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472 BALTIMORE v. McKIM.
wharf, by John Smith and others, on land which it is certain did
not belong to them, it follows, that it must, like all such improve-
ments which a wrong doer puts upon the land of another, become
the property of him to whose land it has been affixed. So that
this wharf has long since, in fact, become the absolute property of
the state to whom the soil upon which it was built most unques-
tionably belonged.
But it has been urged, that the whole of this strip of land called
Smith's wharf, is a public wharf, for the use of which the city of
Baltimore has, for a long series of years, charged and collected
wharfage; and, therefore, that the right of soil in it has been ex-
pressly vested in the city by the act allowing the corporation to
charge and collect wharfage; (o) because as wharfage was the only
benefit which could be derived from this land, the act which gave
that sole benefit, virtually and necessarily thereby gave an absolute
right to the soil itself. And further, that the granting of a patent
would be incompatible with the rights of the public in general, if
not with those of the city in particular; and, therefore, it ought not
to be allowed to issue, since it could be attended with no good, and
would inevitably be used as the means of litigation and strife.
In England the subjects which may be granted by the king are
as numerous and as various as the sorts of property, and the kinds
of prerogatives held and enjoyed by him; the most of which he
may, by a patent under the great seal, grant to an individual, (p)
But here no department or branch of our limited government has
been entrusted with any such large and uncontrolled power of mak-
ing grants to individuals. The executive has been prohibited from
exercising any such prerogative; and the Legislature have only so
much of a discretionary power delegated to them as will enable
them to act within their proper sphere for the public good. No
the ground in question is connected with the main land by the bar, which is referred
to from the letter N. on the plot. An objection might be made from what is stated
in the depositions, and marked on the plot as to the course of the ferry-boat, which
goes over the island, if, in that case, it can be so called, or rather, by the intersec-
tion of the water, makes two islands of the land.
But the question is taken up on the general principle of its being an island, and
according to the civil law; and according to the decree of the late Chancellor, in
the case of Ridgely v. Johnson, (1 Bland, 316, note,) it is considered as belonging
to the caveators, as owners of the land on the nearest side, who appear in the part
opposite a part of the island to be bounded by the river.
It is therefore Adjudged Ordered and Decreed, that the metal be ruled good.
(o) 1827, ch. 162, s. 4; The Wharf Case, ante 361.—(p) Bac. Abr. tit. Prero-
gative, F.
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