Maryland (Colony). Land Office.

  1. Maryland (Colony). Land Office.
  2. Version History

In 1680, Charles the third Lord Baltimore appointed a Register of the Land Office to administer the new agency. The register assumed duties previously reserved for the Governor or Secretary and began to issue warrants of survey, grant patents, to take the probate or rights for land. In 1684, Charles established a four-member land council to hear and determine all matters relating to land in Maryland.

As a result of the Protestant Revolution of 1688, the Land Office was closed from 1689 to 1694. Within the colony, questions were raised concerning whether the office was public or private. The Governor and Council, Secretary, and General Assembly aligned themselves against the Lord Proprietor, claiming a public right of settlement of judicial questions related to title, custody of records, and control over surveying. Private rights, they asserted, were limited to the Proprietor's collection of revenue. Since the Land Office was managed by the Governor and Council, the Proprietor had to rely on his agents to uphold his claims. The first two agents, Henry Darnall and Charles Carroll the Settler, brought to the office a power and diligence unequaled by their successors. After the Proprietor's territorial rights were restored in 1715, Land Office administration fell to the Judge of the Land Office who also took the title Register. He appointed a Surveyor General for both shores. That officer appointed deputy surveyors in each county.

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2021-11-09 03:11:13 am

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