Thomas v. Stigers
Thomas v. Stigers
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered,
This case has been twice here before, and may be found reported in 5 Barr 480, and again in 11 Harris 367. The first of these decisions was overruled by the last, mainly on the ground of the presentation in the last case of important documents relating to the boundary line between Maryland and Pennsylvania, which could not be found in the first trial. They were the agreement between the Penns and Lord Baltimore, of the 10th of May 1732, and the decrees for its specific execution, since published in Penna. Arc., vol. 4, commencing at page 3; and the agreement of the 4th of July 1760 ; and the provisional agreement between the same parties, pursuant to the Orders in Council of 25th of May 1738.
The case is again before us on the same state of facts as existed on the last trial, and we have again carefully considered all these proprietary agreements, and the conclusion arrived at is fully in accordance with the report of the case and decision in Stigers v. Thomas, 11 Harris, supra. It would not, we apprehend, be of any practical value to restate the principles therein deduced by the court from the acts and agreements of the proprietaries of the provinces of Pennsylvania and Maryland, therein referred to. "We entirely agree that the inchoate right of resurvey by the holder of the Shelby warrant, issued under the land laws of Maryland, was not such a grant as was protected by the definitive agreement of the 4th of July 1760, between the Penns and Lord Baltimore. It was not exercised until several years afterward. Until located, it was no appro
The provisional arrangement under the Order in Council of the 15th of May 1738, was simply for the preservation of the peace between the provinces, and to be controlled by the proprietaries afterwards, as was done by the agreement of 1760, if indeed it differs in any substantial respect from it. It provides that the jurisdiction of the respective proprietaries should remain as before, until the boundary line should be settled. It was settled by the agreement of *1760, although finally run and marked afterwards. Under and pursuant to this provincial arrangement, what was supposed and intended for the boundary line, was run, in 1739, by commissioners from both provinces, as far as the Susquehanna river, and by the Pennsylvania commissioners eighty-eight miles further. This, perhaps, would have satisfied the reservation under the agreement of 1738, even if that of 1760 had not been subsequently entered into. But we will not extend these remarks! Hawkins’s Maryland title was no protection to the defendants. This, being so, the case is to be determined by the laws of Pennsylvania. The plaintiffs’ warrant being descriptive, appropriated the land from its date. It was followed also by a survey, in a few days after it issued.
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.