Pages 54-68 
|  Pages 112-137
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| Pages 54-68
| Pages 112-137
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| CHAP. XVIII. | ||
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| I. WHEREAS the act passed in the twenty second year of the reign of his late majesty king George the second for amending the staple of tobacco and preventing frauds in his majesty's customs, is, from the many alterations made therein by the several acts since passed for amending and continuing the same, rendered difficult to be understood, whereby many penalties may be incurred, and this present general assembly having thought it expedient that the said laws should be reduced into one act. | Preamble. | |
| II. Be it therefore enacted, by the Lieutenant-Governour, Council, and Burgesses, of this present General Assembly, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That for the more effectual preventing the exportation of trash, bad, unsound, and unmerchantable tobacco, all tobacco which from and after the commencement of this act shall be exported out of this colony (except only such tobacco as hath been, or shall be, viewed and inspected according to the directions of the laws now in force) shall be first brought to come or one of the publick warehouses herein after mentioned, and shall be there viewed and inspected in manner as herein after is expressed. | All tobacco to be brought to a warehouse. | |
| III. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That no person shall put on board or receive into any ship, sloop, boat, or other vessel, in order to be exported therein, any tobacco not packed in hogsheads or casks, upon any pretence whatsoever; nor in any hogshead or cask, to be in that, or any ship, sloop, boat, or other vessel, exported out of this colony before the same shall have been viewed and inspected according to the directions of this act, except as before excepted: but that all tobacco whatsoever to be received or taken on board any ship, sloop, or other vessel, and | All tobacco to be exported shall be packed in casks, and inspected. | |
| * In the original, the running title of the acts of this session, is "Anno Regni quarto Georgii tertii regis, and in the margin A. D. 1764, until you come to this place, when it is altered to quinto, and A. D. 1765, in the margin. |
| to be therein exported, or to be carried or put on board any other ship, sloop, or other vessel, for exportation, as aforesaid, shall be received or taken on board at the several warehouses for that purpose herein after mentioned, or some or one of them, and at no other place or places whatsoever. And every master, mate, or boatswain, of any ship or other vessel which shall arrive in this colony, in order to load tobacco during the continuance of this act, shall before the said ship or vessel be permitted to take on board any tobacco whatsoever, make oath before the naval officer of the district wherein such ship or vessel shall arrive (which oath the said naval officer is hereby empowered and required to administer) that they will not permit any tobacco whatsoever to be taken on board their respective ships or vessels except the same be packed in hogsheads or casks stamped by some inspector legally thereunto appointed, which oath they shall subscribe in a book to be kept by the naval officer for that purpose. And if any master shall cause any person who is not really and bona fide mate or boatswain to come on shore and take such oath, he shall for the said offence forfeit and pay twenty pounds. And if any master or commander of any ship or vessel shall take on board, or suffer to be taken on board, the ship or vessel whereof his is master, any tobacco brought from any other place than some or one of the publick warehouses herein after mentioned, or any hogshead or cask of tobacco not stamped by some lawful inspectors, or shall suffer to be brought on board any tobacco, except in hogsheads or casks stamped as aforesaid, every such master and commander shall forfeit and pay twenty pounds of lawful money for every hogshead or cask of tobacco which shall not have been brought from one of the said publick warehouses, or which shall not be stamped as aforesaid, and moreover every such hogshead or cask of tobacco shall be forfeited. | The oath of masters of vessels intending to load with tobacco. Penalty on such master. |
| IV. And for as much as the permitting tobacco in bulk or parcels to be waterborn, on pretence of being carried to the warehouses established by this act, may give great opportunity to the clandestine running the same on board the ships lying at or near the said warehouses, whereby the evil of exporting trash tobacco may be sill continued: Be it further enacted, if any person taking upon himself to carry any tobacco to or from any of the said | No tobacco to be taken on board any vessel in bulk or parcels. |
| warehouses, in his sloop, boat, or other vessel, for hire, shall presume to take on board, or permit or suffer to be taken on board, any tobacco whatsoever in bulk or parcels, such tobacco shall not only be forfeited, and may be seized by any person or persons whatsoever, but the master or skipper offending herein shall forfeit and pay twenty shillings for every hundred pounds weight of such tobacco, and so proportionably for a greater or lesser quantity; and the master or commander of any ship or vessel wherein any tobacco in bulk or parcels shall be found, shall, over and above the forfeiture thereof, be subject and liable to the same penalty; to be recovered, if it doth not exceed five pounds, before any two justices of the peace of any county (one of them to be of the quorum) near the place where such ship, sloop, boat or other vessel shall lie, and if it exceeds five pounds, in any court of record, by action of debt, wherein the plaintiff shall recover his costs. And every servant, slave, or other person employed in navigating any such sloop, boat, or other vessel, who shall connive at, or conceal, the taking or receiving on board any tobacco in bulk or parcel as aforesaid, shall, by order of such justices, receive on his bare back thirty nine lashes, well laid on; and if such sloop, boat, or other vessel, be under the care and management of a servant who cannot satisfy and pay the said penalty, then such servant, and every other person employed under him who shall be guilty of conniving at, or concealing, the taking on board tobacco in bulk or parcel as aforesaid, shall, upon complaint thereof made to any justice of the peace, have and receive, by order of the said justice, thirty nine lashes, well laid on. And if any servant shall be again trusted with the care and management of any sloop, boat, or vessel, and shall be convicted a second time of taking or receiving on board the same any tobacco in bulk or parcel, contrary to the directions of this act, the owner of such servant shall forfeit and pay the like sum of twenty shillings for every hundred pounds weight of such tobacco so taken or received on board in bulk or parcel, and shall also forfeit and pay five shillings for every day such servant shall thereafter be employed as skipper or master of any sloop, boat, or other vessel to him belonging; to be recovered, and applied, as aforesaid. | |
| V. Provided always, That nothing herein before contained shall be construed to prohibit any person from | Except in these instances. |
| carrying, or causing to be carried, to the said warehouses, in any boat or other vessel, any tobacco in bulk or parcels for the payment of his or her levies, debts, or other duties; nor to prohibit any person to put or take on board any sloop, boat, or other vessel, any hogsheads or casks of tobacco, to be water-born to any warehouse or warehouses appointed by this act, so as the same be not carried out of the naval officer's district wherein the said tobacco shall be made; nor to prohibit the owner of any tobacco to transport his crops, or any part thereof, in hogsheads or casks, from one plantation to another, for the better handling or managing thereof; nor any purchaser of tobacco from bringing the same by water to be repacked, sorted stemmed, or prized, before the same be carried to the said warehouses, so as such last mentioned tobacco be packed in hogsheads or casks: But no tobacco, on any pretence whatsoever, shall be carried or transported by water to be inspected out of the district limited and appointed for the several naval officers of this colony wherein the same is or shall be made; or, being so carried, shall not be inspected or passed by any inspectors, knowing the same to be made out of such district, upon pain of forfeiting, by the owner of such tobacco, and the inspectors who shall pass the same, twenty shillings for every hogshead, to the informer. | |
| VI. Provided nevertheless, That it shall and may be lawful for the inhabitants of Fleet's Bay, on the south side of Indian creek, in the county of Lancaster, to carry their tobacco by water to the publick warehouses at Indian creek; and the inhabitants of Warrasqueak bay, and the parts adjacent, to carry their tobacco to be passed at any warehouse in the upper district of James river. | Proviso relating to the inhabitants on Fleet's and Warrasqueak bays. |
| VII. And be it further enacted, That every master of a ship or vessel wherein tobacco shall be laden, shall, at the time of clearing, deliver to the naval officers two fair manifests of all the tobacco on board his ship or vessel, expressing the marks and numbers of every hogshead, and the tare and neat weight stamped thereon, the person by whom shipped, and from what warehouse, and shall make oath thereto; and that the same is a just and true account of the marks, numbers, tare, and neat weight, of each respective hogshead, as the same was taken down by the person or persons appointed by him to take the same, before the said tobacco | Masters of vessels to give into the naval officers manifest of their tobacco on oath. |
| was stowed away: And no ship or vessel shall be cleared by the naval officer before he shall be received such lists and manifests, one of which said manifests shall be the said naval officer be annexed to such master's certificate or clearance, to the end the same may be delivered to the chief officer of the customs in such port or place where the said ship shall unload, and the other of the said manifests shall by the said naval officer be transmitted to the said chief officer of the customs by the next convenient opportunity. | |
| VIII. And be it further enacted, That if the skipper of any sloop, boat, or other vessel, or other person or persons to whom the care and management thereof shall be intrusted, shall land or put on shore any hogshead, cask, or package of tobacco, put on board the same to be carried to any publick warehouse, at any other place or places than the warehouses by this act appointed for the reception and inspection of tobacco, or at some or places than the warehouses by this act appointed for the reception and inspection of tobacco, or at some or one of them, or the wharfs or other landing to such warehouse or warehouses belonging, or shall put the same on board any other vessel, or suffer the same to be done, so as the same be not delivered at some of the said publick warehouses without fraud or embezzlement, or shall open any hogshead or cask of tobacco so as aforesaid water-born and landed, and take thereout any tobacco before the same be viewed by the inspectors, according to the directions of this act, or after the same has been viewed shall fraudulently open any hogshead or cask and take thereout any tobacco, every such offence shall be adjudged felony, and the offender or offenders shall suffer as in case of felony. | Relanded tobacco must be at some warehouse. |
| IX. Provided always, That nothing herein before contained shall be construed to prohibit the landing or putting on shore any hogshead, cask or package of tobacco, out of any sloop, boat, or other vessel, which by distress of weather shall be forced on ground, or become leaky, so as such landing be really and bona fide for the preservation of the tobacco laden in such vessel, and that the same be with all convenient speed carried thereafter to the warehouse or ship (as the case shall be) to which it was designed, without embezzlement. | Except in distress of weather. |
| X. Provided always, That if by any of the accidents aforesaid, or negligence of the master or skipper of any vessel, any tobacco which hath been viewed and stamped shall in its carriage to the ship in which it is intended | Damaged tobacco. |
| to be exported receive so much damage as that the master of such ship will not receive it on board, every hogshead or cask of tobacco so damnified shall with all convenient speed be carried to some warehouse appointed by this act, and there lodged until the owner of the said tobacco, or master of the vessel in which it was damaged, shall have separated the same and repacked the good tobacco; and then the same shall be weighed, and stamped with the weight, by the inspectors attending such warehouse, without fee or reward: But if the owner of such tobacco, or the master of the vessel in which it was damaged, shall fail or delay to separate and repack the same within ten days, then the inspectors at the warehouse where such damaged tobacco shall be landed shall and they are hereby required and enjoined, to separate, repack, weigh, and stamp the same; and such inspectors shall have and receive of the owner of such tobacco five shillings for each hogshead or cask of tobacco, to be paid by such owner before the said tobacco shall be delivered out for exportation. | |
