State of Maryland v. State of West Virginia
| Decision Date | 21 February 1910 |
| Docket Number | O,No. 1,1 |
| Citation | 54 L.Ed. 645,217 U.S. 1,30 S.Ct. 268 |
| Parties | STATE OF MARYLAND, Complainant, v. STATE OF WEST VIRGINIA. riginal |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Messrs. Edward H. sincell, Isaac Lobe straus, and William H. Rawls for complainant.
[Argument of Counsel from pages 2-12 intentionally omitted]
Messrs. George E. Price and William G. Conley for defendant.
[Argument of Counsel from pages 12-22 intentionally omitted]
This case originates in a bill filed by the state of Maryland, October 12, 1891, against the state of West Virginia, invoking the original jurisdiction of this court, conferred by the Constitution for the settlement of controversies between states. At its January session of 1890 the general assembly of the
state of Maryland passed an act authorizing and directing its attorney general to take such steps as might be necessary to obtain a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States which would settle the controversy between the states of Maryland and West Virginia concerning the true location of that portion of the boundary line between the two states lying between Garrett county, Maryland, and Preston county, West Virginia.
Preston county, West Virginia, was erected out of Monongalia county, Virginia, in the year 1818. Garrett county, Maryland, was erected out of the western portion of Alleghany county under chapter 212 of the Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Maryland of 1872.
The boundary in controversy runs between the two states from the head waters of the Potomac to the Pennsylvania line.
The bill of complaint states the foundation of the Maryland title to be the charter granted on June 20, 1632, by King Charles I. of England to Cecilius Calvert, Baron of Baltimore, all rights under which, it is averred, have vested in the complainant, the state of Maryland. Virginia, it is alleged, by her first Constitution of June 29, 1776, disclaimed all rights to property, jurisdiction, and government over the territory described in the charter of Maryland and the other colonies, in the following terms:
'The territories contained within the charters erecting the colonies of Maryland, Pennsylvania, North and South Carolina, are hereby ceded, released, and forever confirmed to the people of those colonies respectively, with all the rights of property, jurisdiction, and government, and all other rights whatsoever which might, at any time heretofore, have been claimed by Virginia, except the free navigation and use of the rivers Potomac and Pokomoke, with the property of the Virginia shores or strands bordering on either of the said rivers, and all improvements which have been or shall be made thereon.'
The bill also recites complainant's title to the South Branch of the Potomac river. It avers the failure to settle the true location of the boundary line in dispute with West Virginia, which state succeeded to the rights and title of Virginia. The bill charges that the state of West Virginia is wrongly in possession, of, and exercising jurisdiction over, a large part of the territory rightfully belonging to Maryland; that the true line of the western boundary of Maryland is a meridian running south to the first or most distant fountain of the Potomac river, and that such true line is several miles south and west of the line which the state of West Virginia claims, and over which she has attempted to exercise territorial jurisdiction.
The state of West Virginia filed an answer and cross bill, in which she sets up her claim concerning the boundary in dispute between the states, and says that the true boundary line, long recognized and established, is the one known as the 'Deakins' line, and in the answer and cross bill she prays to have that line established as the true line between the states. She also alleges in her cross bill that the north bank of the Potomac river, from above Harper's Ferry to what is known as the Fairfax stone, is the true boundary between the states; that West Virginia should be awarded jurisdiction over that portion of the river to the north bank thereof.
There is much documentary and other evidence in the record bearing upon the contention that the South Branch of the Potomac river is the true southern boundary of Maryland, but in the briefs and arguments made on behalf of Maryland in this case the claim for the South Branch of the Potomac as the true boundary is not pressed, and the controversy is narrowed to the differences in the location of the boundary, taking the North Branch of the Potomac river as the true southern boundary line of Maryland.
As we have already said, the contention of the state of Maryland is rested upon the construction of the charter granted by King Charles I., June 20, 1632, to Lord Baltimore.
