The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1914-12-04
THE HAsKIN LETTER
LAND TITLES. The New England States
By Frederlc / ]. HaskIn.

The struggle for freedom to hold
and dispose Of land title in the middle
land south Atlantic states was direct
ed by the people against the crown of
England as a proprietor. or against
ltndiyiduls holding as proprietors un-
Ider the crown.
In New England. the struggle was
against the crown as political force,
and in defense of rights which had
been assumed by the people from
the time of settlement. re-
II allodial titles exist anywhere in
the United States, they are those in
New England. The first settlers I'M
dertook to divide among themselves
1.-The lands on which they settled and
their subsequent efforts were direct
ed to the prevention of the vesting of
claims conflicting with this basis OF
title, rather, as in the other colonies.
than to the task of dispossessing pro-
prietors claiming under a paper title.
Il The first grant by the Grown of
England in New England was made
by James to the Duke of Lenox and
others. This was in 1906 and the
form of the grant followed that of
the first Virginia grant and was to a
corporation and not to an individual
proprietor or proprietors as came to
be the later practice.
In 1929, the Plymouth Company,
organized to operate under this grant
made Its first sub-grant to William
Bradford and others, VIII oformed the
Plymouth colony in Massachusetts.
This colony had then been seated in
Massachusetts for eight years under
a general territorial permission from
the company and took the patent as
an assurance Of the land titles in the
colony which had then been establish
ed and which were not altered by any
proceedings under the patent. The
members of the Plymouth colony had
made an agreement covering the de-
tails Of government and the use of
land while they were still on ship
board. Their first effort was to use
the land in common, but this failed
and division of real property was
made by mutual agreement and this
division remains as the basis of title.
The second grant made by the
Plymouth corporation was that to the
colony under John Endicott which
settled first at Salem, subsequently
established Boston and was the real
nucleus of the Massachusetts and
Connecticut settlements. The terms
of this grant resuired a government
appointed by the English corporation.
The people reversed this proposition
very shortly after landing and decid-
ed to eject their own officers.
The basis of title in the Salem and
Boston, of Bay colony, was division,
practically by consent of the colonists
and under the direction of elected Of
ticials o. lands in each plantation
among sualified voters or freeholders.
Each plantation was assigned definite
limits and the land included was later
established as township. Besides
the lands which were set off to the
freeholders in severalty, ther was u
considerable amour Of land in each
ownship which was held in common
and for he common use, such as for
pasturage, wood-cutting. etc. AS new
settlers came in, there was an attempt
made to erclude them from participa-
tion in a similar division and in the
common rights, but this was unsuc-
cessful and subsequent allotments
had to be made from common lands
to later Corners.
This process, ceased in the original
settlements when all the land suitable
for cultivation had been assigned and
new immigrants moved on to other
| locations. Certain tracts of unim-
provable lands remained in common,
however, and in at least one Instance,
a corporation exists at the present
date which represents the heirs or
assigns of the original holders OF
such lands in common.
The charter of the Plymouth COM
pany contemplated the greatest freed
of of alienation and title incidents
then known to the law but compli-
ance with the terms of grants under il
would have involved payments to the
parent corporation which seemed I'm.
necessary and oppressive to the col.
onists. AS the company was unable
to enforce its government. in New
England, 1t surrendered its charter tc
the crown. but even the latter had lit
from the lands of the Massachusetts
colonists.
After the surrender of the charter
to the crown, an extensive grant was
made within its former limits to Sit
Ferdinando George. His grant In
cluded the state of Maine and was
one of the incidents to the highly CON
plicated condition of land titles which
has existed in that state. The colony
of Massachusetts, claimed Maine I'M
der rights which had vested while the
original patent was still in existance
There were also claims founded Oh
the titles derived from the French