| XI. And for preventing the clandestine transportation of bad and unmerchantable tobacco from this colony to the provinces of North Carolina and Maryland, and also for the preventing the exportation of tobacco in bulk or parcel. Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That no tobacco whatsoever of the growth or production of this colony, shall, during the continuance of this act, be transported or carried into either of the said provinces of North carolina or Maryland, either by land or water, until the same hath been first viewed, examined, and stamped, at one of the warehouses appointed or to be appointed in pursuance of this act, nor until due entry thereof shall be made with the officers of the customs in the district wherein the owner of the said tobacco shall reside, and a permit obtained from them for that purpose, and if any person or persons shall presume to carry or transport, or cause to be carried or transported, any tobacco not inspected and stamped, or without having obtained such permit as aforesaid, to either of the said provinces of North Carolina or Maryland, he or they so offending shall forfeit and pay five pounds for every hogshead or cask of tobacco and twenty shillings for every hundred pounds of tobacco in bulk or parcels, transported or carried out contrary to the directions of this act. | No tobacco to be transported to North Carolina or Maryland without being inspected, &c. |
| XII. And be it further enacted, That all sheriffs, under sheriffs, and constables, who shall be in office at the passing of this act, shall, at the first court to be held for their respective counties after the publication thereof, take an oath that if they shall at any time know, or be credibly informed, or have good reason to suspect, that any tobacco is pressed or packed in any cask, chest, or other package whatsoever, or any tobacco is put on board any boat, or vessel in order to be shipped off without being inspected, or that any tobacco is carrying or carried out of this colony into Carolina or Maryland without a permit for so doing, they will forthwith make information and a particular discovery thereof to the next justice of the peace of the county where such tobacco shall be; and that all sheriffs and under sheriffs respectively which shall, after the passing of this act, be appointed or sworn into the said offices, shall, at the time of their bing sworn, take the same oath, and obtain a certificate thereof; and every such officer failing so to do shall forfeit five pounds current money, to the informer; to be recovered, with costs, by action of debt or information, in any court of record within this dominion: And every inspector and constable shall take the same oath, at the first court held for the county where he resides, or at the same court, if sworn at the county court, after he shall be sworn in his office, under the like penalty: And if any justice of the peace shall know, or be informed by any of the said officers, or by any other person, upon oath of any such tobacco so pressed or packed, in order to be shipped off or carried out of this colony without being inspected as aforesaid, sch justice, or by his warrant any sheriff, under sheriff, or constable, within the limits of his county, shall have power and authority, and is hereby required, to enter any suspected houses, and to break open all doors, either by day or by night, to search for the same; and finding any tobacco pressed in any cask, chest, or case, that shall not contain two hundred pounds weight of neat tobacco, or any package made up in linen cords or spun yarn of any weight whatsoever, such justice, sheriff, under sheriff, or constable, respectively, shall seize and destroy the same, and the person in whose possession such tobacco shall be found shall forfeit, to the informer, ten shillings for every hundred pounds weight, and so in proportion for a less quantity; to be recovered, with costs, in any court of | Sherifs, &c. to take an oath to make discovery where tobacco is intended to be shipped, &c. contrary to this act. |
| record if it be twenty five shillings current money, or more, or if under that sum, before any justice of the peace of the county where the fact shall be committed; and such justice shall and may issue an execution either against the body or goods of the offender accordingly, any law, statute, or custom, to the contrary, notwithstanding. And any justice of the peace of any county near the place where any ship, sloop, boat, or other vessel, shall ride, upon application to him made by any person suspecting any tobacco in bulk or parcels to be on board such ship, sloop, boat, or other vessel, shall and is hereby empowered and required to issue his warrant, directed to the sheriff, or any constable of his county; and the sheriff or constable shall have full power and authority, and he is hereby required, to enter and go on board such ship, sloop, boat, or other vessel, to search for and seize such tobacco; and the same being seized shall be brought on shore, and carried before the same or any other justice, who shall cause the same to be immediately weighted and burnt by such sheriff or constable. And if any master or commanding officer of any ship or vessel, or the skipper of any sloop, boat, or other vessel, or any other person whatsoever, shall resist the officer in the execution of any such warrant, every such master or commanding officer shall forfeit and pay fifty pounds; and every such skipper, sailor, or other persons so resisting, shall forfeit and pay ten pounds. And if any action shall be brought against any justice of the peace, sheriff, under sheriff, or constable, for doing any thing in execution of this act, the defendant may plead the general issue, and give this act in evidence; and if the plaintiff shall be non-suited, or a judgment pass against him upon a verdict or demurer, the defendant shall recover double costs. | |
| XIII. And for preventing the cutting and manufacturing bad and, unsound and trash tobacco, Be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That from and after the passing of this act no person whatsoever shall cut, manufacture, and prize into any hogshead or cask, any tobacco which shall not have been viewed, examined, and passed, at some or one of the publick warehouses, before the same shall be cut and prized; and every person bringing any hogshead or cask of cut and manufactured tobacco to any warehouse to be viewed, stamped, and passed, shall, before the same be viewed and examined, or stamped, make oath before the inspectors | For preventing the cutting and manufacturing bad, unsound, and trash tobacco. |
| of the warehouse to which the same shall be brought, or one of them (which oath the said inspectors, or one of them, is and are hereby empowered and required to administer) that all the tobacco cut and manufactured, contained and prized in such hogshead or cask, was, before the same was cut and prized, viewed, examined, and passed at some or one of the publick warehouses in this colony, and that, to his knowledge, privity, or direction, no other tobacco hath been packed or prized in such hogshead or cask: And it shall not be lawful for any inspectors to view, pass, and stamp, any hogshead or cask of cut and manufactured tobacco before such oath be taken by the person brining or owning the same. And if any person shall presume to cut and manufacture any tobacco which shall not have been first viewed, examined, and passed at some or one of the publick warehouses as aforesaid, in breach of this act, and of the said oath, every such person so offending, and being thereof lawfully convicted, shall forfeit and pay for every such offence ten pounds, and moreover shall suffer as in case of wilful and corrupt perjury. | |
| XIV. And be it further enacted, That any light hogshead or parcel of tobacco after the same shall be passed at any publick warehouse, and not stamped, shall and may be delivered out by the inspectors to the owner of their receipts, and such tobacco may be carried away, for the better sorting or stemming, or cutting the same; provided that such tobacco shall not be shipped off until it shall be again inspected, passed, and stamped for which the inspectors shall receive the established fees, under the same penalties as are herein before inflicted for shipping off, and taking on board any ship or other vessel, tobacco not inspected, viewed, and stamped, according to the directions of this act. | Light Tobacco may be delivered to the Owner before stamped; but not shipped before again inspected. |
| XV. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That publick warehouses for inspection of tobacco, pursuant to this act, shall be kept at the several places herein after mentioned, that is to say: In the county of Accomack, at Pitt's landing upon Pokomoke, and at Guilford's where the warehouses are now kept, under one inspection; at Pungoteague in the same county, and at Nasswaddox in Northampton county, where the warehouses are now kept, under one inspection. In the county of Caroline, at Conway's and Roy's. In the county of Charles City, at Swinyard's, and upon the land of William Kennon, where the warehouses are now | Warehouses established. |
| kept. In the county of Dinwiddie, at Bolling's Point and Bollingbroke, on the land of Robert Bolling. In Elizabeth City county, on the lands of Wilson Curle, adjoining the town of Hampton. In the county of Essex, at Bowler's, and on Piscataway creek, where the warehouses now are, under one inspection; at Hobb's Hole, at Layton's and at port Micou, under one inspection. In the county of Fairfax, at Colchester, at Pohick, at Hunting Creek, and on the land of Philip Ludwell Lee, esq; at the falls of Potowmack. In the county of Gloucester, at Gloucester town, at Eastermost River, at Deacons Neck, and at Poropotank, where the warehouses are now kept. In the county of Hanover, at Page's and at Crutchfield's upper landing, upon the land of Mr. Page, and Meriwether's. In the county of Chesterfield, at Warwick, Rocky Ridge, Osborne's and at colonel John Bolling's, where the warehouses are now kept, and at Bermuda Hundred. In the county of Henrico, at Bryd's, Shocko's, at Four Mile creek on the land of John Pleasants, and on the lower side of the said creek on the land of Charles Woodson, under one inspection. In the county of Isle of Wight, at Smithfield, and at Fulgham's Point, under one inspection, and at Warrasqueak bay. In the county of King and Queen, at Shepherd's and Thomas Turner's, under one inspection; at Mantapike, at Walkertown on the lot of Mr. Baylor Walker in the said county, and at Waller's ferry in the county of King William, under one inspection; and at Todd's. In the county of King William, at Aylett's at quarles's, at Williams's, and the Piping Tree, under one inspection; and at Waller's ferry, and Walkertown, in King and Queen county, under one inspection. In the county of King George, at Bray's church, Falmouth, and on Jonathan Gibson's land, where the warehosues are now kept, and on Mr. George Morton's land, and on the upper lots of John Dixon at Falmouth. In the county of Lancaster, at Davis's and Lowry's, under one inspection; at Dymer's and Indian Creek, in the county of Northumberland, under one inspection; and at Deep Creek. In the county of Middlesex, at Kemp's and at Urbanna. In the county of Norfolk, at the Great Bridge, on Mr. Samuel Boush's land, and at Kemp's landing in the county of Princess Anne, under one inspection. In the county of Nansemond, at Sleepy Hole, and on the north side of Nansemond river, upon the land of William Wilkinson, under one inspection; |
| and on the land of Thomas Milner, junior, on the western branch of Nansemond river, and at Constance's. In the county of Northampton, at Cherrystone and Hungar's, under one inspection. In the county of New Kent, upon the land of Richard Littlepage, on the land of Anthony Waddy, and at the Brick House on colonel Bassett's land. In the county of Northumberland, at Wiccocomico, and at Coan. In the county of Prince George, at Blandford, and on Powell's creek, on the land of George Noble. In the county of Prince William, at Quantico. In Richmond county, at Cat Point, and on sir Marmaduke Beckwith's land, near the bridge on Rappahannock creek, under one inspection; and at Totuskey creek, on the land of Mr. Hornby, where the warehouses are now kept under one inspection; and at Glasscock's. In the county of Surry, at Cabin Point, and at Gray's creek. In the county of Stafford, on Potowmack creek, upon Cave's land, at Boyd's Hole, where the warehouses are now kept, and at Acquia. In the county of Spotsylvania, at Fredericksburg, and Roystone's. In the county of Warwick, at Denbigh. In the county of Westmoreland, on both sides of Nomony, upon Spence's and Hood's land, under one inspection; on the land of Richard Bernard, formerly Butler's, upon the lower side of Upper Machotack river, and on William Price's land, on the east side of Mattox creek, on the land of John Watts, on the west side of the said creek, under one inspection; at the New Landing, on Jeremiah Garland Bayley's land, and at Rust's, on Yeocomico, under one inspection; and at Stratford landing. In the county of York, at Roe's, at York town, and at the capitol landing, and at the college landing, in James City county, under one inspection. | |