The part of the charter necessary to consider is here given in the original Latin, and the translation thereof, as the same is contended for in the brief filed for the state of Maryland:
Western and Southern Boundaries, Which Calls Are as Follows, to Wit:
Transuendo a dicto aestuario vocato Delaware Bay recta linea per gradum praedictum usque ad verum Meridianum primi Fontis Fluminis de Pottomack deinde vergendo versus Meridiem ad ulteriorem dicti Fluminis Ripam et eam sequendo qua Plaga occidentalis ad Meridianalis [qu. plagam occidentalem et meridianalem] spectat usque ad Locum quendam appelatum Cinquack prope ejusdem Fluminis Ostium scituatum ubi in praefatum Sinum de Chessopeake evolvitur ac inde per Lineam brevissimam usque ad praedictum Promontorium sive Locum vocatum Watkin's Point.
Going from the said estuary called Delaware bay in a right line in the degree aforesaid to the true meridian of the first fountain of the river Potomac, then tending downward towards the south to the farther bank of the said river, and following it to where it faces the western and southern coasts as far as to a certain place called Cinquack, situate near the mouth of the same river, where it discharges itself in the aforenamed bay of Chesapeake, and thence by the shortest line as far as the aforesaid promontory or place called Watkin's Point.
There is some difference in the record as to the true Latin text and the translation thereof. For our purpose it is sufficient to consider that presented by the state of Maryland in the language above set forth. It is to be observed that the purpose of this part of the grant was to locate the northern line of the state of Maryland from Delaware bay 'to the true meridian of the first fountain of the river Potomac, then tending downward toward the south to the farther bank of said river, and following it to where it faces the western and
southern coasts as far as to a certain place called Cinquack,' etc.
It is the contention of the state of Maryland that the controversy between her and the state of West Virginia is narrowed to a proper location of the true meridian from the first fountain head of the Potomac river, which, being located, will effectually settle the boundary line in dispute. The claim of the state of Maryland may be further illustrated by a consideration of the plate exhibited in the brief filed in behalf of that state, which is herewith given:
It is to be noted in considering this plate that the north and south line at the left is called the Potomac meridian, running from a certain point designated as the Potomac stone. It is insisted for the state of Maryland that the spring at this point most nearly fulfils the terms of the Lord Baltimore charter, in that it properly locates the true meridian of the first fountain head of the Potomac river, and following it according to the description in the grant, embraces said river to its farther bank as the true boundary of Maryland.
On the other hand, West Virginia contends that the true head of the river Potomac is at the Fairfax stone, and that the boundary should be located by a line from the spring at that point; and that such has long been the recognized boundary line between Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland. The distance from the Fairfax meridian to the Potomac meridian is about 1 1/4 miles, and the distance to the Pennsylvania line about 37 miles.
It may be true that the meridian line from the Potomac stone, in the light of what is now known of that region of country, more fully answers the calls in the original charter than does a meridian line starting from the Fairfax stone. But it is to be remembered that the grant to Lord Baltimore was made when the region of the country intended to be conveyed was little known was wild and uninhabited, had never been surveyed or chartered, and the location of the upper part of the Potomac river was only a matter of conjecture.
pared and published by Captain John Smith, upon which only a very small part of the Potomac river is shown, and
from which we get no light as to the true source and course of the upper reaches of the Potomac river. The so-called Potomac stone was neither set nor located until 1897, six years after the beginning of this suit, when it was put in place by the surveyor in this case, on the part of the state of Maryland. He then set a monument designated as the 'Potomac stone,' and gave the name Potomac to the spring at the origin of that fork of the Potomac river. The so-called Potomac meridian was run by the same engineer, located and named by him in the year 1897.
The Fairfax stone, which is shown at the beginning of the north and south line in plate No. 1, has a history and importance in this case which renders it necessary to note something of its origin and location. Without going into a history of the prior grants in Virginia, we come...
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