to be held by the patentees, or their heirs, remain exempt, as aforesaid, from all taxes, for the term of three years, from and after the date of the patents respectively; and that all the lands belonging to the citizens of the United States, residing without the said State, shall never be taxed higher than lands belonging to persons residing therein.

"Sec. VII. And be it further enacted, That all that part of the territory of the United States lying north of the State of Indiana, and which was included in the former Indiana territory, together with that part of Illinois which is situated north of and not within the boundaries prescribed by this act, to the State thereby authorized to be formed, shall be, and hereby is, attached to, and made a part of the Michigan territory, from and after the formation of the said State, subject, nevertheless, to be hereafter disposed of by Congress, according to the right reserved in the fifth article aforesaid, and the inhabitants therein shall be entitled to the same privileges and immunities, and subject to the same rules and regulations, in all respects, with the other citizens of the Michigan territory." [U. S. Statutes by Peters, 428.]

IV. AN ORDINANCE OF THE ILLINOIS CONVENTION, ACCEPTING THE PROPOSITIONS OF CONGRESS.

"Whereas, The Congress of the United States, in the act entitled 'An act to enable the people of the Illinois territory to form a constitution and State government, and for the admission of such State into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, passed the 18th of April, 1818," have offered to this Convention for their free acceptance or rejection, the following propositions, which, if accepted by the Convention, are to be obligatory upon the United States, viz:

First. That section numbered sixteen in every township, and where such section has been sold, or otherwise disposed of, other lands equivalent thereto, and as contiguous as

may be, shall be granted to the State for the use of the inhabitants of such township for the use of schools.

Second. That all salt springs within such State, and the lands reserved for the use of the same, shall be granted to the said State for the use of the said State, and the same to be used under such terms and conditions, and regulations, as the Legislature of the said State shall direct: provided, the Legislature shall never sell nor lease the same for a longer period than ten years at any one time.

Third. That five per cent of the net proceeds of the lands lying within such State, and which shall be sold by Congress from and after the first day of January, one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, after deducting all expenses incident to the same, shall be reserved for the purposes following, viz: two-fifths to be disbursed under the direction of Congress, in making roads leading to the State; the residue to be appropriated by the Legislature of the State, for the encouragement of learning, of which one-sixth part shall be exclusively bestowed on a college or university.

Fourth. That thirty-six sections, or one entire township, which shall be designated by the President of the United States, together with the one heretofore reserved for that purpose, shall be reserved for the use of a seminary of learning, and vested in the Legislature of the said State, to be appropriated solely to the use of such seminary by the said Legislature.

And whereas, the four foregoing propositions are offered on the condition that this Convention shall provide by ordinance, irrevocable without the consent of the United States, that every and each tract of land sold by the United States, from and after the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, shall remain exempt from any tax laid by order or under the authority of the State, whether for State, county, or township, or any other purpose whatever, for the term of five years from and after the day of sale.

And further, that the bounty lands granted, or hereafter to be granted for military service during the late war, shall, while they continue to be held by the patentees or their heirs, remain exempt, as aforesaid, from all taxes for the term of three years from and after the date of the patents respectively; and that all the lands belonging to the citizens of the United States, residing without the said State, shall never be taxed higher than lands belonging to persons residing therein."

"Therefore, this Convention, on behalf of, and by the authority of the people of the State, do accept of the foregoing propositions; and do further ordain and declare, that every and each tract of land sold by the United States, from and after the first day of January one thousand eight hundred and nineteen, shall remain exempt from any tax, laid by order or under any authority of this State, whether for State, county or township, or any other purpose whatever, for the term of five years from and after the day of sale.

"And that the bounty lands granted, or hereafter to be granted, for military services during the late war, shall, while they continue to be held, by the patentees or their heirs, remain exempt, as aforesaid, from all taxes for the term of three years from and after the date of the patents respectively; and that all the lands belonging to the citizens of the United States, residing without the said State, shall never be taxed higher than lands belonging to persons residing therein. And this Convention do further ordain and declare, that the foregoing ordinance shall not be revoked without the consent of the United States.

"Done in Convention at Kaskaskia, the twenty-sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord, one thousand eight hundred and eighteen, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the forty-third." [R. S., Illinois, 27.]

V. THE CONSTITUTION OF ILLINOIS.

The people of the Illinois Territory, having the right of admission into the General Government, as a member of the Union, under the ordinance of 1787, and the law of Congress approved on the eighteenth day of April, 1818, to enaable the people of said territory to form a constitution and State government, and for the admission of such State into the Union, on an equal footing with the original States, did, by their representatives, in a Convention held at Kaskaskia, on the twenty-sixth day of August, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighteen, ratify the boundaries assigned by Congress to the State, and adopt a constitution for its government.

That document provides that no freeman shall be disseized of his freehold, except by law or the judgment of his peers, and that all lands theretofore granted as a common to the inhabitants of any town, hamlet, village or corporation, body politic or corporate, or by any government having power to make such grant, should forever remain common to the inhabitants of such town, hamlet, village or corporation; and that such commons should not be leased, sold, or divided, under any pretence whatever, except the commons of Cahokia, and Prairie Du Pont. [Art. S, Sec. 8.]

It is silent upon the subject of tenures and estates, leaving them to be regulated entirely by the Legislature. [See Appendix.]

VI. LAND TITLES GENERALLY IN ILLINOIS.

Estates in land in this State are regulated by the following provisions of the Revised Statutes:

"Livery of seizin shall in no case be necessary for the conveyance of real property; but every deed, mortgage, or other conveyance in writing, signed and sealed by the party making the same, (the maker or makers being of full age,

sound mind, discovert, at large, and not in duress,) shall be sufficient, without livery of seizin, for the giving, granting, selling, mortgaging, leasing or otherwise conveying or transferring any lands, tenements or hereditaments, in this State; so as, to all intents and purposes, absolutely and fully to vest in every donee, grantee, bargainee, mortgagee, lessee or purchasers, all such estate or estates as shall be specified in any such deed, mortgage, lease or other conveyance. Nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to divert or defeat the older, or better estate or right of any person or persons, not party to any such deed, mortgage, lease or other conveyance." [R. S., 103, Sec. 1.]

"Every estate, feoffment, gift, grant, deed, mortgage, lease, release or confirmation of lands, tenements, rents, services or hereditaments, made or had, or hereafter to be made o had, by any person or persons, being of full age, sound mind, discovert, at large, and not in duress, to any person or persons; and all recoveries, judgments, and executions, had or made, or to be had or made, shall be good and effectual to him, her, or them, to whom it is or shall be so made, had, or given, and to all others; to his, her or their use against the judgment debtor, seller, feoffer, donor, grantor, mortgagor, lessor, releasor or confirmor, and against his her, or their heirs, or heirs claiming the same, only as heir or heirs, and every of them; and against all others having or claiming any title or interest in the same, only to the use of the same judgment debtor, seller, feoffor, donor, grantor, mortgagor, lessor, releasor, or confirmor, or his, her or their said heirs, at the time of the judgment, execution, bargain, sale, mortgage, covenant, lease, release, gift or grant made." [Id., Sec. 2.]

"Where any person or persons stand or be seized, or at any time hereafter shall stand or be seized, of and in any messuages, lands, tenements, rents, services, reversions, remainders, or other hereditaments, to the use, confidence or