| XVI. And whereas it will be convenient, for relanding such tobacco as hath been brought from the warehouses where it was inspected to be put on board some ship or other vessel for Great Britain, but cannot be shipped by reason of such vessels not being able to stow the same, that a publick warehouse for the reception of such tobacco should be erected at Town Point, in the borough of Norfolk, at which place many vessels lie to take in their lading: Be it therefore further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That the company erected and established under the denomination of the Town Point company by a former act of assembly, shall, and they | A warehouse established at Town Point, in Norfolk. |
| are hereby required to build a warehouse at the place aforesaid, which shall be under the care of the inspectors of the Great Bridge and Kemp's warehouses, who shall receive from such persons as shall reland their tobacco the sum of eight pence for every hogshead by them received according to the directions of this act; and the said company shall be entitled to receive all the rents which shall become due from the said warehouse. | |
| XVII. And be it further enacted, That the said warehouse shall be under the same regulations, and the proprietors of tobacco therein entitled to the same relief, in case of loss of their tobacco, as are directed, prescribed, and appointed, for the other warehouses established by this act. | Under the same regulations as other Warehouses. |
| XVIII. And be it further enacted, That the rents of the several warehouses hereby established shall be, and they are hereby settled at the following rates: At Pungoteabue, £. 8. At Nasswaddox, £. 6. At Pitt's and Guilford's, £. 10. At Swinyard's, £. 10. At Hampton, £. 7. At Bermuda Hundred, £. 8. At Princess Anne and the Great Bridge, each, £. 5. At Cherrystone and Hungar's £. 5. At Roe's, £. 10. At the college landing, £. 10. And at all the other warehouses there shall be paid and allowed for the rents of the same eight pence for every hogshead of tobacco that shall be received, inspected, and delivered out of such warehouses respectively. | Rents of the Warehouses. |
| XIX. Provided always, That where wharfs are or shall be necessary to be built or kept in repair at any of the said warehouses, and the rents hereby established are not sufficient for building and keeping in repair such wharfs, or where any new warehouses shall hereafter be built, in pursuance of this act, and the rent hereby established shall not be propotionable to the expense of such building, in both the said cases such further allowance shall be made by the general assembly as shall be thought reasonable, and the rents aforesaid, together with the inspectors salaries, shall be paid and allowed by the treasurer to the several inspectors upon the passing their accounts; and the inspectors shall pay the rents to the persons entitled to receive the same out to the money received by them for inspecting tobacco; and if the money received by any inspectors of any of the warehouses aforesaid shall not be insufficient to pay the salaries and rents aforesaid, and other incident charges in this act mentioned, such deficiency shall be | Where Rents are not sufficient, Wharfs and new Warehouses shall be built at the Publick Expense. |
| made good out of the general fund arising by the profits of the other warehouses; and if that shall prove deficient, then the said rents and charges, together with the inspectors salaries, shall be paid and satisfied out of any other publick money in the hands of the treasurer for the time being. | |
| XX. And be it further enacted, That where the warehouses are already built at any of the places herein before mentioned and appointed for keeping the same, and are now made use of as and for publick warehouses, the proprietors and owners of such warehouses shall be, and they are hereby obliged to let the same to the inspectors, during the continuance of this act, at the rent hereby established for such warehouses respectively, and if any proprietor or owner shall refuse so to do, he shall forfeit and pay one hundred pounds. And where warehouses are not already built at any of the places aforesaid, or where any new warehouses shall be hereafter appointed to be kept at any other place, it shall and may be lawful for the justices of the court of that county wherein such place is or shall be, and they are hereby required, at the next court to be held for their county after the commencement of this act, to order and direct so many strong, close, and substantial houses, secured with strong doors hung on iron hinges, and with strong locks or bolts, as will contain sufficient room for one half of the number of hogsheads which in their opinion will be brought to the same; and one brick square or funnel six feet high at least, and four feet diameter; with a proper arch at the bottom of the same, for burning all tobacco refused at such warehouses, and such wharfs and other conveniences as shall be necessary, and shall cause the owner or proprietor of the land whereon such warehouses are appointed to be kept, and if such owner or proprietor be under age, feme covert, or out of the country, then the guardian, husband, or known attorney or agent (as the case is) of such owner or proprietor, to be summonned to appear before them at the next succeeding county court after such summons shall issue, there to declare whether they will undertake to erect and build such houses, funnel, wharfs, and other conveniences, and let the same to the inspectors appointed to attend at such warehouses at the rent settled by this act, or which shall be hereafter settled for the same; and in case such owner, guardian, husband, known | Proprietors of Warehouses shall let them to Inspectors.
Owners of Lands where Warehouses are to be built to be summoned to declare whether they will build or not; and if no Person will build, Justices to do it. |
| attorney, or agent, will undertake the same, then the said court shall, and they are hereby required to take bond, with one sufficient security, in a reasonable penalty, payable to his majesty, his heirs, and successours, with a condition for the due performance of such undertaking; and if such owner, guardian, husband, known attorney, or agent, shall refuse to undertake the same, or to give such bond as aforesaid, then it shall and may be lawful for the said justices, and they are hereby required, to value an acre of the said land, and to pay or tender to the proprietor, his or her guardian, husband, known attorney, or agent, the value thereof, which shall be repaid to the said justices by the publick, and from thenceforth the justices of the said county for the time being shall be seized in fee, of the said land, in trust, and for the sue of the publick, during the time the said place shall be made use of for a publick warehouse; and the said justices shall agree with some person or persons to erect and build thereon such houses, funnel, wharfs, and other conveniences as herein is before directed, and shall certify the charge thereof to the treasurer of this colony for the time being, who is hereby directed and required to pay the same out of the publick money in his hands arising from the inspection of tobacco, and shall and may take and receive of the inspectors the rent established at such warehouse for reimbursing the publick the charge of such buildings, until the same shall be satisfied and repaid. And where the justices of any county court, or any other person or persons, have already built warehouses upon the lands of another person by virtue or in pursuance of the laws now in force, the said justices, or other person or persons, shall in like manner be seized in fee of the acre of land upon which such warehouses are built, so long as the said places respectively shall be made use of for publick warehouses; but if any of the warehouses which are or shall be built by the publick, the justices, or other persons, shall hereafter be discontinued, the proprietor of the land returning the price paid for the same shall be from thenceforth seized of his former estate. | Where Warehouses are discontinued. |
| XXI. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That the inspectors at the several warehouses shall, at the court to be held for their respective counties in the month of September, yearly, or at the next succeeding court, produce and render into court an exact account under their hands of the number of hogsheads of | Inspectors to lay yearly before their County Courts an exact account of the Number of Hogsheads |
| tobacco inspected at their respective warehouses the preceeding year, and of the condition of the warhouses under their charge, and the quantity of tobacco they are capable of containing; and thereupon such court, if they shall not be satisfied that the warehouses already built at any of the said inspections are properly secured, and contain sufficient room for one half of the number of hogsheads mentioned in such account to be conveniently stowed, shall enter an order that the owner or proprietor of such warehouses shall, within such reasonable time as the said court shall think fit to allow, repair and make close the warehouses already built, and secure the same with strong doors hung on iron hinges, and with strong locks or bolts, and that such owner or proprietor shall also, before the first day of April in the ensuing year, erect, build, and completely finish, such and so many other strong, close, and substantial houses, as, with the other houses already built, shall be sufficient, in the opinion of such court, conveniently to contain one half of the quantity of tobacco mentioned in such inspectors account, and secure the same in the manner herein before directed; a copy of which order shall be served on such owner or proprietor, or his or her guardian, husband, attorney, or agent, as the case shall be: And if such owner or proprietor, his or her guardian, husband, attorney, or agent, shall fail to appear at the next succeeding court after such notice, and enter into bond with sufficient security in a reasonable penalty, payable to his majesty, his heirs, and successours, with a condition for the due performance of the same, then it shall and may be lawful for the said court, and they are hereby required, to cause such repairs and houses to be made and built as aforesaid, and shall certify the charge thereof to the treasurer of this colony for the time being, who is hereby directed and required to pay the same out of the publick money in his hands arising from the inspection of tobacco, and shall take and receive of the inspectors a proportion of the rents established at such warehouse for reimbursing the publick the charge of such buildings and repairs, which proportion shall be settled by the courts, and by them certified to the said treasurer; but if there shall appear to be an immediate occasion to hire houses before others can be built as aforesaid, the rent of such houses shall be paid by the publick, without any charge upon the landlord. | inspected by them, and thereupon such court may direct the repairing the old, and building new warehouses. |
| XXII. Provided, That where two or more inspections are established in one county, within the distance of one mile, and it shall be necessary to build more houses at any of them, the court shall direct the building such additional houses at such of the said inspections as to them shall seem most proper; and if there shall be in the whole sufficient house room, according to the directions of this act, for one half of the tobacco brought to such inspections, the court shall not direct the building any other houses at any of them. | Where two or more inspections are in one county, within the distance of a mile, houses may be built at either. |
| XXIII. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That if any county court shall fail or refuse to do their duty in directing such houses, funnels, wharfs, and other necessary conveniences, at the places established by this act for erecting new warehouses, or such additional buildings and repairs at the places where houses are already built, and causing the same to be built or made according to the directions of this act, every justice so failing or refusing shall forfeit and pay ten pounds; to be recovered in the general court, with costs, by action of debt or information, against such justices jointly. | Penalty on county courts. |
| XXIV. Provided always, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to give power to the said justices to take away the houses, orchards, or other immediate conveniences of any proprietor of land, for the uses or purposes aforesaid; nor to the said inspectors to keep any horses, cattle, or hogs, at any of the said publick warehouses, except in enclosures upon the land appointed for such warehouses; and if any swine belonging to the said inspectors, or any of them, shall be found at large upon the land appropriated for such warehouses, or the lands adjoining thereto, it shall and may be lawful for the proprietors of the said lands to kill, or cause to be killed or destroyed, all such swine. | Justices not to take away orchards, &c. Inspectors not to keep hogs but in enclosures belonging to the warehouses. |
