Raab v. State

Tuck, J., delivered the opinion of this court. We are to determine in this case whether Baltimore city and Anne Arundel county are adjoining jurisdictions. By the act of 1698, ch. 13, Baltimore county embraced a considerable portion of what is now within the lines of Anne Arundel county; but by the act of 1726, ch. 1, it is declared, that “ from and after the last day of May 1727, the land lying on the south side of Patapsco river, and contained within the bounds following, viz: From the mouth of the said Patapsco river, with the said river to the head thereof, and from thence bounding on the south side of the main falls, &c., (fee., shall be, and forever hereafter deemed, as part of Anne Arundel county.” It is manifest that the river, after this act, remained as it bad been for many years, within the limits of Baltimore county, and that the jurisdiction of these counties adjoined on its southern shore, unless affected by the act of 1704, ch. 92, which provides, “ that every county lying on any navigable river in this Province, shall extend its jurisdiction from the shore to the channel of such river that divides the county, and be divided from the other county by the channel of said river;” and, under this act, if applicable, the river, as far as the channel, remained in Baltimore county, and subject to the jurisdiction of its courts. ⁴⁹⁸ It is insisted on the part of the State, that because Baltimore city is a separate jurisdiction under the present constitution, the act of 1704, ch. 92, applies to it, and that by its terms and proper construction, it joins Anne Arundel county at the channel of the river. We are of opinion, that the present case does not depend on that act of Assembly, for the reasons about to be stated.

It is clear, that the act could have had no other effect than to enlarge the limits of Anne Arundel county to ihe channel, and that it did not extend the line of Baltimore county into the river. If it operated on these counties at all, its effect was to restrict the southern line of Baltimore county to the channel, and not to-assign to it any jurisdiction not previously possessed. Before the'act, this county had within its limits all the river, and afterwards, at least as far as the channel. In this state of things, the acts ofY816, chaps. 193 and 209, were passed: the formerfor the establishment of Baltimore city court and the latter to enlarge the bounds of Baltimore city.

By chapter 209 it is provided, that the precincts of Baltimore city and all that part of Baltimore county which is included within certain metes and bounds, shall be annexed to, and made part of, the city. The southern and western liipits—all that is material in this case—extend from the Lazeretto lot “ to the most southern part of Whetstone point on the main branch of the Patapsco river, and running with and bounding on the said main branch, (excludiug the fort,) to the place called the Ferry point, being the junction of the said main branch with the middle branch aforesaid,