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1824.

DOE

v.

HEDGES.

The COURT held that the judgment was irregularly signed,

and therefore made the

Rule absolute.

C. Cresswell for the plaintiff; Chitty for the defendant (a). (a) Vide Hyde v. Thrustout, Sayer, 303.

Monday May 31.

A person born

in the United

DOE, on the several demises of PHILIP THOMAS, Esq. and FRANCES MARY, his Wife, and of SAMUEL MARTIN, T. WILLIAM ACKLAM.

EJECTMENT to recover the possession of certain messuages, with the appurtenances, situate in the parish of America since Saint Mary, in the town and county of Kingston upon

States of

the treaty of 1783, by

which those

states were

Hull.-Plea, not guilty.

at the Summer Assizes,

At the trial before Abbott, C. J. 1822, for the county of York, a

acknowledged verdict was found for the plaintiff on the second count of by this the declaration, upon a demise laid in the names of Philip free, sovereign Thomas, Esq. and Frances Mary, his wife, subject to the and independ

country to he

and cannot

ent, is an alien, opinion of the Court upon the facts of the case, which were afterwards turned into a special verdict. The facts stated in the special verdict were these:—

take lands by descent in England.

Elizabeth Harrison, in the year 1813, became seised in fee simple, in possession, of part of the premises, and between that year and the year 1818, of the residue of the premises sought to be recovered by this ejectment, and died so seised at Kingston upon Hull, on the 26th November, 1818, intestate, and having never been married, leaving the said Frances Mary, the wife of the said Philip Thomas, her heir-at-law, if the said Frances Mary is entitled to take as heir under the circumstances hereinafter mentioned. Peter Harrison, the uncle of the intestate, and the grandfather of the said Frances Mary, being a natural born subject of this kingdom, left England for America, and resided there for

many years, and until the time of his death, in the town of Newhaven, which is in the state of Connecticut in North America, which was at that time one of the British colonies of North America, where he held for many years, and until the time of his death, the office of Collector of his Majesty's Customs. The said Peter Harrison died at Newhaven aforesaid in 1775, and at his death left several children, him surviving; all of whom, except one daughter named Elizabeth, died during the life-time of the said intestate, without leaving any issue. The said Elizabeth Harrison, the daughter of the said Peter, was married on the 22d October, 1781, at Newport, in the state of Rhode Island in North America (which state of Rhode Island was at that time one of the British colonies), to James Ludlow, Esq. a native of New York, which was at that time one of the British colonies, and who was born before the year 1776, and originally brought up to the bar. The said Elizabeth Ludlow died in the United States of America in the year 1790, having had as the only issue of the said marriage two daughters, one of whom died extremely young, and the other of whom, the said Frances Mary, survived her said mother. The said Frances Mary was born at Newport in America, in the state of Rhode Island, on the 4th of February, 1784, after the United States of America were recognized as free, sovereign and independent states, as hereinafter mentioned, and was married at New York, in the state of New York, one of the United States of America, in the year 1807. The said colonies of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New York, with other colonies in North America, separated themselves from the government and crown of Great Britain, and united themselves together, and on the 4th July, 1776, declared themselves free and independent states, by the name and style of The United States of America. On the 3d September, 1783, his late Majesty King George 3d, acknowledged the said United States of America to be free, sovereign and independent states, and a definitive treaty of peace was signed on that

1824.

DOE

D. ACKLAM.

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day between his said Majesty and the said United States. The said treaty was then set out at length in, and made part of, the special verdict (a). After reciting a provisional article, signed at Paris on the 30th November, 1782, it contained the following articles:

Article 1. His Britannic Majesty acknowledges the said United States, viz. New Hampshire, Massachusett's Bay, Rhode Island, and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, to be free, sovereign and independent states; that he treats with them as such; and, for himself, his heirs and successors, relinquishes all claims to the government, propriety and territorial rights of the same, and every part thereof.