| XXV. Provided also, That where any warehouses have ben, or shall be built, by the justices or other person as aforesaid, and the first proprietor of the land shall desire to have the same again, such proprietor, upon payment of so much money as shall be sufficient to reimburse the said justices or other person the principal money expended for the purchase of the land and the building such warehouses, with lawful interest, deducting the rents received by the said justices or other person, shall be restored to his former estate in the land whereon such warehouses are built, and shall receive the rents afterwards growing due for such warehouses. | Where a proprietor may be restored to his former estate. |
| XXVI. Provided also, That if any proprietor, so as aforesaid restored to his estate, shall neglect or refuse to repair and build such houses and wharfs as the court shall think necessary, the justices shall be again seized of the fee simple estate of such land, during the time such place shall be made use of for a publick warehouse; and such proprietor shall not have any benefit of the rents that shall thereafter become due. | But if he fails to repair, &c. to be reverted in the justices. |
| XXVII. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That on complaint made by the owner or owners of any of the warehousers aforesaid, to any justice of the peace of the county wherein such warehouses shall lie, against any person or persons, for breaking, tearing, or committing any waste or destruction of or in such warehouse or warehouses, it shall and may be lawful for such justice, and he is hereby empowered and required, to give judgment, and award execution, against the body or estate of such offender, if found guilty, for all damages occasioned by such breaking, tearing, waste, or destruction, provided such damages do not exceed the sum of two pounds, in his opinion; and if such damages shall exceed that sum, then it shall and may be lawful for such owner or owners to commence and prosecute his, her, or their action, at law, against any such offender, in any court or record within this colony. | Justices may where the damages do not exceed 40 s. give judgment against persons committing waste on the warehouses. |
| XXVIII. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That there shall be kept at every one of the said warehouses herein before appointed, and at all others hereafter to be appointed, good and sufficient pair of scales, with weights to weigh fifteen hundred pounds at the least, an a set of small weights, the same that are or ought to be provided for the standard weights of each county; and where such scales and weights are not already provided, or now are or shall be hereafter worn out, or become unfit for use, the justices of the respective county courts wherein any of the said warehouses are or shall be are hereby directed and required to provide the same with all convenient speed, and the treasurer of this colony is hereby empowered and required to pay the purchase money out of the publick money in his hands. And, moreover, the said justices are hereby required and directed, twice in every year at the least, to appoint one or more of their number to view the said scales, and examine and try the weights at the several warehouses, by the standard weights of | Scales. |
| the county; and if the said scales and weights shall want repairing, or the weights be found deficient, or differing from the lawful standard, the said justices shall cause the same to be repaired and amended, and the weights made conformable to the standard; and if the justice or justices so appointed shall refuse or neglect to do the same, the justice or justices so refusing shall forfeit and pay the sum of twenty shillings; and the charge of repairing and amending the said scales and weights, and also for removing the standard to the several warehouses for trying the same, shall be paid by the inspectors respectively, and be again allowed to them in their account with the treasurer. | |
| XXIX. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That all tobacco which shall be brought to any of the publick warehouses herein before mentioned shall be viewed, examined, and inspected, by two persons to be thereunto appointed, who shall be called inspectors; which said inspectors shall be appointed in the manner following, that is to say: the courts of the several counties within this colony, wherein any of the public warehouses appointed by this act are established, shall and may, and they are hereby required, once in every year, and no oftner, at their respective county courts held in the months of August or September, or one of them, to nominate and recommend to the governour or commander in chief for the time being, for so many offices of inspection as are or shall be in their respective counties, four fit and able persons, reputed to be skilful in tobacco, for the execution of the office of inspectors; and where two warehouses under the one and the same inspection happen to lie in different counties, in that case the courts of each county shall nominate and recommend two for such inspection, which nomination the said courts shall cause to be entered upon record; and the clerks of the said courts shall, and they are hereby required, forthwith to transmit a certificate of the same to the secretary's office: And out of the said four persons so nominated and recommended for each inspection, the governour or commander in chief, with the advice and consent of the council, shall and may choose and appoint two, to execute the office of inspectors at such inspection; and in default of such nomination and recommendation by the county courts as aforesaid, the governour or commander in chief, with the like advice and consent, shall and may appoint such persons as he | The manner of appointing inspectors. |
| shall think fit to be inspectors at such inspection for which no nomination or recommendation shall be made as aforesaid: And also, in case of the death, resignation, or removal, of any inspector, the governour or commander in chief shall and may appoint any person named in the last recommendation from the county court for that inspection where the vacancy shall happen to succeed him, until the next nomination and appointment of inspectors; but if either of the persons named in such last recommendation will not accept the said office, in that case the governour or commander in chief may appoint any other person he shall think fit. | |
| XXX. And be it further enacted, That besides the two inspectors appointed as aforesaid, the governour or commander in chief for the time being, with the advice and consent of the council, shall and may appoint one of the other persons recommended with such inspectors to be an additional inspector at the warehouse for which he shall be recommended, which additional inspector shall officiate as such only in cases of the disagreement in opinion of the other inspectors as to the quality of tobacco brought for their inspection, or where either of them shall through sickness or otherwise be absent from his duty, or shall bring his own tobacco to the warehouse whereof he is inspector to be viewed; and the said additional inspector shall be paid for the services he shall perform, by occasion of the absence of either of the other inspectors, out of the salary of such absenter, in proportion to the time he shall officiate. | An additional inspector to be appointed. |
| XXXI. And be it further enacted, That if any inspector shall hereafter accept, receive, or take, directly or indirectly any fee, gratuity service, or reward whatsoever, of any person, for resigning or giving up his office of inspector, he shall not only be for ever disabled from holding the like office, but for such offence shall forfeit and pay the sum of one hundred pounds; to be recovered with costs, by action of debt, in any court of record within this dominion: And every person offering and paying, directly or indirectly, any fee, service, gratuity, or reward whatsoever, to any inspector, to resign his said office, shall be for the said offence be for ever disabled from holding the office of inspector within this colony. | No inspector to take a reward for resigning his office, under a penalty on the payer and receiver. |
| XXXII. Provided always, That no justice of the peace, being an inspector, or recommended to be an inspector, shall have or be allowed to vote in the nomination | No justice being an inspector to vote in the |
| and recommendation of persons to be inspectors as aforesaid; and that all inspectors who shall be in office at the time of the commencement of this act, upon taking the oaths hereby required at their next county court, shall continue to act, without new commissions, until the next nomination of inspectors at their respective warehouses: And where they, or any person once recommended as aforesaid, and executing the office of inspector in pursuance of such recommendation, shall be again recommended the next succeeding year, the same shall be a sufficient appointment to him to continue in the said office for another year, without any new commission; and so from year to year, so long as he shall be so recommended as aforesaid. | recommendation of inspectors. |
| XXXIII. Provided always, That every person appointed or to be appointed an inspector by virtue of this act, shall, before he enters upon the execution of the said office, enter into bond, with good security, in the penalty of five hundred pounds, payable to his majesty, his heirs, and successours, with condition for the true and faithful performance of his duty, according to the directions of this act; and shall also take the following oath, that is to say: | Inspectors to give bond, and take an oath. |
| You shall swear that you will diligently and carefully view and examine all tobacco brought to any publick warehouse or warehouses when you are appointed to be inspector , and that not separately and apart from your fellow, but in his presence; and that you will not receive any tobacco that is not in your judgment sound, well conditioned, merchantable, and clear of trash; nor receive, pass, or stamp any tobacco, hogshead, or cask of tobacco, prohibited by one act of assembly, entitled An act for amending the staple of tobacco, and preventing frauds in his majesty's customs; and that you will not change, alter, or give out any tobacco, other than such hogsheads or casks for which the receipt to be taken was given; but that you will in all things well and faithfully discharge your duty in the office of an inspector according to the best of your skill and judgment, and according to the directions of the said act, without fear, favour, affection, malice, or partiality. | The form of the oath. |
| So help you God. | |
| Which oath shall and may be taken before the governour or commander in chief of this colony for the time being, or before the general court, or in the court of the county wherein such inspector shall reside, or the | To produce a certificate of the same. |
| warehouses at which he shall be inspector shall stand. But before any inspector shall enter upon the execution of his office, he shall produce a certificate if sworn before the governour or general court, as the case may be, of his taking such oath, which certificate shall be lodged shall be lodged with the clerk of the county where such inspection shall be; and if any person shall presume to execute the office of inspector before he has given such bond, and taken such oath as aforesaid, eh shall forfeit and pay five hundred pounds. | |
| XXXIV. And be it further enacted, That all inspectors to be appointed by virtue of this act shall constantly attend their duty at the warehouse or warehouses under their charge from the first day of October to the tenth day of August yearly (except Sundays, and the holydays observed at Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide, or when hindered by sickness) and afterwards they, or one of them, shall constantly attend at the same (except Sundays) to deliver out tobacco for exportation, until all the tobacco remaining there the same tenth day of August shall be so delivered; but no tobacco shall be viewed between the said tenth day of August and the first day of October, except such as remained in the warehouse on the said tenth day of August: And every inspector neglecting to attend as aforesaid shall forfeit and pay to the party grieved five shillings for every neglect, or shall be liable to the action upon the case of the said party grieved, to recover all such damages which he or she shall have sustained by occasion of any such neglect, together with his or her full costs, at the election of such party. And all inspectors shall uncase and break every hogshead and cask of tobacco brought to them to be inspected as aforesaid; and if they shall agree that the same is good, sound, well conditioned, merchantable, and clear of trash, then such tobacco shall be weighed in scales, with weights to the lawful standard, and the hogshead or cask shall be stamped in the presence of the said inspectors, or one of them, with the name of the warehouse at which the tobacco therein contained shall be viewed and inspected as aforesaid, and also the tare of the hogshead or cask, and quantity of neat tobacco therein contained: But if the said two inspectors shall at any time disagree concerning the quality of any tobacco brought for their inspection to any warehouse under their charge, they shall, as soon as conveniently may be, call in the | The times the inspectors are to attend. Every hogshead to be uncased, and broke, viewed, and stamped. Where the two inspectors disagree. |
