Stanley Matthews, Herron v. Dater — Opinion of the Court
“ Work, 5 Bin. 158, it is said: 'An estate held by warrant and survey, or other imperfect title, without patent, is of a singular nature. In many, and indeed in most, respects it is considered as a legal estate against all persons but the commonwealth. ”
Stanley Matthews, Herron v. Dater — Opinion of the Court
“ The proprietors of the province, in the beginning, allowed no one man to locate and survey more than three hundred acres. To evade this rule in after times, it was the custom for speculators in land to make application in the names of third persons, and, having obtained a warrant, to take from them what was called a 'deed poll,' or a brief conveyance of their inchoate equitable claim. Pennsylvania, until of late years, had no courts of equity. Hence, in an action of ejectment, the plaintiff might recover without showing a legal title. ”
Stanley Matthews, Herron v. Dater — Opinion of the Court
“ According to the doctrine established by the authorities already cited, it was not competent for the commonwealth of Pennsylvania to affect that title by a subsequent patent to a stranger. Peter Grahl, the patentee, was not connected with the title under the warrant and survey, otherwise than by the recital contained in the patent itself, that the tract had been previously conveyed to him by Lewis Walker. Clearly that recital was not evidence against the plaintiffs, for, if the patent could not take effect against them without it, it could not give any effect to that recital. ”
