rant or grant thereupon, according to the nature of the case, and the rules and regulations of the land of fice; and the attorney general is hereby required to attend the said court on behalf of the commonwealth.

ficers and

soldiers.

XI. Provided always, That nothing herein contain- Proviso, in ed shall extend to officers, soldiers, or their assignees, favour of ofclaiming lands for military service. The register of the land office shall regularly record all land warrants Register's issued by virtue of this act; they may be executed in duty in reone or more surveys, and may be exchanged or divi- cording land warrants, & ded so as best to suit the purposes of the party, and making out shall remain in force until lands shall have been ac- the grants. tually obtained for them, in the same manner with the warrants to be issued by virtue of the before recited act for establishing a land office. And when the said register shall make out a grant to any person or persons for lands due to him, her, or them, by virtue of this act, he shall recite therein as the consideration, the rights and cause for which the same became due, according to an act of general assembly, passed in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy nine, entitled "An act for adjusting and settling the titles of claimers to unpatented lands under the former and present government, previous to the establishment of the commonwealth's land office;" and if any part thereof is due in consideration of the ancient composition money, or the new purchase money paid to the commonwealth, the same shall be properly distinguished, and in every other respect the grant shall be drawn and pass in the form and manner prescribed by law for future grants of lands from the commonwealth.

the revolu

· XII. And whereas at the time of the late change of Caveats degovernment, many caveats against patents for lands pending at which had been entered in the council office, were detion, how pending and undetermined, Be it enacted, That all such proceeded caveats, with the papers relating thereto, shall be re- on. moved into the clerk's office of the general court, there to be proceeded on and tried in the manner directed by law for future caveats; but the same shall be determined according to the laws in force at the time they were entered; and upon the determination of any such caveat, a grant shall issue in the name of the person to whom such land shall be adjudged, his or her heirs or assigns, upon producing to the register of the land VOL. I

G

office, within three months at farthest from the time of such judgment, an authentick copy thereof, together with the auditor's certificate of the treasurer's receipt for the antient composition money due thereon, at the rate of exchange herein before mentioned; but where the person recovering had before paid rights into the secretary's office, a grant shall issue in consideration thereof upon payment of the office fees only.

p. 94.]

CHAP. XIII.

Chan. Rev. An act for establishing a Land office, and ascertaining the terms and manner of granting waste and unappropriated lands.

Preamble.

Land office

I. WHEREAS there are large quantities of waste and unappropriated lands within the territory of this commonwealth, the granting of which will encourage the migration of foreigners hither, promote population, increase the annual revenue, and create a fund for discharging the publick debt: Be it enacted by the established. General Assembly, That an office shall be, and is hereby constituted for the purpose of granting lands within this commonwealth, into which all the records now in the secretary's office, of patents or grants for lands heretofore issued, with all papers and documents relating thereto, and all certificates of surveys of lands now in the said office. and not patented, shall be removed and lodged for their safe keeping; and all future grants of lands shall issue from the said office in manner and Register of, form herein after mentioned. A register of the said land office shall be appointed, from time to time, by joint ballot of both houses of assembly, who shall give bond with sufficient security to the governour or first magistrate of this cominonwealth, in the penalty of fifty thousand pounds current money; shall hold his office during good behaviour; be entitled to receive such fees as shall hereafter be allowed by law, and shall have power to appoint a deputy and clerks to as

how appointed and qualified.

Vacancy, how suppli

ed.

sist in executing the business of the said office, but shall nevertheless reside there himself. If any vacancy shall happen by the death, resignation, or removal of a register during the recess of the general assembly, the governour or first magistrate of the commonwealth, by and with the advice of the council, may appoint some other person, giving bond and security in like manner, to act as register of the said office until the end of the next session of assembly. All copies of the records and other papers of the said office, or of the tested by records and papers hereby directed to be removed from him, as good the secretary's office and lodged therein, duly attested evidence as by such register, shall be as good evidence as the ori ginals would be.

Copies at

originals.

