ing Long Island, Staten Island, and the present Westchester County; and, following the local style of old Yorkshire, in England, he subdivided this district into three so-called " Hidings " -- the ''East," "West," and "North." The East Hiding consisted of the present Suffolk County; the West Hiding, of Staten Island, the present Kings County, and the Town of Newtown, in the present Queens County; and the North Hiding, of the remainder of the present Queens County, together with the Westchester plantation. The first official (as well as popular) name for our county, of more than mere local application, was " the portion of the North Hiding on the main." But the Long Island jurisdiction extended only to flu1 Bronx, the settlements which later sprang up west of that stream being under the government of Harlem and New York City until Westchester County came into existence, in 1GS3. Governor Nicolls, after proclaiming the Duke of York as lord proprietor of the province, and exacting recognition of him as such, which was readily forthcoming (Stuyvesant, and the leading Dutch citizens generally, subscribing to the oath of allegiance), permitted the former order of things to continue with as little interference as possible. With the transfer of sovereignty, however, it became necessary to issue new land patents to existing owners, extinguishing the condition in the old deeds that lands were held under allegiance to the Dutch West India Company, and instituting instead the authority of the new regime. This formality was provided for in the celebrated code known as "The Duke's Laws," adopted by an assembly of delegates from the towns of the province held at Hempstead in the summer of 1665. It was prescribed that "all persons whatsoever who may have any grants or patents of townships, lands, or houses, within this government, shall bring in the said grants or patents to the said governor and shall have them renewed by authority from his Loyal Highness, the Duke of York, before the next Court of Assizes.