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460 BALTIMORE v. McKIM.
tions. The Lord Proprietary, from time to time, withdrew large
bodies of his lands from this market, which he declared should not
be sold there until his farther pleasure was made known; and
therefore to no part of such tracts, called reserves, could any title
be acquired from the Land Office, (g) But these reservations
were only restrictions upon the ordinary mode of selling; for the
Lord Proprietary sold, leased, or gave away these reserves as well
as other parts of his territory at his pleasure; of which there are a
multitude of instances to be found among the records of the Land
Office. And besides such regular and irregular grants, emanating
from the Land Office, or direct from the Lord Proprietary himself,
the Legislature, with his consent, appropriated to, or authorized the
acquisition of land by individuals in various other peculiar modes, (h)
By the Revolution all lands which then belonged to the Lord
Proprietary became absolutely vested in the state, and were so held
for the public benefit; not however, as under the government of
the Province, as the estate and for the private emolument of an
individual, but for the use of the public; and so considered, the
General Assembly, as 'the trustees of the public,' with a view to
general convenience, made several reservations, which they de-
clared should not be sold in the Land Office, (i) In England, it
was formerly held, that the king, by virtue of his prerogative as
sovereign, might give away or dispose of, at his pleasure, any of
the public property. But of late this pernicious prerogative has
"been considerably curtailed; and, in some instances, the prodigal
grants of the king have been totally annulled, and the property
resumed by parliament for the public benefit, (j) In Maryland
the right of disposing of the public property, in all extraordi-
nary cases, has devolved on the General Assembly; the executive
branch of the government having been expressly prohibited from
exercising any prerogative by virtue of any law of England. But
although the Legislature may correct mistakes or dispense with
any of the rules of the Land Office, so as to enable a bona fide
purchaser to obtain a patent for the land intended to be bought by
him; or may dispose of the public lands, in any way, for a good
and valuable consideration, either as rewards to public benefac-
tors, as to the soldiers of the revolution, (k) or for the purpose of
attaining some object of general utility. Yet I cannot concede,
(g) Land Ho. Assis. 92; Smith v. The State, 2 H. & McH. 246.—(h) 1696, ch.
24, s.7.—{i) Land Ho. Assis. 346— (j) 4 Inst. 44; Bac, Abr.tit. Prerogative, F. 2;
1 Plow. His. Ireland, 177; Smollett's His. Eng. ch. 6.—(k) 1788, ch. 44, s. 20.
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