Maryland. Commissioners to Preserve Confiscated British Property.

In 1780, largely as a response to British seizure of patriot property in South Carolina and the refusal of British trustees' to draw bills of exchange on bank stock in London owned by Maryland, the General Assembly passed legislation to confiscate British property (i.e. property in Maryland belonging to British loyalists who had fled the state) (Laws of 1780, ch. 45). Another law in the same session appointed three commissioners to overse the confiscation process. The law directed the commissioners to possess, preserve, and keep the confiscated property "from waste and destruction" (ch. 49).

In 1781, the commissioners began to sell the confiscated property (Laws of 1781, ch. 37). The state used monies raised by the sales to defray war-related expenses and to pay creditors of the former British estates. Payments were made with certificates instead of specie.

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