The numbers in which the arithmetical error before mentioned
showed itself in the table, at the end of the report, have been
rectified, and the table re-printed.
The head of superficial measures in the last part of the
report, is thought to be not sufficiently developed. It is proposed
that the rood of land, being 100 feet square, (and nearly a quarter
of the present acre,) shall be the unit of land measure. This will
naturally be divided into tenths and hundredths, the latter of which
will be a square decad. Its multiples will also, of course, be tens,
which may be called double acres, and hundreds, which will be equal
to a square furlong each. The surveyor's chain should be composed of
100 links of one foot each.
_Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank_
February 15, 1791
The bill for establishing a National Bank undertakes among
other things: --
1.the subscribers into a corporation.
2. To enable them in their corporate capacities to receive
grants of land; and so far is against the laws of _Mortmain_. (*)
(*) Though the Constitution controls the laws of Mortmain so
far as to permit Congress itself to hold land for certain purposes,
yet not so far as to permit them to communicate a similar right to
other corporate bodies.
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