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The Act of the New York legislature confirming this agreement is chap. 8 of the laws of 1834.

By an Act of the legislature of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, passed in May 1853, entitled, "An Act relating to the separation of the district of Boston corner from this commonwealth, and the cession of the same to the State of New York," sovereignty and jurisdiction over that portion of Massachusetts was ceded to New York; and by chap. 586 of the laws of 1853, entitled, "An Act accepting the sovereignty and jurisdiction over a certain portion of territory of the commonwealth of Massachusetts, ceded to the State of New York, upon certain conditions, by said commonwealth in 1853," the State of New York accepted such sovereignty and jurisdiction, but the acceptance "not to take effect until the Congress of the United States shall consent to such cession and annexation. By the second section of the New York Act, it was enacted that, until the proclamation provided in said Massachusetts Act should be issued, the courts of the commonwealth of Massachusetts should have authority to take and hold effectual civil and criminal jurisdiction in any cause or matter pending, or which arose anterior to the issuing of the said proclamation; and by the third section the governor of New York State, for the better defining the limits and extent of the ceded territory, should appoint commissioners to act in conjunction with Massachusetts commissioners, who should cause an accurate survey and map to be made of said territory, and " cause sufficient monuments to be erected in and along the eastern boundary line of said territory, and shall cause the said map and survey to be duly authenticated and filed in the office of the secretary of this state, as record evidence

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of the extent and limits of such cession."

In a similar manner the State of Vermont ceded, in 1879, sovereignty and jurisdiction over a part of its territory to New York, which accepted the same by an Act which should take effect when the Congress of the United States should consent to such cession and annexation.

The boundaries between the State of New York and the States of Connecticut and Pennsylvania respectively having been settled by commissioners appointed by each state respectively, Acts were passed by the legislature of the State of New York ratifying and confirming the respective agreements of the said commissioners. The Connecticut agreement provided that "Nothing in the foregoing agreement contained shall be construed to affect existing titles to property, corporeal or incorporeal, held under grants heretofore made by either of said states, nor to affect existing rights which said states, or either of them, or which the citizens of either of said states may have by grant, letters-patent, or prescription, of fishing in the waters of said sound, whether for shell or floating fish, irrespective of the boundary-line hereby established, it not being the purpose of this agreement to define, limit, or interfere with any such rights or privileges, whatever the same may be." By the New York Act of ratification of this agreement, chap. 213, laws of 1880, the governor (of New York) was authorised and requested to transmit a copy of this Act to the governor of the State of Connecticut ; and upon receiving due notice of the adoption of said agreement by the State of Connecticut, the governor of New York State should cause such notice to be filed in the office of the secretary of state; and upon the same being so filed, the said agree

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STATE SURVEY-SOVEREIGNTY AND JURISDICTION OF THE STATE.

ment should become binding and operative, and in full force; and the boundary between this state (New York) and the State of Connecticut should be fixed and established, as specified and provided in said agreement.

By the laws of 1878, chap. 216, certain commissioners were reappointed to provide for the speedy completion of the state survey conducted in accordance with their last report to the legislature, namely "The work is to be confined to fixing such meridian and other lines and points as are necessary to give correct bases for county, town, and other surveys, so that they may be of permanent value at any time in the future." And a report should be made annually by the commissioners to the legislature showing in detail all expenditures and proceedings, and so far as practicable all results obtained by virtue of this Act. By chap. 370 of said laws the time for the completion of the topographical survey and exploration of the Adirondack wilderness region was limited to six years from the passage of the Act; and the topographical character of the work should be completed in all respects throughout the area under survey. A full report on the progress of the survey should be annually presented to the legislature within sixty days after the meeting thereof.

The sovereignty and jurisdiction of the state extends to all the places within its boundaries, but its jurisdiction over places ceded to the United States is qualified by the terms of cession. It is the duty of the governor and of all the subordinate officers of the state to maintain and defend its sovereignty and jurisdiction. It is the duty of the district attorney of the county immediately to report to the governor the intrusion upon any of the waste or ungranted lands of

