592 JOURNAL OF PROCEEDINGS [Mar. 4,

Office, and qualified the 8th day of February, 1870; that
upon entering upon his office, he at once proceeded to inform
himself upon the duties which were imposed upon him by its
acceptance. That he found that a large amount of business
had accumulated, occasioned perhaps by the ill health of his
predecessor, and that since he has been in office, he has been

engaged, and is still engaged, in bringing up the business
which had been suffered to accumulate.

That section 4, Article 7, of the Constitution says:
"There shall be a Commissioner of the Land Office, and that
he shall perform such duties as are now required by the Com-
missioner of the Land Office, or such as may be hereafter re-
quired by law." Article 54, pages 370, 371, 372, 373, 374,
375 and 376, give a general outline of the duties of the office,
but by no means so specific an idea as will enable the Com-
missioner to apprehend all the duties and responsibilities of
the office.

The Land Office of Maryland was created in the year 1860.
It contains the original grants of all the lands of the State.
I advert to the antiquity of the office, being within a decade

ot two centuries, so that the General Assembly may see from
the antiquity of some of the records, the necessity of their
being transcribed, if the Legislature desires their preserva-
tion.

The Commissioner has been made aware that laws have
been passed at different times to quiet possessions ; yet he is
also aware, notwithstanding the enactment of the various
laws to quiet possessions, that no action of ejectrnent has ever
occurred in Maryland, in which it has not bean necessary to
obtain copies of original papers, only to be found in the Land
Office, and of which the Commissioner, by the Constitution
and the different Acts of Assembly, is made the custodian.

The county of Allegany, the frontier county of the State,
but one among the richest and most populous, is especially,
interested in the office. The most important cases that are
litigated in that county, as I am informed, are ejectment

causes, in every one of which, it is absolutely necessary to
refer to this office, where, only, evidence of title can be found.

A book called the Land-holder's Assistant, which was pre-
pared by Mr. Kilty, the Register of the Land Office, in the
year 1808, is the only book ever published. It has been used
as a guide and text-book since its publication in 1808, for
every succeeding Register and Commissioner.

The Commissioner would respectfully suggest, that since
1808, there have been radical changes in the laws and rules
of the Land Office, and that a digest might be made of the
legislation and decisions made since 1808, containing the
laws and rules of the Land Office, at this time, which would
be of material service to those interested in the office