22 LAND OFFICE RECORDS

alienable and inheritable and the right to grant or lease any of his
land to any person to hold the same of him—and not of the king—
in fee simple was also given. As to the regulation of military, execu-
tive and judicial authority, of all office and title, of the Church and
to a large extent, of legislative activity, Lord Baltimore was given
almost unrestricted authority, with the crown reserving to itself the
right of control in war, trade and commerce. Last but not least,
the following provisions were made guaranteeing the rights of the
new inhabitants: (1) there should be no ordinance which could take
away the right or interest of any person or persons, of, or in mem-
ber, life, freehold, goods or chattels; (2) all laws and ordinances
should be reasonable and, so far as convenient, like the laws and
customs of England; (3) the people of Maryland should be entitled
to "all the privileges, franchises, and liberties" which other English
subjects enjoyed. ²⁴

The Conditions of Plantation, or terms under which land was
granted to new colonists, should be mentioned next. The first of
these date from 1633 before the Ark and the Dove left England. No
record of these is extant in Maryland records but secondary sources
reveal their existence²⁵ and they are reproduced in the oldest Con-
ditions of Plantation on record in Maryland, dated 1636 from Ports-
mouth. By virtue of these two thousand acres are to be granted for
every five men (between sixteen and fifty) imported in 1633; one
thousand acres for every five men imported in 1634 or since; for
lesser numbers one hundred acres for each man or woman and fifty
acres for each child; each tract of 1000, 2000 or 3000 acres to be
erected into a manor under such name as the adventurer may choose;
rents to average twenty pounds of wheat per hundred acres an-
nually. ²⁶ After this three subsequent Conditions of Plantation were
published, all from London, in 1641, 1648 and 1649. All were finally
supplanted by the new 1683 ruling governing conditions of planta-
tion by which all granting of land was put on a money payment
basis. In this same category various letters and proclamations by
the Lord Proprietor may be mentioned. While Lord Baltimore was
in England he often sent commissions and letters of instruction to
the Governor concerning land affairs. The Governor in turn would

²⁴ Mereness, pp. 7-9.

²⁵ Narratives of Early Maryland 1633-1684, edited by Clayton Colman Hall,

New York, 1910.
²⁶ Patents, Liber 4. p. 61, 62.