QUIT-RENTS

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As quit-rents have become obsolete, and many persons are ignorant of their nature, a short explanation may not be out of place here. They appear to have originated under the feudal system in England, when all the lands were supposed to belong to the king, and those who occupied them were allowed to do so in consideration of personal services of various kinds, but chiefly those of a military character. These were not always rendered immediately to the king, but often to an intermediate class, as the barons, who in turn were tenants of the king. From this arose the custom of paying a fee or fine in lieu of personal service, and by a quit-rent it is to be understood that the tenant goes quit or free of further service. In the course of time this institution, like many others, lost its original significance, and at the time William Penn sold lands in Pennsylvania quit-rents were probably regarded as the best means of securing a permanent income to himself and family. He says, in his proposals to the early purchasers: "The shares I sell be certain as to the number of acres; that is to say. every one shall contain five thousand acres; the price one hundred pounds; and for the quit-rent, one English shilling, or the value of it yearly, for a hundred acres; which such as will may now, or hereafter, buy off to an inconsiderable matter; but as I hold by a small rent of the King, so all must hold of me by a small rent for their own security," etc.

The charter for Pennsylvania prescribed the payment to the king, his heirs and successors, "two beaver skins to bee delivered att our said Castle of Windsor, on the first day of Januarie, in every yeare; and also the fifth parte of all Gold and Silver Oare, which shall from time to time happen to be found within the Limitts aforesaid, cleare of all Charges."

The privilege of buying off the quit-rent to a small amount was embraced by some of the early purchasers of large amounts of land in Pennsylvania, but does not appear to have been continued by William Penn's successors. The "London Company" purchased 60,000 acres, on which the quit-rent was to be two beaver skins per annum, while the "Free Society of Traders" obtained 20,000 acres, and other purchasers 101,760 more, at a quit-rent of one shilling for each thousand acres. By the patent-books it appears that the land in Chester County was patented, under various quit-rents, in the following amounts: At one shilling per hundred acres, 262,031; at one shilling per thousand acres, 13,524; at one penny per acre, 3,933; at a half penny per acre, 86,612; at a bushel of wheat per hundred acres, 5,904; various tracts of 200, 93, 73, 202, 201, 200, 400, 200 and 10 acres at one shilling each; 900 acres at a peppercorn; 124 acres at three bushels of wheat; 491 acres at 10 bushels per annum.

A list was kept of all owners of lands, with situation, number of acres, etc., and this was called the rent-roll. A special officer, styled the Receiver General, had charge of this branch of the Proprietary interests, and at stated times visited the different counties to receive the quit-rents. In the very early times, when money was scarce, the rents were often paid in wheat or other grain, and when colonial paper money came into use it was at a discount, so that a nominally greater sum was required to be equivalent to the sterling English money specified in the patent.

The quit-rents were regarded as a grievance by the landholders, who avoided payment as much as possible, so that it was frequently necessary for the collectors to appeal to the law to gain what was due. After the Revolution the State of Pennsylvania paid a large sum of money to the heirs of William Penn to compensate them for the loss of the quit-rents, which were then abolished.