II. And whereas a certain bounty in lands hath been Land bounengaged to the troops on continental establishment ties, on what evidence raised by the ordinances of convention or the laws of obtained this commonwealth, and to the troops upon Virginia establishment: Be it enacted, That the officers and soldiers of the said troops, as well as the officers and soldiers to whom a bounty in lands may, or shall be hereafter allowed by any law of this commonwealth, shall be entitled to the quantity of waste or unappropriated lands respectively engaged to them by such laws, a commissioned officer or his heirs, upon certificate from any general officer of the Virginia line, or the commanding officer of the troops on the Virginia establishment as the case may be, and a non-commissioned officer or soldier, or his heirs, upon certificate from the colonel or commanding officer of the regiment, or corps to which they respectively belonged, that such officer or soldier hath served the time required by law, er hath been slain or died in the service, distinguishing particularly the time such officer or soldier hath served, and in what regiment or corps such service hath been performed, or death happened; and upon making proof before any court of record within this commonwealth by the persons own oath, or other satisfactory evidence of the truth and authenticity of the said certificate, and that the party had never before proved or claimed his right to land for the service therein mentioned, which proof the clerk of the court before whom it shall be made, is hereby empowered and required to endorse and certify upon the original eertificate, making an entry or minute thereof in his

ated lands may be ac. quired.

order book and recording the same; and every county court shall annually, in the month of October, send to the register's office, a list of all certificates granted by their respective county courts upon any of the before mentioned rights, there to be recorded. And for creHow title to ating a sinking fund in aid of the annual taxes to disunappropri- charge the publick debt: Be it enacted, That any person may acquire title to so much waste and unappropriated land as he or she shall desire to purchase, on paying the consideration of forty pounds for every hundred acres, and so in proportion for a greater or smaller quantity, and obtaining certificate from the publick auditors in the following manner: The consideration money shall be paid into the hands of the treasurer, who shall thereupon give to the purchaser a receipt for the payment, specifying the purpose it was made for, which being delivered to the auditors, they shall give to such person a certificate thereof, with the quantity of land he or she is thereby entitled to.

Land warrants, how

III. And be it enacted, That upon application of any person or persons, their heirs or assigns, having obtained, lo- title to waste or unappropriated lands, either by mili

cated, and executed.

tary rights or treasury rights, and lodging in the land office a certificate thereof, the register of the said office shall grant to such person or persons a printed warrant under his hand and the seal of his office, specifying the quantity of land and the rights upon which it is due, authorizing any surveyor duly qualified according to law, to lay off and survey the same, and shall regularly enter and record in the books of his office, all such certificates and the warrants issued thereupon, which warrants shall be always good and valid until executed by actual survey, or exchanged in the manner herein after directed; provided that no warrant on treasury rights, other than preemption warrants, to be obtained by virtue of this act, shall be granted or issued before the fifteenth day of October next; nor shall the surveyor of any county admit the entry or location of any warrant on treasury rights, except preemption warrants, in his books, before the Exchange first day of May next. Any person holding a land warrant upon any of the before mentioned rights, may have the same executed in one or more surveys, and in such case, or where the lands on which any warrant is located shall be insufficient to satisfy such war

Warrants.

raut, the party may have the said warrant exchanged by the register of the land office for others of the same am sunt in the whole, but divided as best may answer the purposes of the party, or entitle him to so much land elsewhere as will make good the deficiency. A surveyor shall be appointed in every county, to be Surveyors & nominated, examined, and certified able by the presi- ties, how aptheir depu dent and professors of William and Mary college, and pointed and if of good character, commissioned by the governour, qualified. with a reservation in such commission to the said professors, for the use of the college, of one sixth part of the legal fees which shall be received by such surveyor, for the yearly payment of which, he shall give bond with sufficient security to the president and masters of the said college. He shall hold his office during good behaviour; shall reside within his county; and before he shall be capable of entering upon the execution of his office, shall before the court of the same county, take an oath and give bond with two sufficient sureties, to the governour and his successours, in such sum as he, with advice of his council, shall have directed for the faithful execution of his office. All deputy surveyors shall be nominated by their principals, who shall be answerable for them, examined and certified able by the president and masters of the said college, and if of good character, commissioned by the governour, and shall thereupon be entitled to one half of all fees received for services performed by them respectively, after deducting the proportion thereof due to the college. If any principal surveyor shall fail to nominate a sufficient number of deputies to perform the services of his office in due time, the court of the county shall direct what number he shall nominate, and in case of failure, shall nominate for him. if any deputy surveyor, or any other on his behalf, and with his privity, shall pay or agree to pay any greater part of the profits of his office, sum of money in gross, or other valuable consideration to his prin cipal for his recommendation or interest in procuring the deputation, such deputy and principal shall be thereby rendered for ever incapable of serving in such office; it shall not be necessary for the present chief or deputy surveyors of the several counties duly examined, commissioned, and qualified according to the laws heretofore in force, to be again commissioned

And

Penalty for sale of office.