Article 2. And that all disputes which might arise in future on the subject of the boundaries of the said United States, may be prevented, it is hereby agreed and declared, that the following are and shall be their boundaries; viz. from the north-west angle of Nova Scotia, namely, that angle which is formed by a line drawn due north from the source of St. Croix river to the highlands, along the said highlands, which divide those rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the Atlantic ocean, to the north-westernmost head of Connecticut river, thence down along the middle of that river to the 45th degree of north latitude; from thence, by a line due west, on said latitude, until it strikes the river Iroquois or Cataraquy, thence along the middle of said river into the Lake Ontario, through the middle of said lake until it strikes the communication by water between that lake and Lake Erie, thence along the middle of said communication into Lake Erie, through the middle of said lake, until it arrives at the water communication between that lake and Lake Huron, thence along the middle of said water communication into the Lake Huron, thence through the middle of said lake to the water communication between that lake and

(a) Vide the Annual Register for 1795.

Lake Superior, thence through Lake Superior, northward
of the isles Royal and Philapeaux, to the Long Lake,
thence through the middle of said Long Lake, and the
water communication between it and the Lake of the Woods,
to the said Lake of the Woods, thence through the said lake
to the most north-western point thereof; and from thence,
on a due west course, to the river Mississippi, thence, by a
line to be drawn along the middle of the said river Mississippi,
until it shall intersect the northernmost part of the 31st de-
gree
of north latitude; south, by a line to be drawn due east
from the determination of the line last mentoned in the lati-
tude of 31 degrees north of the equator to the middle of the
river Apalachicola or Catahouche, thence along the middle
thereof to its junction with the Flint river, thence straight
to the head of St. Mary's river, and thence down along the
middle of St. Mary's river to the Atlantic ocean; east, by
a line to be drawn along the middle of the river St. Croix,
from its mouth in the Bay of Fundy, to its source, and from
its source directly north to the aforesaid highlands, which
divide the rivers that fall into the Atlantic ocean from those
which fall into the river St. Lawrence, comprehending all
islands within twenty leagues of any parts of the shores of
the United States, and lying between lines to be drawn due
east from the points where the aforesaid boundaries, between
Nova Scotia on the one part, and East Florida on the other,
shall respectively touch the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic
ocean, excepting such islands as are now, or heretofore have
been, within the limits of the said province of Nova Scotia.

Article 3. It is agreed, that the people of the United States shall continue to enjoy unmolested, the right to take fish of every kind on the grand bank, and on all other banks of Newfoundland, also in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and at all other places in the sea where the inhabitants of both countries used at any time heretofore to fish; and also that the inhabitants of the United States shall have liberty to take fish of every kind on such part of the coast of Newfoundlund as British seamen shall use (but not dry or cure the

1824.

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same on that island), and also on the coasts, bays, and creeks of all other of his Britannic Majesty's dominions in America; and that the American fishermen shall have liberty to dry and cure fish in any of the unsettled bays, harbours, and creeks of Nova Scotia, Magdalen Islands, and Labrador, so long as the same shall remain unsettled, but so soon as the same, or either of them, shall be settled, it shall not be lawful for the said fishermen to dry or cure fish at such settlement, without a previous agreement for that purpose, with the inhabitants, proprietors, or possessors of the ground.

Article 4. It is agreed, that the creditors, on either side, shall meet with no unlawful impediments to the recovery of the full value, or sterling money, of all bonâ fide debts heretofore contracted.

Article 5. It is agreed, that Congress shall earnestly recommend it to the legislatures of the respective states, to provide for the restitution of all estates, rights, and properties, which have been confiscated, belonging to real British subjects; and also of the estates, rights, and properties of persons resident in districts in the possession of his Majesty's arms, and who have not borne arms against the said United States; and that persons of any other description shall have free liberty to go to any part or parts of any of the thirteen united states, and therein to remain twelve months unmolested in their endeavours to obtain restitution of such of their estates, rights, and properties as may have been confiscated. And that Congress shall also earnestly recommend to the several states a reconsideration and revision of all acts or laws regarding the premises, so as to render the said laws or acts perfectly consistent, not only with justice and equity, but with that spirit of conciliation, which, on the return of the blessings of peace, should universally prevail. And that Congress shall also earnestly recommend to the several states, that the estates, rights, and properties of such last-mentioned persons shall be restored to them, they refunding to any persons who may

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