| additional inspector appointed to attend such warehouse, who shall determine the difference, and pass or reject such tobacco; and if he shall pass the same, his name shall be entered in the book kept by the inspectors opposite to the mark, weight, and number, of the hogshead by him passed, together with the name of the inspector at such warehouse who shall officiate with him. | |
| XXXV. And be it further enacted, That if any tobacco shall be brought to any of the said warehouses for the discharge of any publick or private debt or contract, the said inspectors, or one of them, after they have viewed, examined, and weighted the said tobacco, according to the directions of this act, shall be obliged to deliver to the person bringing the same as many receipts under the hands of the said inspectors as shall be required, for the full quantity of tobacco received by them, in which shall be expressed whether the tobacco so received by sweet-scented or Oroonoko, stemmed or leaf, which receipts shall be in the form following, to wit: | Inspectors to give receipts. |
| River number warehouse, the day of 17 received of pounds of pounds of transfer tobacco, to be delivered on demand to him or his order, to be delivered on demand to him or his order, according to the directions of the act of assembly, for amending the staple of tobacco, and preventing frauds in his majesty's customs, witness our hands. Shall bear date the day the tobacco for which the same is given shall be viewed and passed. and shall and are hereby declared to be current in all tobacco payments, according to the species expressed in the receipt within the county wherein such inspectors shall officiate, and in any other county next adjacent thereto, and not separate therefrom by any of the great rivers or bay herein after mentioned, that is to say: James river, below the mouth of Appamattox; York, below West Point; Rappahannock river, below Taliaferro's mount; or by the great bay of Chesapeak; and shall be transferable from one to another in all such payments (except as herein is excepted) and shall be paid and satisfied by the inspector or inspectors who signed the same, upon demand; and for every hogshead of tobacco brought to any publick warehouse, for the discharge of any publick or private debt, in good cask, of such dimensions as herein after expressed, there shall be allowed by the inspector thereof to the person bringing the same after the rate of four pounds of tobacco for | The form of such receipts. Where such receipts are payable |
| every hundred pounds the tobacco therein contained shall weigh, after the same shall be viewed and passed, so as such allowance does not exceed thirty pounds of tobacco for each hogshead: And the said inspectors shall, and they are hereby obliged, to make every hogshead by them paid away in discharge of any receipt by them given as aforesaid to contain nine hundred and fifty pounds of neat tobacco at the least; and for every such hogshead of tobacco by them paid away, well lined and nailed, fit for shipping, there shall be paid by the person receiving such hogshead five shillings for inspecting, and eight pence for nails, which said sum of eight pence the said inspectors shall and may retain in their hands for their own use, to reimburse them the expense of providing nails. And the person demanding or receiving tobacco in discharge of receipts as aforesaid shall allow to the inspectors thirty pounds of tobacco for each hogshead so received, for the cask, and two pounds of tobacco for every hundred pounds of tobacco contained in such receipts, and so proportionably for a greater or lesser quantity, for shrinkage and wasting, if the said tobacco be paid within two months after the date of the receipt given for the same, and one pound of tobacco for every hundred, for every month the same shall be unpaid after the said allowance, so as such allowance for shrinkage and wasting do not exceed in the whole six pounds of tobacco for every hundred. And if any inspector, or inspectors, by whom any such receipts for tobacco as aforesaid shall be signed, shall refuse or delay to pay and satisfy the same when demanded, every inspector so refusing or delaying shall forfeit and pay to the party injured double the value of the tobacco so refused or delayed to be paid; to be recovered, with costs, in any court of record within this dominion, if the receipt or receipts so refused or delayed to be paid exceed two hundred pounds of tobacco, and if the said receipt or receipts do not exceed two hundred pounds of tobacco, the double value aforesaid shall and may be recovered before any justice of the peace of the county wherein the warehouse shall be, at which the receipt or receipts ought to be paid. | |
| XXXVI. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That all tobacco brought to any of the said warehouses in hogsheads or cask to be exported, on account and for the use of the owner thereof, after the same shall have viewed, examined and weighed, | Receipts to be given expressing the kind of tobacco. |
| and found to be good, shall be stamped as herein before directed; and the said inspectors, or one of them, shall deliver to the person bringing the same as many receipts, signed as aforesaid, as shall be required for the number of hogsheads so brought and stamped, in which shall be expressed whether the tobacco so received be sweet-scented or Oroonoko, stemmed or leaf; or whether the same is tied up in bundles or not, and where any hogshead hath part leaf and part stemmed shall signify the same at the bottom of such receipt, and they shall not mix stemmed and leaf tobacco in any hogshead which they shall prize and pay away in discharge of their transfer receipts: And for every hogshead and cask brought to any of the said warehouses to be exported, on account and for the use of the owners thereof, there shall be paid to the inspectors there attending three shillings, for viewing, examining, and stamping the same, and the owners of the said tobacco shall find and provide nails for the nailing thereof; and if any inspector or inspectors shall alter, change, or deliver out, any hogshead or cask of tobacco, other than the hogshead or cask for which the receipt for crop tobacco to be taken in was by him or them given, or shall alter or change any such tobacco, although no such receipt shall have been given, such inspector or inspectors shall forfeit and pay fifty pounds for every hogshead or cask so altered, changed, or delivered out. And all inspectors shall, and they are hereby obliged, if required, to take in any receipt or receipts by them given for crop tobacco, and after having weighed such tobacco to give transfer receipts for the same, with an allowance of four per cent, for the cask, so as such allowance does not exceed thirty pounds of tobacco for every cask; provided that such hogshead shall contain at least nine hundred and fifty pounds of neat tobacco, and not mixed leaf and stemmed. | Three shillings to be paid the inspectors for each hogshead viewed. |
| XXXVII. And be it further enacted, That during the continuance of this act no tender of any debt or duty payable in tobacco shall be accounted lawful unless payment of the same be tendered in inspectors receipts, within twelve months after the date of such receipts. | Inspectors Receipts not a lawful Tender after 12 months. |
| XXXVIII. And for restraining the undue practice of mixing trash with stemmed tobacco, and preventing the packing tobacco in unsizable casks, Be it enacted and declared, That all stemmed tobacco not laid straight, whether the same be packed loose or in bundles, shall be accounted unlawful tobacco; and that no tobacco | The Manner of packing Stemmed Tobacco, and the Size of Hogsheads. |
| packed in hogsheads which exceed eight and forty inches in the length of the stave, or thirty inches at the head, within the crow, making reasonable allowance for prizing (which allowance shall not exceed two inches above the gauge in the prizing head) shall be passed or received; but the owner of such tobacco, packed in casks of greater dimensions than before expressed, shall be obliged to repack the same in sizable casks, at his own costs and charge, before the same shall be received and stamped by the said inspectors. | |
| XXXIX. And be it further enacted, That when any tobacco shall be brought to any of the publick warehouses, and refused by the inspectors there officiating, the same shall be immediately burnt by them, unless the owner or person bringing such tobacco desires to sort and separate the same, and to pick out such as is bad; in which case the inspectors shall permit the same to be done, at the warehouse to which the said tobacco shall be brought, without fee or reward; but shall not, on any pretence, suffer the said tobacco to be removed or carried from the said warehouse. And the said inspectors shall allow one month for separating and picking such tobacco; after which time, if the same be not done, it shall be lawful for them to burn the whole, except where the tobacco is in a sweat, or where the circumstances or accidents of weather may have prevented the handling of it, in which case the inspectors shall allow such further time as they shall think reasonable. And where any tobacco shall be separated and picked as aforesaid, the trash and bad tobacco shall be burnt by the inspectors on the same day it is picked out, in the brick funnel erected or to be erected at such warehouse, under the penalty of forfeiting ten shillings for every failure to the informer, recoverable before any justice of the county wherein the warehouse lies. And if any tobacco packed in cask by an overseer, or the hands under his care, shall be burnt by the said inspectors, by reason of its being bad, unsound, or not in good condition, the overseer who had the care of making and packing the same shall bear the loss of the tobacco so burnt, and make satisfaction for the same out of his share of the crop, or otherwise; and the inspectors shall be obliged to keep an account of all tobacco so burnt. | Refused Tobacco to be burnt unless picked by the Owner within a Month. |
| XL. And be it further enacted, That the owner of any transfer receipts may, at any time before the sale | Owners of transfer receipts |
| of the tobacco contained in such transfer receipts, as herein after is directed, receive and mark hogsheads of tobacco for satisfying such receipts; and the inspectors shall take in their former receipts, and deliver crop receipts for such hogsheads, and shall be answerable for the safe keeping thereof, in the same manner as they are for crop tobacco; but the person receiving such hogsheads shall pay to the inspectors five shillings and eight pence from the inspection and nails for every hogshead, that is to say, two shillings and eight pence down, and three shillings when the tobacco shall be delivered. And the inspectors shall, at the court held for their county in the month of September yearly, or if there be no court in that month, then at the next court held for their county, lay before the court an account, upon oath, of all the transfer receipts that were not by them taken in and received before the time of sale herein before mentioned, and after such account exhibited, and oath made, shall sell the tobacco in such receipts contained, deducting the allowance for shrinkage and wasting, at public auction, at the door of the court-house, between the hours of twelve and two; and the inspectors shall pay the money arising by such sale, in satisfaction of their receipts, from time to time, to the proprietors thereof making their demand, under the same penalty as is inflicted for not paying inspectors receipts: And all inspectors shall keep a just and true account of the tobacco gained or saved upon the allowance made for cask or for shrinkage of transfer tobacco, or otherwise; and if any tobacco shall be so gained or saved shall exhibit an account thereof upon oath, in the same manner as is before directed concerning transfer tobacco not received; and shall also sell the tobacco so gained and saved, in the same manner as is directed for the sale of transfer tobacco; and shall account for the money arising by such sale to the treasurer of this colony for the time being, in their next account with him; and the said treasurer shall account for the same to the general assembly; and no inspector shall convert any tobacco so gained or saved to his own use. | may receive and mark hogsheads of tobacco for satisfying such
receipts. Inspectors to lay an account of all transfer receipts before the county court yearly. |
