paid within three months hereafter, or within two months
after the application, and the residue within nine months after
the first payment; and on application to the said commissioners
for any escheat land, they may direct the clerk of the land office
of the shore where the land lies, to issue a warrant to the
surveyor of the county to survey the same, and to note in his
return, the situation, quality and value, of the land and improve-
ments; and the said commissioners shall inform themselves, by
any other ways and means, of the true value of any such land;
and if any person obtaining such warrant of escheat shall neglect
to comply with his terms of payment, the land shall be subject
to any new application which shall be first made after such de-
fault ; and any money or tobacco agreed to be paid for the pur-
chase of escheat lands, shall be paid to the treasurer of the shore
where the land lies, and the treasurer shall give his receipt
therefor, which receipt shall be produced to and lodged with the
commissioners.
By November, 1781, ch. 20, section, 17, so much of this act as authorized
the commissioners to grant warrants and to contract for the sale of escheat
lands, was repealed; also see lb. sec. 8, as to escheats. |
Lands to
escheat to
the state,
&c. |
SEC. 7. And be it enacted, That this state will for ever
warrant and secure to the purchasers and their heirs any British
property sold in pursuance of this act, and will protect them in
the peaceable possession thereof.
MAY, 1781—CHAPTER 22.
AN ACT to direct the granting Letters Testamentary on a copy of a
will proved where the testator dies.
Merged in 1798, chap. 101. |
Purchasers
secured, &c, |
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