Occupation or possession of vacant lands, not under an office right, nor by settlement and residence, gives no title whatever against the commonwealth: the exercise of ownership in such case does not raise the presumption of a grant, nor does any statute of limitations run against the commonwealth. (1)

(1) 3 Penn. Rep. 428. See the act of 1729, 1730, ante 43.

CHAPTER XXII.

PATENTS.

THE patent is a deed from the commonwealth, under its great seal, conveying to the grantee all its right in the land, describing it by metes and bounds, and passes, as respects the commonwealth, the complete legal title, all the preparatory measures of warrant, application, survey and acceptance being merged in the patent. As to third persons, it is prima facie evidence, that all the previous requisites had been complied with. Before it issues, the purchase-money due must always be paid: and the land is thenceforth discharged from the lien which till then existed. Generally, the grantee is concluded by the lines and boundaries described in the patent, though perhaps in a special case there might be an exception. (1)

Third persons claiming by warrant, application, settlement or otherwise, may show that the patent was wrongfully issued to the patentee; or rather that he is trustee for him who has the right: the material

(1) 2 Sm. Laws 255. 2 Yeates 211. 5 Binn. 77. 1 Pet. C. C. R. 291. 2 Binn. 12.

consideration being, not who has the patent, but to whom it ought to have been granted. For the land officers, in issuing the patent, act merely in a ministerial capacity, and cannot change the rules of law or rights of parties. And even though he who has the patent sell to a bona fide purchaser without notice, the vendee is in no better situation. His claim under the patent may be contested by one having a better right by settlement, warrant or location. These titles are not equities within the ordinary rule of being unavailing against a purchaser of the legal title. A patent founded on a fraudulent survey, or obtained by misrepresentation and deceit, is void against third persons affected by it.(1)

The patent, however, has always been received in evidence in the first instance, to show that the legal title was out of the commonwealth. The question whether it is good is a subsequent one.(2)

A warrant, survey and patent duly obtained, refer back to the original application entered in the land office.(3)

(1) 6 Serg. & Rawle 118, 125, 204, 137, 140. 4 Binn. 213.

(2) 4 Binn. 213. 10 Serg. & Rawle 246. 14 Serg. & Rawle 344. (3) 1 Yeates 523.

CHAPTER XXIII.

PRICES OF LANDS.

IN 1681, the prices in England to first purchasers were forty shillings for one hundred acres, and a quitrent of one shilling per hundred acres.

William Penn and his commissioners of property, until the year 1713, commonly granted lands at the rate of five pounds, and a bushel of wheat (or more frequently one shilling sterling) quit-rent, for one hundred acres.

In 1713 the price was raised to seven pounds, ten pounds and fifteen pounds, with the same quit-rent. From 1712 to 1715, lands at Oley (now Berks county) and Conestoga (now Lancaster county), were granted at ten pounds per hundred acres. The quit-rents varied: being, in some cases, one shilling sterling per hundred acres; in others, a half-penny and a penny per acre.

In the warrants issued after the decease of William Penn (1718), and under the authority of the trustees of the province, they were most commonly ten pounds, and one shilling quit-rent, for one hundred acres.

In 1730, lands at Oley were charged at fifteen pounds per hundred acres, and in some scattered cases on the record the price was higher.

In 1735 the price was fifteen pounds ten shillings per hundred acres, and a half-penny sterling quit-rent per acre. The price fixed by the lottery was fifteen pounds ten shillings, current money, for one hundred acres (which was termed the settled price), and a quitrent of one shilling sterling, "as was agreed to be paid by the first purchasers and settlers." About this time Thomas Penn introduced into some warrants a sort of fine for alienation, of which we read in the English tenures, by a clause, "that the grantee should pay a year's rent at every alienation." This was not done when the price was fifteen pounds ten shillings, and a half-penny sterling quit-rent. This last, with the exception of a few months, continued the ordinary price until 1765, when it was fixed at five pounds sterling per hundred acres, and the quit-rent one penny sterling per acre. This, at the rate of exchange, was considered equal to £15. 10s. and a halfpenny per acre, and it was not intended to make any difference in the price of the land, but only in the mode of paying. The abolition of quit-rents at the revolution operated, therefore, exceedingly to the advantage of the purchasers under the regulations of 1765.(1)

In 1784 and 1785 the commonwealth fixed the

(1) 5 Sm. Laws 14.