| XLI. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That all inspectors shall annually, before the tenth day of October in every year, account with the treasurer of this colony, upon oath, for all monies received, or which ought to be received by them, by virtue of this act (except the money paid for nails) for every hogshead | To settle with the treasurer the tenth of October yearly. |
| head of transfer tobacco; in which account they shall be allowed their salaries, the rents of the warehouses, and all other necessary disbursements, in pursuance of this act. | |
| XLII. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That no person taking upon himself the office of inspector shall, during his continuance in that office, or within two years after he shall be out of his said office, be capable of being elected a member of the house of burgesses, or shall presume to intermeddle or concern himself with any election of a burgess or burgesses, other wise than by giving his vote, or shall endeavour to influence any person or persons to give his or their vote, under the penalty of fifty pounds for every offence; neither shall any inspector, during his continuance in that office, be, or undertake to be, collector of his majesty's quitrents, or any publick county or parish levies, or of any officers fees; nor shall directly or indirectly, for himself or any other person, buy or receive, by way of barter, loan, or exchange, any tobacco whatsoever, under the penalty of forfeiting twenty shillings for every hundred pounds of tobacco so bought or received. | No inspector to be a member of the house of burgesses, or collector, or buy, &c. any tobacco. |
| XLIII. Provided always, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to hinder any inspector from receiving his rents in tobacco; which shall be first viewed examined, and stamped, according to the directions of this act. | He may receive his rents in tobacco. |
| XLIV. And for the further and better direction of the inspectors aforesaid in their duty, Be it enacted, That no inspector shall take, accept, or receive, directly or indirectly, any gratuity, fee, or reward, for any thing by him to be done in pursuance of this act, other than his salary, and the other payments and allowances herein before mentioned and expressed: And if any inspector shall take, accept, or receive, any such gratuity, fee, or reward, such inspector, being thereof convicted, shall forfeit and pay fifty pounds current money; to be recovered, with costs, by any person or persons who shall inform or sue for the same, by action of debt, bill, plaint or information, in any court of record within this dominion; and moreover, shall be disabled from holding the place or office of an inspector during the continuance of this act. And if any person or persons shall offer any bribe, reward, or gratuity, to any inspector, for any thing by him to be done in pursuance of this act, other than the fees and allowances herein before mentioned | Not to take any fee or reward other than his salary. |
| and appointed, every person so offending, and being thereof convicted, shall, for every such offence, forfeit and pay the sum of ten pounds current money; to be recovered in any court of record within this dominion, one half of which said forfeiture shall be to our sovereign lord the king, to and for the use of such inspector refusing such bribe or reward, and the other half to the person or persons who will inform or sue for the same. | |
| XLV. And be it further enacted, That when any person shall be entitled to receive a hogshead of tobacco by virtue of any inspectors receipts, the inspectors shall be obliged to open the hogshead and show such tobacco to the person demanding the same, if required; and if such person shall refuse to accept of the tobacco offered or tendered in payment, as bad, unsound, and unmerchantable, such person so refusing shall make immediate application to any three justices, not being merchants or practitioners in physick, near to the warehouse where the tobacco so refused shall be offered or tendered in payment, who are no wise related to the parties, nor concerned in interest; and the said justices shall take an oath before some other justice of the said county (which oath such justice is hereby required to administer) carefully to view and examine the said tobacco, and to the best of their skill and judgment not to pass any tobacco that is not sound, well conditioned, merchantable, and clear of trash, according to the directions of this act, and that they will therein do their duty according to their judgment and conscience, without fear, favour, malice, or partiality; which said three justices so sworn are hereby directed, empowered, and required, upon such application, to repair to the warehouse, and carefully view and examine the same; and if they all shall adjudge the tobacco so tendered in payment to be bad, unsound, or unmerchantable, to cause the same to immediately burnt; and the said three justices shall be paid for their trouble by the inspectors who offered the same in payment, five shillings each; and if the said justices, or any two of them, shall not adjudge the said tobacco so tendered or offered in payment to be bad, unsound, and unmerchantable, according to the directions of this act, the said justices shall be paid five shillings each by the party desiring such view. And when any tobacco shall be tendered or offered in payment by any inspectors and refused, the | Viewers. |
| said inspectors shall not be at liberty to tender or offer in payment, nor the person demanding the same to receive, any tobacco in lieu thereof, but the person refusing shall immediately mark the same; and if any inspector shall offer or tender in payment any tobacco in lieu of the tobacco so refused, or shall not produce the same tobacco so refused to the said justices, in either case it shall be taken for a conviction that the tobacco first tendered in payment was bad, unsound, and unmerchantable, and moreover the said inspectors shall forfeit and pay ten pounds for every such offence: and if the person who shall refuse any hogshead of tobacco as aforesaid shall accept or receive another hogshead of tobacco in lieu of that refused, he shall forfeit and pay ten pounds for every such hogshead. | |
| XLVI. Provided always, That when any tobacco shall be viewed by the justices in the manner herein before directed, and they shall adjudge the same to be good, sound, and merchantable, they shall certify the same on the inspectors receipt; and such tobacco shall not be subject to a second review, nor shall the inspectors be obliged to give transfer receipts for the same. | The viewers to certify on the inspectors receipts that the tobacco is good. |
| XLVII. Provided also, That the said justices shall have power to view and examine the tobacco so refused within twelve months after the date of the receipts for the same, and not afterwards; any thing herein contained to the contrary, or seeming to the contrary, notwithstanding. | View must be within 12 months after date of receipt. |
| And be it further enacted, That if any inspector or inspectors shall give or deliver to any person whatsoever their receipts for any hogshead or other quantity of tobacco which they have not actually received into the warehouse whereof they are inspectors, at the time of giving such receipts, he or they shall forfeit and pay forty shillings for every hundred weight mentioned in such receipt, and so in proportion for a greater or lesser quantity. And there shall be paid to the several inspectors appointed to attend, and attending the said several warehouses, the salaries herein after mentioned that is to say: To each of the inspectors at Pitt's and Guilford's, under one inspection, £ 25 per annum. At Pungoteague and Nasswaddox, under one inspection, £ 35. At Conway's, 45. At Roy's, £ 45. At Swinyard's, £ 25. At Kennon's, £ 30. At Bolling's Point, £ 70. At Bollingbroke, £ 50. At Hampton, £ 25. At Bowler's and Piscataway, under one inspection, | Inspectors not to give receipts until tobacco is received.
Inspectors salaries. |
| £ 30. At Hobb's Hole, £ 30. At Layton's and Port Micou, under one inspection, £ 40. At Colchester, £ 40. At Pohick, £ 30. At Hunting Creek, £ 40. At the Falls of Potowmack, £ 30. At Gloucester town, £ 30. At the Eastermost River, £ 30. At Deacon's neck, £ 35. At Poropotank, £ 30. At Crutchfield's, £ 60. At Page's, £ 60. At Meriwether's, £ 45. At Warwick, £ 70. At Rocky Ridge, £ 70. At colonel John Bolling's, £ 45. At Bermuda Hundred £ 25. At Byrd's, £ 60. At Shockoe's, £ 70. At Four Mile Creek, on both sides, under one inspection, £ 25. At Smithfield and Fulgham's Point, under one inspection, £ 35. At Warrasqueak Bay, £ 35. At Shepherd's and Turner's, under one inspection, £ 35. At Mantapike, £ 30. At Walkertown and Waller's, under one inspection, £ 35. At Todd's, £ 40. At Aylett's, £ 40. At Quarles's, £ 25. At Williams's and the Piping Tree, under one inspection, £ 30. At Bray's Church, £ 30. At Falmouth, £ 50. At Gibson's, £ 30. At Morton's, £ 30. At Dixon's, £ 50. At Davis's and Lowry's, under one inspection, £ 30. At Dymer's and Indian Creek, under one inspection, £ 40. At Deep Creek, £ 30. At Kemp's, £ 35. At Urbanna, £ 30. At the Great Bridge and Kemp's landing, under one inspection, £ 35. At Sleepy Hole and at Wilkinson's under one inspection, l. 30. At Milner's, l. 35. At Constance's, l. 40. At Cherrystone and Hungar's, under one inspection, l. 25. At Littlepage's, l. 35. At Waddy's, l. 30. At the Brick House, l. 30. At Wiccocomico, l. 40. At Coan's, l. 35. At Blandford, l. 60. At Noble's, l. 40. At Quantico, l. 65. At Cat Point and Beckwith's, under one inspection, l. 35. At Brokenbrough's and Hornby's, under one inspection, l. 35. At Glasscock's l. 25. At Cabin Point, l. 50. At Gray's Creek, l. 35, At Cave's, l. 25. At Boyd's Hole, l. 35. At Acquia, l. 40. At Fredericksburg, l. 60. At Royston's, l. 60.At Denbigh, l. 25. At Nomony, l. 30. At Machotack and Mattox, l. 40. At Yeocomico and Rust's, under one inspection, l. 40. At Stratford landing, l. 25. At Roe's, l. 25. At York town, l. 35. And at the College landing and Capitol landing, under one inspection, l. 35. | |
| XLIX. And for the better detecting of inspectors who shall not do their duty, and the more speedy and easy examination into complaints against them, Be it further enacted, That any two justices of the peace, not being inspectors shall have power to hear all complaints | The method of detecting inspectors who shall not do their duty. |
| against any inspector within their county, and to take the depositions of witnesses upon the matter of such complaint, on both sides; which shall be transmitted by them to the governour and council, for their determination. And to the end such depositions may be taken in the best manner, the clerk of the county or some sufficient person by him to be appointed, shall attend the said justices for that purpose, and be paid by the county the same fee as is or shall be by law established for attending the examination of witnesses upon a dedimus potestatem. And, moreover, any two justices shall have power to visit all or any of the publick warehouses within their county; and if they shall discover any negligence in the inspectors, either in securing the tobacco or stowing the same away in a proper manner for saving the room in such houses, or that they do not keep a sufficient number of hands for despatching the business, or do not attend constantly according to the directions of this act, or that they are guilty of any other breach or breaches of their duty, the said justices shall certify the governour and council thereof: And if any inspector shall be adjudged guilty of a breach of his duty he shall be removed from his office, and for ever after be incapable of serving as inspector. And if any inspector shall be removed from his office, upon a complaint and prosecution against him in the method by this act prescribed, he shall be liable to the action on the case of the prosecutor for his necessary costs and expenses in such prosecution, in which the prosecutor shall recover his full costs of suit; but if the inspector or inspectors shall be acquitted upon such examination, the prosecutor shall be liable to the action of such inspector or inspectors for the recovery of all damages and expenses which he or they shall have sustained or been put to by such prosecution, and costs, unless the governour and council shall certify that there was a reasonable cause for such complaint. And every inspector shall moreover be liable to the action of the party grieved for all loss and damage that may happen or arise to any person by occasion of any failure of duty or neglect of any such inspector, in which action the plaintiff shall recover his full costs, although the damages do not exceed forty shillings. | |
| L. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That all tobacco due, or to grow due, or to grow due and payable for publick, county, or parish levies, or for quitrents, | The manner in which tobacco due. |
