|
OF COLONIAL MARYLAND 15
One other, more indirect, source of land revenue for the Proprietor
was the reversion of land to him by escheat. All land, under the
socage tenure system was liable to revert to the Proprietor if cer-
tain conditions—most commonly lack of heirs, treason and non-
payment of rent—warranted it. By regranting such land Hie Lord
Proprietor undoubtedly added considerably to his land revenues, if
the numerous escheat warrants found in the land records may be
taken as an indication. 8 There was always considerable opposition
on the part of the colonists to this practice but it continued down
to the Revolution.
Although the Lord Proprietor was the one most specifically con-
cerned it must be remembered that he was not the only one to whom
land was a matter of primary importance. The soil was the source
of livelihood for the people of colonial Maryland and constituted
their chief wealth. The mark of landlessness was an unfavorable
one and even though landless persons such as leaseholders and
overseers made a better living than the poorer freeholders they were
left politically powerless and attached to the interest of an upper
class. It has been estimated that in 1755 probably more than half
of the free whites of Maryland belonged to families of the land-
holding class. The great majority of landowners was, of course,
made up of the small freeholders, while the great beneficiaries of the
land system were those individuals and families whose large hold-
ings gave them power and prestige above the many. This power
and prestige was enhanced in the case of many of these individuals
by the holding of high offices and the accumulation thereby of con. -:
siderable additional wealth in the form of fees.
HISTORY OF LAND ADMINISTRATION
In view of the pre-eminent role of land in colonial Maryland it is
not surprising that from the beginning the Proprietors took great
care of the administration of land affairs and of the keeping of
records pertaining thereto.
The earliest evidence of land administration in Maryland conies
indirectly through a grant made to Thomas Cornwalleys in 1040
mentioning how in a previous grant "for and in Consideration that
our Governor and Comisioners of that our Province of Maryland
6 Gould, pp. 28-29.
|
