OF COLONIAL MARYLAND 17

in general to look after all manors, forests, lands, etc. Until the
appointment of an Examiner General, 1685, he signed the certifi-
cates, and in 1658 his signature began to appear on all grants. In
1G71 he was instructed to hold courts of inquiry once a year in each
county for examining titles by which land was held, and for
ascertaining whether anyone possessed more land than was his
due, and what rent ought to be paid; all information thus gained
he was to enter in a book, make two copies of the same, send one
to the Proprietor and the other to the Receiver General. ¹¹

The Secretary, in 1670, was given more explicit directions: to
prove all rights to land; to inquire after, properly describe, and
record all escheats; to enter clearly on record all the proprietary
manors and reaves; to prepare a rentroll, diligently to search all
concealments of any of the Proprietor's rents, and give notice of
any such concealments to the Proprietor and the Governor; to give
special attention to procuring the payment of alienation fines, and
to have a list of alienations recorded. ¹²

Another new office was created sometime between 1671 and 1676
when the Proprietor appointed two Receivers General of his rents
and other dues, and authorized them to appoint deputies. ¹³

Procedure in obtaining a grant of land in the early years of the
colony, then, went something like this. Persons entitled to land
came to the Secretary's office to record their entry into the province
and consequent right to land under the various Conditions of
Plantation. At the same time or perhaps later they demanded
warrants of surveys-issued by the Governor or the Secretary under
his direction—for the corresponding quantities of land. Their
claims, once on record, stood to their credit until they chose to use
them. Warrants were signed by the Governor and directed to the
Surveyor General, who returned certificates of the surveys, under
his signature, to the Secretary's office after which, no objection
appearing, patents or grants were issued under the great seal
signed by the Governor and endorsed by the Secretary and the
Surveyor General. The title was then complete and the rights on
which it was founded were satisfied and cancelled. ¹⁴

¹¹ Archives of Maryland, V, 94 ff.; Newton D. Mereness, Maryland as a Pro-
prietary Province, New York, 1901, p. 59.
¹² Arch. Md., V, 73 ff.; Kilty, p. 59.
¹³ Arch. Md., XV, 119 ff.; Kilty, p. 59
¹⁴ Ibid., p. 66.