the said premises to the said Anthony Lamb, who after the purchase made by him as aforesaid, contracted on behalf of the said George Clinton for the sale of the said premises, and received part of the consideration money, but is, on account of the matters herein before set forth, unable to execute a legal conveyance pursuant to the said contract.

That others of the said lots were duly sold and conveyed, but the premises were mislocated by the surveyor of the grantors, who encroached in a line of several miles about twelve rods on a neighboring range of farms, leaving out a like quantity on the opposite side. That the purchasers after an expensive controversy lost the twelve rods on one side without being able to recover to their proper bounds on the other side, the lands being held adversely for many years; and there are other difficulties arising and likely to arise from erroneous surveying;. all of which will require to be adjusted with the respective purchasers:

That controversies arose during the life time of the said George Clinton between him acting for himself and the other parties interested as herein before set forth, on the one part, and the heirs of William Smith, late chief justice of Lower Canada, of the other part, respecting several of the said lots, in which the heirs of the said William Smith claim an undivided moiety, some of which lots have been sold and conveyed by the said George Clinton, or by him and the said John M'Kesson, and the considerations paid or mortgages taken for them; that the said George Clinton and the heirs of William Smith agreed to refer the decision of the said claim to arbitrators, and that if the said claim was found to be valid, the remaining unsold lots should be sold, and the proceeds of the whole divided accordingly, the heirs of the said William Smith executing releases to quiet the possession of those holding under the said George Clinton, and he the said George joining with the heirs of the said William Smith in the conveyance of the remaining unsold lots; but that a decision on this claim was postponed. until some title deeds could be brought from Quebec, and remain yet to be adjusted.

That the said George Clinton had before his death entered into contracts and made agreements with different persons for the sale of real property of which he was seised in his own right, but had omitted or neglected to execute legal conveyances conformably to such contracts; and had also caused to be sold certain property mortgaged to him pursuant to a power contained in the mortgages of the said property, but had died without executing conveyances to the purchasers under such sale, and had also caused to be advertised for sale agreeably to similar powers other property mortgaged to him, but died before the time specified in the respective advertisements for

such sales.

That in consequence of the minority of some of the heirs of the said George Clinton, there is no person legally authorised to adjust the aforesaid just and equitable demands against them, or to execute conveyances conformably to the aforesaid contracts, or to complete the sales of the aforesaid property; and that although the purchasers under the said contracts and sales may

G

probably be able to enforce the execution of the said convey. ances, or any other of their just demands, through the court of chancery, or some of the other courts of this state; yet it can only be accomplished by oppressively numerous and tedious law suits, the delay of which would very injuriously tend to prevent the final settlement and distribution of the property to which the said petitioners have become entitled as aforesaid, and the expense of which would waste and dissipate the property of the said petitioners to their manifest loss and grievous injury, although they admit the justice of the aforesaid claims and demands, and would give no more opposition to any suit instituted for enforcing them than what the rules of the respective courts necessarily exact where infants are parties.

That it will be advisable and advantageous to them all to have an amicable partition of the real estate of the said late George Clinton, but which cannot be effected by any proceedings in the ordinary courts without very great expense and delay on account of the scattered state of the property, by means whereof the division of the said property, would be exceedingly retarded, and the amount of the estate, which the said petitioners have inherited as heirs of the said George Clinton, would be very much diminished.

That a partition was heretofore made between the said George Clinton and John Jacob Astor, of certain property (of which an undivided moiety was purchased by the said John Jacob Astor of the said George Clinton, and sold and conveyed to the said John Jacob Astor) situate in the village of Greenwich, near New-York, and of which partition was made and executed with a view to the position of certain streets by and between them agreed upon, laid out, and by them to be opened through the said property, but that the streets and avenues as they have since been laid out by the commissioners appointed under an act of the legislature of this state, intersect and cut up the said property in a manner extremely prejudicial to all parties, and that it will be very much to the interest of the said petitioners to have a new partition made of the said property with reference to the streets and avenues so laid out by the commissioners as aforesaid, but that the same cannot at present be done in consequence of the minority of some of the said petitioners, and the legal incapacity of any one to execute releases or conveyances which would be binding on such of the said petitioners as are under age as aforesaid.