| or for secretary's, clerks, sheriffs, surveyors, or other officers fees, shall be paid and discharged by transfer receipts, in the following manner, that is to say: All levies and quitrents shall be paid in some warehouse in the county where such levies are laid, and the lands chargeable with such quitrents lie; and all officers fees in the county where the person chargeable therewith lives, except such person shall have a plantation, with slaves thereon, in the county where the service is performed; and then all fees (except secretary's fees) shall be paid in such county: But the said levies quitrents, and fees, due and payable in any county where no publick warehouse is established, shall be paid at some warehouse in the next adjacent county. | for levies &c. shall be paid. |
| LI. Provided always, That the receipts of the warehouses hereafter mentioned shall pass in payment of all quitrents, levies, and officers fees, payable in the counties following, that is to say: In the county of Accomack, Cherrystone, Hungar's, and Nasswaddox; in the county of Albermarle, Crutchfield's, Page's, Fredericksburg, Royston's, Meriwether's, Rocky Ridge, Shockoe's, and Byrd's; Amelia, Blandford, Bolling's Point, Bollinbroke, John Bolling's, Rocky Ridge, Warwick, Osborne's, and Bermuda Hundred; Amherst, Byrd's, Shockoe's, Crutchfield's, Pages, and Rocky Ridge, Bedford, Shockoe's Byrd's Rocky Ridge, and Warwick; Brunswick, Blandford, Bolling's Point, Bollingbroke, John Bolling's, Cabin Point, and Noble's; Buckingham, Shockoe's, Byrds, Warwick, and Rocky Ridge; Caroline, Aylett's, Layton's, Micou's, and Todd's; Culpeper, Dixon's, Falmouth, Fredericksburg, and Royston's; Cumberland, Byrd's, Shockoe's, Rocky Ridge, Warwick, and Osborne's; Dinwiddie, John Bolling's, Blandford and Noble's; Elizabeth City, Roe's; Fauquier, Falmouth, Dixon's, Quantico, and Acquia; Gloucester, Kemp's; Goochland, Shockoe's, Byrd's, Crutchfield's, Page's, and Rocky Ridge; Halifax, Blandford, Bolling's Point, Bollingbroke, John Bolling's, Osborne's, Warwick, and Rocky Ridge; James City, Brickhouse, Littlepages, and capitol landing; Isle of Wight, Wilkinson's and Milner's; King William, Meriwether's, Page's, and Crutchfield's; Lancaster, Indian Creek; Loudoun, at any of the warehouses in Fairfax and Prince William; Louisa, Fredericksburg, Royston's, Crutchfield's, Page's, Meriwether's, Byrd's & Shockoe's; Lunenburg, Blandford, Bolling's Point, Bollingbroke, | The counties in which inspectors receipts are payable. |
| John Bolling's, Osborne's, Warwick, and Rocky Ridge; Norfolk, Kemp's and any of the warehouses in Nansemond and in Elizabeth City; Northampton, Guilford, Pitt's; and Pungoteague; Northumberland, Yeocomico, and Rust's; Prince Edward, Blandford, Bolling's Point, Bollingbroke, John Bolling's, Warwick, Osborne's, Rocky Ridge, Shockoe's, and Byrd's; Prince George, Bermuda Hundred, Bolling's Point, Bollingbroke, John Bolling's, and Cabin Point; Prince William, Acquia, and Colchester; Princess Anne, Great Bridge, and of any of the warehouses in Nansemond and Elizabeth City; Southampton, Cabin Point, Noble's, Gray's Creek, Smithfield, Milner's, and Warrasqueak; Spotsylvania, Conway's, Stafford, Falmouth, Machotick, Morton's, Gibson's, and Quantico; Surry, Blandford, Noble's, Smithfield, and Warrasqueak; Sussex, Blandford, Noble's, Smithfield, and Warrasqueak; Sussex, Blandford, Bolling's Point, Bollingbroke, John Bolling's, Cabin Point, Gray's Creek, and Noble's; Warwick, Roe's, and York; Westmoreland, Bray's Church, and Gibson's; York, at the College landing; Charlotte, Rocky Ridge, Warwick, Osborne's, John Bolling's, Robert Bolling's, Bollingbroke, and Blandford; Mecklenburg, Rocky Ridge, Warwick, Osborne's, John Bolling's, Robert Bolling's, Bollingbroke, and Blandford. | |
| LII. And be it further enacted, That out of every hundred pounds of tobacco paid in discharge of quitrents, secretary's, clerks, sheriffs, surveyors, or other officers fees, and so proportionably for a greater or lesser quantity, there shall be made the following abatements or allowances to the payer, that is to say: For tobacco due in the counties of Amelia, Albemarle, Amherst, Brunswick, Bedford, Buckingham, Culpeper, Cumberland, Goochland, Halifax, Louisa, Lunenburg, Orange, Charlotte, and Mecklenburg, thirty pounds of tobacco; for tobacco due in the counties of Dinwiddie, Fauquier, Loudoun, Princess Anne, Southampton, and Sussex, twenty pounds of tobacco; for tobacco due in the counties of Caroline, Chesterfield, Henrico, Hanover, Norfolk, Nansemond, Prince William, and Spotsylvania, fourteen pounds of tobacco; for tobacco due in the counties of Accomack, Charles City, Elizabeth City, Essex, Fairfax, Gloucester, James City, Isle of Wight, King George, King and Queen, King William, Lancaster, Middlesex, New Kent, Northumberland, Northampton, Prince George, Richmond, Stafford, Surry, Warwick, Westmoreland, and York, ten pounds of tobacco. | The abatements, to the payer. |
| LIII. Provided always, That where any person chargeable with officers fees (except the secretary's fees) lives in another county than where the service is performed, or the fees become due, the same allowance shall be made to every such person as is by law settled to be allowed in that county where the service is performed, or the fees become due. | Where the person chargeable with fees lives in another county. |
| LIV. And for preventing all mistakes and controversies concerning the allowances to be made upon the payment of publick, county, or parish levies, Be it enacted, That the levies aforesaid shall be all laid in neat tobacco, and the abatement which ought to be made out of every creditor's claim for convenience shall be deducted out of such claim at the time of laying the said levies, which abatements are hereby settled and declared to be the same as are before mentioned and directed to be allowed upon payment of quitrents and officers fees; but where any creditor by law or contract ought to be paid with convenience, in that case no abatement shall be made to the people by the collectors thereof; and where any tobacco ought to be paid with cask, there shall be levied four per cent. for cask, and no more; and there shall be also levied in all the said levies six per cent. for collecting the same, and no more, which shall be paid and allowed to the respective collectors of the said levies. And for all tobacco paid and discharged in inspectors receipts for quitrents, secretary's, clerks, sheriffs, surveyors, and other officers fees, to the persons entitled to receive the same, there shall be paid and allowed by such persons to the sheriff or collector six pounds of tobacco for every hundred pounds of tobacco so paid, and so proportionably for a greater or lesser quantity; and the said sheriff, or other collector, is hereby empowered to retain the same in his hands: And the sheriff, or other collector of the levies, quitrents, and fees aforesaid, shall pay and discharge the same by the same receipts which they shall receive in payment thereof. | The allowances to be made on the payment of publick, county, and parish levies. |
| LV. And be it further enacted, That during the continuance of this act the clerk of the general court, and of every county court, in taxing the costs of any judgment or decree obtained or to be obtained, shall deduct out of the said costs the same allowance for convenience as shall or ought to be made and allowed to the party first charged with the fees so taxed in the bill of costs by the respective officers, and execution shall issue for | The deductions to be made by clerks of courts in the bills of costs. |
| no more than the said costs amount to after the said deduction. | |
| LVI. And be it further enacted, That all publick, county, and parish levies, quitrents, secretary's, sheriffs, clerks, surveyors, and other officers fees, payable in tobacco, shall be paid and satisfied by the persons chargeable with and indebted for the same to the sheriffs, or other collectors, by transfer receipts, before the tenth day of April yearly; and if any person chargeable with the levies, quitrents, and fees aforesaid, shall neglect or refuse to pay the same within the time aforesaid, it shall and may be lawful to and for the sheriffs, and other collectors, immediately after the said tenth day of April to distrain the goods and chattels of the person or persons so neglecting and refusing, and to sell and dispose thereof for tobacco, in the same manner as is directed by law for goods taken in execution, and the overplus (if any be) after the said levies, quitrents, and fees, and the charge of distress, which is hereby declared to be the same as for serving an execution, shall be returned to the debtor. | Levies, &c to be paid before the 10th of April yearly. |
| LVII. Provided always, That where any goods or chattels shall be distrained for non-payment of quitrents, the same shall be redeemed by the payment of money for so much as the said quitrents amount to; and if not redeemed, the sheriff shall sell the same for money accordingly: And the sheriffs, or other collectors of the said levies and fees, shall, before the last day of May yearly, pay and deliver to each creditor, according to their respective debts or claims, all the inspectors receipts he or they have received, in satisfaction thereof; and if any sheriff or other collector shall refuse or delay to make payment accordingly, if required, he or they so refusing or delaying shall forfeit and pay to the party grieved double the value of the tobacco so refused or delayed to be paid; to be recovered, with costs, in any court of record within this dominion, if the debt due exceeds two hundred pounds of tobacco, and before any justice of the peace, if the debt be two hundred pounds of tobacco, or under. | Goods distrained for non-payment of quit-rents may be discharged by payment of the money due, otherwise to be sold. |
| LVIII. And be it further enacted, That if any of the warehouses herein before mentioned shall happen to be burnt, the loss sustained thereby shall be made good and repaired, to the several persons injured, by the general assembly, at the next session after such loss; and in case of such accident, no inspectors shall be sued or | Where warehouses are burnt. |
| molested for or by reason of any receipts by them given for any tobacco burnt in the said warehouses, but shall be altogether acquitted and discharged of and from the payment of the tobacco in such receipts mentioned, any thing herein before contained to the contrary notwithstanding. | |
| LIX. Provided always, That if the receipts for tobacco so burnt or destroyed shall be of an older date than twelve months, the tobacco shall not be paid for by the publick, but the owner or proprietor thereof shall bear the loss. | Receipts burnt of an older date than twelve months not paid for by the publick. |
| LX. And be it further enacted, That the inspectors shall not suffer or permit the proprietor, or any other person, to make use of the warehouse at which they are inspectors: And if any warehouse shall hereafter happen to be burnt, the loss sustained thereby shall be made good and repaired, to the several persons injured, by the general assembly, at the next session after such loss, as is hereby directed, but if it appears that such warehouse was burnt by means of the inspectors permitting the proprietor, or any other person, to make use thereof, such inspectors shall repay to the treasurer of this colony all such sum or sums of money as shall have been paid to the persons so injured. | Proprietor not to make use of a warehouse. |
| LXI. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That if any person shall hereafter make any fire within any publick warehouse, or without doors, near to such house, other than the squares or funnels, such person, if a freeman, shall for every such offence forfeit and pay the sum of ten shillings, to be recovered before any justice of the peace of the county wherein such offence shall be committed, by the informer, for his own use; and if a servant or slave, he or she shall, by order of any justice within such county, receive on his or her bare back ten lashes for every such offence. | Penalty on persons making fires near a warehouse. |
| LXII. And whereas many persons attending several of the publick warehouses, under the denomination of tobacco pickers, to be employed in picking the tobacco refused by the inspectors, are guilty of great frauds, impositions, and abuses therein: For remedy whereof, Be it enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That the courts of the several counties of Henrico, Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, Prince George, Fairfax, Prince William, Stafford, King George, Spotsylvania, Hanover, and Surry, shall, and they are hereby empowered to nominate and appoint, in the month of August or September annually. | Pickers. |
