certificates and patents for land from the settlement of the Province
of Maryland in 1634, records of deeds, or abstracts of same, from
1786 to the present time, and abstracts of mortgages and releases
from 1900 to the present time. An Act of 1874 provided that extracts
of all deeds should be sent by the Clerks of the several counties and
of Baltimore City to the Land Office and there bound and indexed
(Code 1939, Art. 54, secs. 14, 17). The Commissioner hears and deter..
mines all disputes which may arise concerning the validity of surveys.
The Land Office is now engaged in making", filing, and recording plats
for subdivisions of land; copies of such plats are sent to the Super-
visors of Assessments upon request. All plats that have been filed
with the Clerks of Courts before June 1, 1945, are being micro-filmed
by the Land Office (Code 1947, Art. 17, secs. 72C, 72D)..

All land now included in the limits of the State of Maryland was
granted to Cecil, Lord Baltimore, in 1632. In 1680, there was estab-
lished a Land Office, and four years later "The Land Council". This
body was authorized to hear and determine all matters relating to
land. Four years later when Maryland became a crown colony, the
Land Office was closed. In 1716, after a long contest with the Gover-
nor and Council, the Secretary and the Assembly, the Lord Proprietor
emerged with his rights restored, and the Land Office was reopened.
After the Revolution, the State assumed the control of the Land
Office (Act of Assembly of April Sess. 1777). From 1781 until 1841,
there was a Land Office for the Western Shore and another for the
Eastern Shore. The Constitution of 1861 created the office of the
Commissioner of the Land Office..

Publications: Biennial Report of the Commissioner of the Land
Office, 1946..

1948 1949
Appropriations $28,827 $24,877
Staff: 7.

HALL OF RECORDS COMMISSION.

Chairman: Ogle Marbury, Chief Judge of Court of Appeals
William Preston Lane, Jr., Governor; James J. Lacy, Comp-
troller; Isaiah Bowman, President The Johns Hopkins Uni-
versity; John S. Kieffer, President St. John's College; J. Hall
Pleasants, President Board of Peabody Institute; George L.
.Radcliffe, President Maryland Historical Society..

Morris L. Radoff, Archivist
Gust Skordas, Assistant Archivist
Roger Thomas, Assistant Archivist.

Hall of Records, Annapolis Telephone: Annapolis 4111.

The Hall of Records Commission was created by an act of the Gen-
eral Assembly in 1935. The Commission is an ex-officio body com-
posed of the Governor, the Chief Judge Court of Appeals, the Comp-
troller, the President of The Johns Hopkins University, the President
of St. John's College, the President of the Maryland Historical Society,
and the President of the Board of Trustees of the Peabody Institute
(Code 1939, Art. 41, sec. 87). The Commission supervises and controls
the Hail of Records and appoints the Archivist, who is responsible
for the functioning of the agency..

All public officials and all agencies of the State, as well as the
counties, cities and towns of Maryland are authorized to deposit at
the Hall of Records all records and documents not in current use. It.