Wikisource

Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 1.djvu/575

This page needs to be proofread.

administration, requiring that thereafter all surveys should be entered in a book in the office of the Secretary.[1] The patent was drawn by the clerk in the Secretary’s office in conformity with the measurements of the plat, and was then delivered to the Governor, who by law was required to read it in Council in order that the consent of that body to it might be obtained. The Governor then signed it and the seal of the Colony was attached to it, this instrument being kept in the office of the Secretary[2] The seal had been used for the authentication of patents from a very early period in the history of Virginia, and had in its general character undergone from time to time changes of importance.[3] Previous to the administration of Howard, it had been affixed to patents without the imposition of a fee;[4] Howard directed that two hundred pounds of tobacco should be charged, and that when this was not paid, the sheriff of the county in which the delinquent resided should levy upon his property.[5] The proceeds from the use of the seal were calculated by Fitzhugh to amount annually to one hundred thousand pounds of that commodity, its impression being required by law for all public

  1. ↑ Grievances Complained of by the Burgesses of Virginia, British State Papers, America and West Indies, No. 512; McDonald Papers, vol. VII, pp. 194, 221, Va. State Library. The order of court will be found in British State Papers, Colonial Papers, 1688. See Sainsbury Abstracts for 1688, p. 126, Va. State Library.
  2. ↑ Letters of William Fitzhugh, letter to Henry Fitzhugh, April 5, 1687
  3. ↑ There will be found in the William and Mary College Quarterly, for October, 1894, a full account of the Colonial Seals, by President Lyon G. Tyler, of William and Mary College. This article is based upon careful original research.
  4. ↑ Address of Burgesses to Howard, British State Papers, Colonial Entry Book, No. 86, 1683-1695; McDonald Papers, vol. VII, p. 349, Va. State Library.
  5. ↑ See Proclamation in Records of York County, vol. 1684-1687, p. 123, Va. State Library.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Page:Economic_History_of_Virginia_Vol_1.djvu/575&oldid=6725410"