And the said petitioners by their said petition pray for an act of the legislature of this state, enabling the said George W. Clinton, Matthias B. Talmadge, Stephen D. Beekman and Edmund C. Genet, and the survivors and survivor of them, to execute sufficient conveyances of all such property as the said George Clinton had entered into contracts or made agreements for selling as aforesaid; and also of all such property as the said George Clinton had caused to be sold or advertised for sale, or as it may be necessary hereafter to sell or advertise for sale pursuant to the powers contained in mortgages made or assigned to the said George Clinton or to the said George Clinton and John M'Kesson as aforesaid, and to adjust all claims and differences arising from erroneous surveying or mislocations as

1

aforesaid, and to adjust and settle the controversy now existing and yet undecided with the heirs of the said William Smith as aforesaid, and to execute all necessary conveyances for effectuating the aforesaid objects to all intents and purposes in the law; and also enabling them the said George W. Clinton, Matthias B. Talmadge, Stephen D. Beekman and Edmund C. Genet, and the survivors and survivor of them, to make partition a new with the said John Jacob Astor for the said petitioners of the said property in Greenwich, and to receive and execute releases of any parts thereof for and on behalf of the said petitioners; and also enabling the said Edmund C. Genet, for and on behalf of the petitioners his children, to join in making an amicable partition of the undivided real estate of which the said George Clinton died seised as aforesaid, among the heirs of the said George Clinton, and for that purpose to receive and execute releases of any parts thereof for and on behalf of the said petitioners the children of the said Edmund C. Genet; and enacting that all such conveyances or releases so executed by the said George W. Clinton, Matthias B. Talmadge, Stephen D. Beekman, and Edmund C. Genet, or the survivors or survivor of them, and all such releases so executed by the said Edmund C. Genet as aforesaid shall be to all intents and purposes binding and obligatory on the heirs and next of kin of the said George Clinton, in the same manner as if the said heirs were of full age and parties thereto : Therefore,

G. Clinton

lands how to

I. BE it enacted by the people of the state of New-York, rep- Contractienresented in Senate and Assembly, That it shall and may be tered into by lawful for the said George W. Clinton, Matthias B. Talmadge, for the sale of Stephen D. Beekman and Edmund C. Genet, and the survivors be confirmed. and survivor of them, to execute conveyances of, and to convey and grant all such property as the said George Clinton had entered into contracts or agreements for selling as in the above recited petition is set forth; and also all such property as the said George Clinton had in his life time caused to be sold or advertised for sale, pursuant to the powers contained in mortgages made or assigned to the said George Clinton, or to the said George Clinton and John M'Kesson, as in the before recited petition is set forth: Provided nevertheless, That no such con- Provife. veyances shall convey or grant any greater or larger estate than is expressed in the contract or agreement made or entered into by the said George Clinton, or in the power contained in the mortgage in pursuance of which such conveyance shall purport to be made.

Lands, &c.

Clinton by

II. Be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the said George W. Clinton, Matthias B. Talmadge, Stephen D. secured to G. Beekman and Edmund C. Genet, and the survivors or survivor of mortgage them, to advertise for sale, and to sell all such property as they may be sold. or such survivors or survivor shall from time to time judge it expedient and advisable to sell for any debt or debts secured by a mortgage made or assigned to the said George Clinton, or to the said George Clinton and John M'Kesson, as is set forth in the before recited petition, and to convey and grant such property so advertised and sold to such person or persons as may be purchaser or purchasers thereof, or of any part or parts thereof respectively: Provided, That the said last mentioned property be Proviso.

Certain claims how

ed.

advertised and sold pursuant to the power contained in the said mortgage made or assigned as aforesaid, and in the manner and conformably to the regulations which at the times of publishing such advertisements and making such sale shall be required by law with respect to the sale of mortgaged property under a power in the mortgage.

III. Be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawto be adjust ful for the said George W. Clinton, Matthias B. Talmadge, Stephen D. Beekman and Edmund C. Genet, and the survivors or survivor of them, to adjust all claims or differences which have arisen or may hereafter arise from erroneous surveying or mislocations, as is set forth in the before recited petition, and to adjust and settle the controversy set forth in the before mentioned petition to be now existing and yet undecided with the heirs of the said William Smith, and to execute all necessary conveyances for the final adjustment and settlement of the several claims, differences and controversies in this section mentioned or referred to.

Property in Greenwich how to be partitioned.

