Research

Administrative History

The Commissioners to Extinguish Claims against Land Sold by the State were empowered by legislative acts of 1799 and 1801 to examine and settle any legal claims against land sold by the State of New York. A 1799 act gave this authority to the Commissioners of the Land Office; legislation enacted in 1801 transferred the authority to the Comptroller, Attorney General, and Surveyor General, or any two of them. Most if not all the claims considered by the commissioners arose from sale of Loyalist lands by the Commissioners of Forfeitures during and after the Revolution. The claims usually were based on erroneous sales of lands not subject to forfeiture or on dower rights of widows of Loyalists. Some erroneous sales stemmed from forfeitures later determined to be void because property owners were adjudged guilty of treason after the peace treaty with Great Britain was signed. The widow's dower right to the income of one-third of her spouse's property was not subject to forfeiture.