the state of any person, under pretence of any claim inconsistent with the state sovereignty and jurisdiction, and thereupon the governor, by a written order, directs the sheriff of the county to remove from said lands the person so intruding; and the sheriff, in case of resistance made or threatened, may call to his aid the power of the county, as in the case of resistance to the writs of the people. Suits against the state, or against any person deriving title from the state, to recover lands within the state under pretence of any claim inconsistent with its sovereignty and jurisdiction, are defended at the expense of the state. When jurisdiction over a tract of land is ceded to the United States, it is always stipulated that the cession shall not prevent the execution upon such tract of any process, civil or criminal, issuing under authority of the state, nor the operation of the public laws of the state upon the tract, so far as not incompatible with the free use and enjoyment of the premises by the United States for the purposes specified. In some cases, according to circumstances, there may be added such clauses as these, "the said tract is exonerated and discharged from any taxes which may be laid or imposed under the authority of this state, while said tract shall remain the property of the Government of the United States, and while the same shall be appropriated to the above-mentioned purposes and not otherwise "-" such cession does not prevent the execution of any process at law under the authority of this state, except against the real or personal property of the Government of the United States." Where the jurisdiction ceded is merely concurrent, a clause is inserted stating that the cession is upon the express condition that the state shall retain a concurrent jurisdiction with

the United States in and over the tract of land aforesaid, so far as that civil process in all cases, and such criminal process as may issue under the authority of the state against any persons charged with crimes committed without the said tract of land, may be executed therein in the same way or manner as if this jurisdiction had not been ceded; the United States are to retain such jurisdiction so long as the said tract of land shall be used for the purposes expressed in the cession and no longer. In some cases, it is stipulated that the jurisdiction ceded shall not vest until the United States have acquired the title to the tract, and shall continue so long as the same shall remain the property of the United States, and be used for the purposes expressed, and no longer. And it is the same as regards the exemption from taxation. In all cases the ceded jurisdiction reverts to the state, and the exemption from taxation is merely temporary. By chap. 196 of the laws of 1880, "All the right and title of the State of New York to the following described

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parcels of land covered with water adjacent and contiguous to the lands of the United States in the harbour of New York at Governor's, Bedloe's, Ellis's and David's Islands, and forts Lafayette, Hamilton, Wadsworth (or Tompkins), and Schuyler, and jurisdiction over the same, are hereby released and ceded to the United States, for the purposes of erecting and maintaining docks, wharves, boat-houses, sea-walls, batteries, and other needful structures and appurtenances, vided that jurisdiction hereby ceded shall continue no longer than the United States shall own said lands at Governor's and the adjacent lands covered with water, herein described and hereby released; and provided further that all civil and such criminal process as may lawfully issue under authority of this state, may be served or executed over said released lands, Sec. 2. The commissioners of the land office are hereby authorised and directed to issue a patent of said released lands to the United States."

THE CIVIL DIVISIONS OF THE STATE.

1. COUNTIES.

The State of New York is divided into fifty-six counties, and the extent and limits of the several counties are particularly set forth-e.g., "5. The county of New York shall contain the islands called Manhattan's Island, Great Barn Island, Little Barn Island, Manning's Island, Nutten Island, Bedlow's Island, Bucking Island, and the Oyster Island; and all the land under water within the following bounds-beginning at Spuytenduyvel Creek where the same empties itself into the Hudson river on the Westchester side thereof at

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low-water mark, and running thence along the said creek, at low-water mark, on the Westchester side thereof, to the East river or Sound; then to cross over to Nassau or Long Island, to low-water mark there, including Great Barn Island, Little Barn Island, and Manning's Island; then along Nassau or Long Island shore, at low - water mark, to the south side of the Redhook; then across the North river, so as to include Nutten Island, Bedlow's Island, Bucking Island, and the Oyster Islands, to the west bounds of the state; then along the west bounds of the state until it comes directly op

posite to the first-mentioned creek, and then to the place where the said boundaries began.' All lines which are described by courses indicated by the magnetic needle, are respectively to be taken as the magnetic needle pointed at the several times when such lines were originally established. None of the bounds or lines assigned for the limits of any of the counties are construed to affect the right or title of any person or body politic, or to confirm the bounds or rights of any patent whatsoever. Whenever

two counties are separated from each other by a river or creek, the middle of the channel of such river or creek is the division - line between them, unless otherwise provided. Whenever the boundary-line crosses any island, the whole of such island is deemed to be within the county in which the greater part of it lies, unless otherwise directed. The counties of Kings, Richmond, and New York, for the purpose of serving all process, civil or criminal, have concurrent jurisdiction on the waters in the counties of Kings and Richmond, lying south of the bounds of the county of New York.

