Forasmuch as there have been many disputes and controversies for a long time, concerning the titles to a great part of the lands in the eastern parts of this province [electronic resource] : many of which are claimed by vertue of ancient grants and conveyances from the native Indians, most of which controversies are occasioned by said conveyances; and many of them are still subsisting, to the great disquiet and vexation of such as are concerned in those titles; and since the acts and laws of the several governments of the late colonies of New-Plymouth, the Massachusetts-Bay, and of this province, relating to such grants and conveyances, are in the hands of but few people, especially of those who are most nearly concerned therein; it is therefore apprehended, that the printing and dispersing of extracts and collections of those acts, laws and orders, made from the first and earliest settlement of those colonies, down to the present times, will be of considerable service to the concerned, more especially such of them as dwell in those eastern parts, by giving them at once, a clear and full view of the laws, in any manner or degree affecting those conveyances and titles, as follows, viz.