Commission

ers to make partition of the estate of

G. Clinton.

IV. Be it further enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the said George W. Clinton, Matthias B. Talmadge, Stephen D. Beekman and Edmund C. Genet, and the survivors or survivor of them, to make partition anew, for and on behalf of the heirs of the said George Clinton deceased, with John Jacob Astor in the before recited petition mentioned, of the property situated in the village of Greenwich near New-York, also in the said petition mentioned; and to accept and execute such releases or other conveyances of any part or parts thereof, for and on behalf of the heirs of the said George Clinton, as may be necessary for effectuating the aforesaid partition.

V. Be it further enacted, That Pierre C. Van Wyck,. John M'Kesson and Thomas Addis Emmet shall be and they are hereby nominated and appointed commissioners for dividing in a fair and equitable manner among the said George W. Clinton, Elizabeth Talmadge, Maria Beekman, and the children of the said Edmund C. Genet, according to their respective rights and interests in the same, all and singular the lands, tenements and real estate of which the said George Clinton died seised in his own right as in the said petition is set forth, except the aforesaid property in the village of Greenwich, near New-York, and also for dividing such property in the said village of Greenwich as shall fall to the heirs of the said George Clinton, and as they shall be scised of after executing the partition with the said John Jacob Astor as aforesaid; and also so much of the said property of which the said George Clinton was seised for himself and the said Peter and Christoper Tappen, James, Alexander and William M'Kesson, and Patrick Ried as aforesaid, as shall fall to the heirs of the said George Clinton, if the said property shail hereafter be divided between them and the other tenants in common thereof during the minority of any of the heirs of the said George Clinton, and that the said commissioners or any two of them cause such surveys and maps of the said lands to be made by such surveyor or surveyors as they or a majority of them shall appoint, in such manner as that there shall be contained in any one of the said surveys or maps only such of the said lands as lie immediately contiguous and ad

THIRTY-SIXTH SESSION.

joining, and to divide the lands contained in each of the said surveys and maps into any number of lots as nearly equal in quantity and quality as possible, so as that the said lots shall be marked or expressed in each survey and map, and the number of them in each survey and map shall be either four, or some other number that will divide by four, without leaving a remainder, a true copy of each of which said surveys and maps, subscribed by the said commissioners, or any two of them, shall be filed in the office of the secretary of this state, and in the office of the clerk of each of the counties in which any part of the land contained in the said survey and map shall be situated; and after each of the said surveys and maps shall have been filed as aforesaid, in order that the division of the lands therein contained shall be duly made and performed, the said commissioners, or any two of them, shall in the first place make a division of the lots expressed in the said survey and map into four parts, by setting down upon four separate tickets the number of the said lots in such manner as to make the said four parts as nearly equal as possible in quantity and quality, which tickets shall be put into a box, and four other tickets shall be put into another box, one of the said tickets marked with the name of the said George W. Clinton, another of the said tickets marked with the name of the said Elizabeth Talmadge, another of the said tickets marked with the name of the said Maria Beekman, and another of the said tickets marked" children of Cornelia T. Genet;" and the said tickets shall thereupon be drawn out of the said boxes alternately, first a ticket with the number of lots and then a ticket of names, by an indifferent person to be appointed by the said commissioners, or any two of them, in the presence of one or more of the judges of the supreme court; and the several lots mentioned in the ticket drawn immediately before the ticket bearing the name of the said George W. Clinton, shall in every instance upon such balloting, vest in severalty in the said George W. Clinton, his heirs and assigns for ever; and in like manner the lots mentioned in the ticket drawn immediately before the ticket bearing the name of the said Elizabeth Talmadge, shall in every instance upon such balloting vest in severalty in the said Elizabeth Talmadge, her heirs and assigns for ever; and in like manner the lots mentioned in the ticket drawn immediately before the ticket bearing the name of the said Maria Beekman, shall in every instance upon such balloting vest in severalty in the said Maria Beekman, her heirs and assigns for ever; and in like manner the lots mentioned in the ticket drawn immediately before the ticket bearing the words" children of Cornelia T. Genet," shall in every instance upon such balloting vest exclusively in the children of the said Cornelia T. Genet and of the said Edmund C. Genet, as tenants in common, and in their heirs and assigns for ever, as an inheritance coming to them on the part of their mother the said Cornelia T. Genet; and all the lands to be divided by virtue of this act shall be divided among his heirs in the manner herein before set forth, so as that the said George W. Clinton, Elizabeth Talmadge and Maria Beekman shall respectively be and become each of them seised in fee in severalty of all and singu-lar the lots of land marked or expressed in the ticket or tickets

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