cept as hereinafter is excepted,) shall be, and they 1824 are hereby vested in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania." The first part of the description of that which the Legislature intended to vest in the Commonwealth, comprehends all the rights of the proprietaries in the "soil and land" of Pennsylvania, but comprehends nothing else. It would not, we presume, be contended, that this part of the description would embrace the purchase money due for land, if any such case existed, which had been sold and conveyed by the proprietary, and for the purchase money of which a bond had been taken. This act could not, we presume, be pleaded in bar to an action of debt on a bond given to secure the payment of money due for land. This section, at least, is directed against the landed estate of the proprietary, not against his claims for money. If this first part of the description does not reach debts on account of land sold, neither does the second. It seems almost useless to observe, that a debt for land sold, is neither " a royalty, franchise, lordship, or other hereditament;" and that it forms no part of the premises granted in the charter. The subsequent part of the section vests nothing. It contains only a more ample description of the absolute and unqualified manner in which the property, previously described, is to vest in the Commonwealth. It is freed and discharged from every incumbrance, claim, or demand whatsoever, as fully as if the said charter, &c. " and all other Kirk V. Smith. 1824. the estate, right, and title, of the said proprietaries, of, in, and to the same premises, were herein transcribed and repealed." Kirk V. Smith. It is unnecessary to comment on the particular words of the legislature, which are regularly and technically applicable to the charter, because it is too obvious for controversy, that the whole design and effect of the clause is to show, that the property described in the preceding confiscating clause, is to vest in the Commonwealth, freed from every trust, limitation, or incumbrance whatsoever. But the property comprehended in the confiscating clause, was land only; and the land of the proprietaries, together with the royalties, &c. annexed to it. If, then, the particular subject of this controversy be within the 5th section of the act of 1779, it is because it is to be considered as land to which the proprietaries were entitled. If not so considered, the 5th section does not vest it in the Commonwealth. If it be so considered, the next inquiry is, whether it be within the exceptions made by the act. The 8th section provides and enacts, "that all and every the private estates, lands and hereditaments of any of the said proprietaries, whereof they are now possessed, or to which they are now entitled, in their private several right or capacity, by devise, purchase or descent; and likewise all the land called and known by the name of "the proprietary tenths,' or manors, which were duly surveyed and returned into the land office, on or before the 4th day of July, in the year 1776, toge Kirk V. Smith. ther with the quit or other rents, and arrearages of 1824. rents, reserved out of the said proprietary tenths, or manors, or any part or parts thereof, which have been sold, be confirmed, ratified and established for ever, according to such estate or estates therein, and under such limitations, uses, and trusts, as in and by the several and respective reservations, grants, and conveyances thereof, are directed and appointed." This section reserves the private estates of the proprietaries, "and likewise all the lands called and known by the name of 'the proprietary tenths,' or manors, which were duly surveyed and returned into the land office, on or before the 4th day of July, in the year 1776." That the manor of Springetsbury was dulys urveyed, and returned into the land office before the 4th of July, 1776, has not been controverted in this Court, so far as respects land not sold before the resurvey, which constitutes the question now under particular consideration; and that the land for which this ejectment was brought, lies within the survey describing the external boundaries of that manor, is established by the verdict of the jury. The dilemma, then, presented to the plaintiffs in error, is a fair one. The legislature did or did not consider the right reserved by the proprietary to re-enter and avoid the warrant, or to re-grant the land, as an estate or interest in the soil, as land, If it was even before such right was asserted. so considered, and, as land, was confiscated by the 5th section, then it was likewise so considered in the 8th section; and, as land, was excepted and Kirk V. Smith. 1824. saved to the proprietary. If the Legislature considered this right merely as a claim to money, secured on the land, then it is not confiscated by the 5th section, but remains to the proprietor, unaffected by it. We can perceive no principle of sound construction, by which, comparing the 5th and 8th sections with each other, the 5th shall, so far as respects land in manors, be made more comprehensive than the 8th; no principle by which the confiscating clause shall be made broader than the saving clause. It was necessary to reserve the quit-rents expressly in the 8th section, because they may, on fair construction, be understood to be comprehended in the 5th section; and, consequently, to be vested in the Commonwealth, if not expressly excepted. The quit-rents would not, indeed, be confiscated by that part of the section which relates to soil or land; but may very well pass under the words "royalties, franchises, lordships, and all other the hereditaments and premises comprised, mentioned, and granted in the same charter, or some of them." The quit-rent is a hercditament, reserved under the very words of the charter, and annexed to the seignory. It would not be absolutely improper, to term it "royalty," since similar reservations are generally to be found in grants made to individuals in the royal governments. The express exception of quit-rents, therefore, without mentioning the arrears of purchase money, furnish no argument in favour of the plaintiffs in erfor. The quit-rents were excepted in the 3th section. because they would, if not excepted, have Pennsylvania still chargeable with quit-rents, and would vest those not within the manors, in the Commonwealth. It was the intention of the Legislature to discharge the lands not within the manors, from this burthen, and a section was necessary for that purpose. Read the section, omitting the words respecting the purchase money of lands not within the manors, and it expresses, with plainness and perspicuity, the idea which has been suggested. All who are acquainted with our course of legislation, know, that after a bill has been framed, and the language adapted to its objects, amendments are sometimes introduced into it, in a late stage of its progress, without being sufficiently cautious to change the language which was adapted to the original matter, so as to fit it to the new matter contained in the amendment. This can alone account for the perplexity and confusion of the 9th and 10th sections of this act. The 9th section, which is so perfectly clear without the words respecting the arrearages of purchase money for lands not within the manors, is so embarrassed and confused with them, as to be scarcely intelligible; and the whole office of the 10th section is, to vest in the Commonwealth a part of that which the 9th had abolished. Courts must, however, give to these sections that interpretation which seems best to comport with the intention of the Legislature. The 8th section had confirmed to the proprictors, for ever, the quit-rents reserved in the maThe 9th, which was intended to abolish all quit-rents on all other lands. commences with nors. 1824. Kirk V. Smith. |