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issuing to officers of either of the counties bordering on the Seneca Lake, may be served upon the waters of that lake by any officer or person charged with the service thereof; and these counties, for all the purposes of civil and criminal process, have concurrent jurisdiction on the said waters. By Act of the legislature, part of an existing county can be erected into a separate and distinct county of the state, and a name is given to it; "and the freeholders and inhabitants thereof shall possess and enjoy all the rights and immunities which the freeholders and inhabitants of the several counties of this state are by law entitled to possess and enjoy.' Should the boundary line of the new county run

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through a town (township), all those parts on either side of such line are respectively provided for, so that each county contains none but whole towns; and when the part cut off and included in the new county is made a separate and distinct town, a name is given it, "and the freeholders and inhabitants thereof shall possess and enjoy all the rights, privileges, and immunities which the freeholders and inhabitants of the several towns of this state are entitled by law to possess and enjoy.'

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When the county of Schuyler was in 1854 erected from parts of the counties of Steuben, Chemung, and Tompkins, the electors of the territory embraced within the new county of Schuyler, until after the then next state census or enumeration, continued to vote for members of the legislature and justices of the supreme court as electors of the respective counties to which they had theretofore belonged; but for all other purposes they voted as electors of Schuyler county, and belonged to and formed a part of the 27th congressional district of the state. copy of the original statements of all or any elections in any of the towns of the new county for members of the legislature and justices of the supreme court, duly certified pursuant to the provisions of law respecting elections for other than militia and town officers, was made by the inspectors, and subscribed and delivered to one of the assessors of such town, who delivered it to the board of canvassers of the county from which such town was taken, in order to enable such board of county canvassers to canvass the lastmentioned county. This statement has the same effect as the original statement would have had if delivered by the supervisor of said town, and if said town had not been thus set off to the county of Schuyler, un

til the next state census or enumeration. The books, records, and papers belonging to the several clerks' and surrogates' offices of the counties of Chemung, Steuben, and Tompkins remained the property of each respectively, but such papers thereof as concerned the county of Schuyler and the real property therein were transcribed and copied into suitable books provided for the purpose at the expense of the county of Schuyler. The copies in these books were verified on oath as true copies, and deposited in the clerk's office in the county of Schuyler; and these copies, or exemplifications thereof, are from thenceforth received, accredited, and considered in all courts and places as evidence, and have the same force and effect as the original records, or exemplifications thereof, could or would have. All the county officers for Schuyler county, authorised by law to be elected, were elected at the then next general election in the state; and the officers elected thereat held their offices respectively for the term, as provided by law, for the offices to which they were elected, estimating the time from the first day of January next after their election.

The county courts and general sessions of the peace, and also the circuit courts and courts of oyer and terminer, and general jail-delivery in and for the county of Schuyler, were to be held at the court-house to be erected in the county in pursuance of the Act erecting said county; and until then these courts were to be held at such place in the county as the board of supervisors thereof, or a majority of them, should appoint in writing under their hands, which appointment should be entered on the minutes of said board at least thirty days before the time of holding said court, and the clerk of said board should immediately cause a copy of

such appointment to be published in all of the newspapers printed in the county. The prisoners of the county should be confined in the jail of the county of Chemung until the jail to be erected should be furnished in such manner as in the opinion of the sheriff of the county would confine the prisoners, when it should be lawful for the sheriff to remove and commit them to the jail of the county of Schuyler, and the account of the sheriff of the county of Chemung, for the custody, maintenance, and detention of all such prisoners as might be thus committed to his charge, should be audited, levied, collected, and paid in the same manner as other contingent expenses of said county. There should be appointed in and for the county of Schuyler, in the manner. provided by law, two "commissioners for loaning certain moneys of the United States" of the county of Schuyler; immediately after such commissioners should have qualified and given the bonds required by law, there should be transferred and delivered to them, and for their care and management, all the mortgages executed to, or in the custody of, such commissioners for either of the counties of Steuben, Chemung, and Tompkins, covering lands within the territory of the county of Schuyler; and thereafter the commissioners should exercise the same powers, and be subject to the same duties and responsibilities in relation to said mortgages, as if the same had been originally taken by, and executed to, them, the said commissioners of Schuyler, as such commissioners.

In 1881, all that territory comprised within the limits of the North Brothers Island, being the northerly island of the islands called the Two Brothers, in the county of Queens, with the inhabitants and estates therein, were set off from the county of Queens, annexed to, merged in,

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