| such and so many persons as to them shall seem necessary, who are willing to undertake the same, to attend the respective warehouses within their county, to sort, separate, and pick, such tobacco as shall be refused by the inspectors, and every person so appointed a picker shall make oath before the court at the time of his appointment, or at the next succeeding court, that he will lawfully and diligently, without fraud, or embezzlement, sort and separate all such tobacco as shall be refused by the inspectors, and the owner or proprietor thereof shall employ him to pick: And if any person so to be appointed a tobacco picker shall, by demanding or exacting an extravagant price for his services, or in any other manner misbehave himself in his said office, it shall be lawful for the court of the county where such picker shall be appointed, on complaint and motion to them made, to remove such picker from his said office, and to appoint another person to act in his room, if to them it shall seem necessary; and every picker so removed shall for ever after be rendered incapable of serving as a picker at any publick warehouse; provided, that such picker shall have ten days previous notice of such motion. And if any person not being appointed and sworn as aforesaid, shall presume to undertake the picking, sorting, or separating, any such tobacco for hire or reward, every such person so offending shall forfeit and pay twenty five shillings for every such offence; to be recovered by the informer, to his own use, before any justice of the peace. | |
| LXIII. Provided nevertheless, That nothing herein mentioned shall extend, or be construed to extend, to prohibit the owner or proprietor of any such refused tobacco from sorting, separating, or picking the same with his or her own servants or slaves. | Owners may pick their own tobacco. |
| LXIV. And be it further enacted, That the inspectors shall issue receipts for all tobacco, saved by picking to the proprietors only of such tobacco, and not to the pickers of the same; and that the inspectors shall not suffer or permit any picker to prizeup any tobacco, that he shall have saved by picking, for his own use. | Receipts to be issued for tobacco saved by picking. |
| LXV. And to the intent that a just quantity of tobacco exported may be more exactly known, and all evil practices to defraud his majesty of his customs prevented, Be it enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That all inspectors shall carefully enter in a book, to be provided and kept for that purpose, the marks, numbers, gross, neat | Inspectors to keep a book, &c. |
| weight, and tare, of all tobacco viewed and stamped by them as aforesaid, and in what ship or vessel the same shall be laden or put on board; and shall also, with every sloop load or boat load of tobacco, send a list of the marks, numbers, gross, neat weight, and tare, of every hogshead of tobacco then delivered, to be given to the master of the ship or vessel in which the same shall be put on board; and if the tobacco delivered to the same sloop or boat is intended to put on board several ships or vessels, then they shall deliver so many distinct and several lists, as aforesaid, of the hogsheads to be put on board such ship or vessel respectively, which lists every master of a ship or vessel is required to produce to, and lodge with, the naval officer of the district where the ship or vessel whereof he is master shall ride, or by whom he shall be cleared, sometime before her clearance. | |
| LXVI. But whereas it may happen that the ship in which such tobacco was intended to be put may be so full as not to be able to stow all the tobacco contained in such list, in such case it shall and may be lawful to ship the said tobacco, or any part thereof, on board any other ship or ships where the owner thereof shall think fit, the masters of such ships endorsing on the said lists the marks and numbers of the respective hogsheads by them taken on board, and giving notice to the inspectors of the warehouse from whence the same was brought; or if there be no ship to receive the said tobacco, then it shall and may be lawful for the master of the first mentioned ship or vessel to put the said tobacco into any warehouse in the district where such ship shall ride, giving immediate notice thereof to the inspectors who stamped the same; and the inspectors of that warehouse where such tobacco shall be delivered shall receive from the persons relanding such tobacco eight pence for every hogshead so relanded, and shall give a receipt for the same; which money so received by the inspectors shall be accounted for, and paid, to the person or persons entitled to the rent of the said warehouse. | Relanded tobacco. Inspectors to receive 8d. for every hogshead relanded and to give receipt. |
| LXVII. Provided nevertheless, That no inspector shall receive any hogshead of tobacco which shall be offered to be relanded into the warehouse whereof he is inspector unless it shall appear to him that the ship, or other vessel wherein the same was intended to be shipped, was actually in the colony at the time the tobacco | No inspector to receive tobacco relanded unless the ship actually in the colony. |
| was taken from the warehouse where the same was inspected; and shall cause the said tobacco to be safely lodged, and delivered to the order of the owner thereof whenever he or she shall think fit to ship it off, and that without fee or reward. | |
| LXVIII. And be it further enacted, That if any person whatsoever shall forge or counterfeit the stamp or receipt of any inspector, or tender in payment any such forged or counterfeited receipt, knowing it to be such, or export, or cause to be exported, any hogshead or cask of tobacco stamped with a forged or counterfeited stamp, or demand tobacco of any inspector upon any such forged or counterfeited receipt, knowing such receipt, or such stamp, to be forged and counterfeited, being thereof convicted shall be adjudged a felon, and shall suffer death as in case of felony, without the benefit of clergy; or if any person shall put or pack into any hogshead or cask of tobacco, stamped by any inspector, any tobacco whatsoever, or shall draw or take out any stave, plank, or heading board, so stamped as aforesaid, of any hogshead or cask of tobacco, after such hogshead or cask of tobacco shall be delivered out from any of the publick warehouses aforesaid, every person so offending, and being thereof convicted by due course of law, shall be adjudged a felon, and shall suffer death as in case of felony. | Felony to forge inspectors receipt, or to pack any tobacco in a stamped cask. |
| LXIX. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That if any inspectors receipts be casually lost, mislaid, or destroyed, the person or persons entitled to receive the tobacco by virtue of any such receipt shall make oath before a justice of the peace of the county where the same is payable to the number and date of every such receipt, to whom and where payable, and for what quantity of tobacco the same was given, and that such receipt is lost, mislaid, or destroyed; and that he, she, or they, at the time such receipt was lost, mislaid, or destroyed, was lawfully entitled to receive the tobacco therein mentioned; and shall take a certificate thereof from such justice: And upon producing a certificate of such oath to the inspectors who signed such receipt, and lodging the same with them, the said inspectors shall, and are hereby directed to pay and deliver to the person obtaining such certificate the tobacco for which any such receipts were given (if the same, or any part thereof, shall not have been before by them paid by virtue of the said receipts) and shall | Method to be taken where receipts are lost. |
| be thereby discharged from all actions, suits, and demands, on account of such receipts. And if any person shall be convicted of making a false oath, or producing a forged certificate, in the case aforesaid, he shall forfeit and pay twenty shillings for every hundred pounds weight of tobacco contained in such certificate, and moreover, upon conviction thereof, shall suffer as in case of wilful and corrupt perjury. | Penalty for making a false oath, or producing forged
certificate. |
| LXX. And be it further enacted, That when any new inspectors shall be appointed at any of the said warehouses, such inspector or inspectors shall, and they are hereby required to give to the person or persons whom they shall succeed, a receipt, with his or their hands subscribed, containing the numbers, marks, tare, gross, and neat weight, of all and every hogshead or cask of tobacco which shall be then remaining at the warehouse or warehouses at which they are appointed inspectors, with the delivery and payment of which said hogsheads or casks of tobacco so remaining he or they shall from thenceforth be chargeable and liable, but he or they shall in no wise be accountable or answerable for the loss of weight, or for quality, of tobacco contained in any hogshead for which such receipt was by him or them so as aforesaid given; and if any hogshead or cask of tobacco shall be hereafter be received by any person or persons whatsoever, and delivered out of any of the said warehouses for exportation, by the inspector or inspectors attending the same, such inspector or inspectors from the time of such delivery, shall be for ever discharged and acquitted from all actions, costs, and charge, for or by reason of the tobacco contained in any such hogshead or cask being unsound and unmerchantable, or of less quantity than the receipts given for the same, any thing herein before contained to the contrary notwithstanding. And when any prized tobacco shall be brought to any publick warehouse, in order to be shipped on freight, and the inspectors there attending such refuse to pass such tobacco, unless such as shall be bad and unmerchantable shall be picked and separated from the rest, or where any light crop tobacco shall hereafter be brought to any of the said warehouses, in either case the said inspectors, if required, shall permit the owner, or other person bringing such tobacco, to make use of one or more of their prizes, for the repacking, prizing, or making heavier such tobacco, without fee or reward; and if there shall be several hogsheads | Where new inspectors appointed to give a receipt to the person
they succeed. Inspectors not liable to action for tobacca after delivery thereof on exportation. Inspectors to permit persons to make use of the prized for picked and light crop tobacco. |
| heads of tobacco, belonging to several owners, to be picked, repacked, prized or made heavier, at any publick warehouse, the owner, or other person bringing the same, whose tobacco shall be first viewed and refused, or found light, shall be first permitted and allowed to make use of such prize or prizes; and the same rules shall be observed in the prizing all tobacco which shall be picked, repacked, prized or found light as aforesaid. And for all tobacco repacked and prized by the owner thereof, or the servants and slaves to him belonging, there shall be paid to the inspectors thereof only three shillings for stamping; and for all tobacco repacked and prized by the inspectors five shillings for each hogshead, and also eight pence for nails, unless the proprietor shall find and provide nails, unless the proprietor shall find and provide nails; and no inspector shall take, or convert to his own use, or otherwise dispose of, any draughts or samples of freight or crop tobacco, but the same (if fit to pass) shall be put into the hogshead out of which it was drawn, under the penalty of forfeiting twenty shillings for every draught so taken away contrary to the directions of this act, to be recovered before any justice of the peace of the county wherein such offence shall be committed. And all inspectors, if required, shall alter the mark and number of any hogshead of tobacco for which they have before given a receipt; and, for preventing confusion and mistakes, shall keep a wastebook, in which shall be entered the marks and numbers of all hogsheads of tobacco received by them, and another book, in which shall be entered the marks and numbers thereof when the same shall be delivered out by them. And all inspectors, when required, shall be obliged to prize any hogshead of tobacco under nine hundred and fifty pounds neat, so as to make it up that weight; but shall receive the same fee upon such hogshead as for transfer tobacco, and may make the lawful abatement of the tobacco prized in. And where any tobacco shall be brought to any warehouse by the overseer of the owner thereof, the inspectors shall give receipts in the name of the owner, and not of the overseer. | Rules to be observed in using the prized. Reward for repacking and prizing. Inspectors shall not make use of draught or sample. Shall, if required, alter the marke or number of any hogshead. To keep a wastebook to enter marks and numbers of tobacco received. Another to enter marks and numbers when delivered. Obliged to prize tobacco under 950 to that weight and to give a receipt to the overseer in owner's name. |
| LXXI. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That the inspectors of tobacco at the several warehouses within this colony shall immediately on the delivery of every hogshead of tobacco at the warehouses whereof they are inspectors give a receipt for such tobacco, if required by the proprietor or person bringing | Inspectors to give receipt for uninspected tobacco on the deliver if required. |
| the same to the said warehouses, expressing therein that the same is for uninspected tobacco. | |
| LXXII. And whereas by one act of assembly made in the twentieth year of the reign of his late majesty, entitled An act for granting an aid to his majesty for the better protection of this colony, and for other purposes therein mentioned, a duty of two shillings was imposed for every hogshead of tobacco passed and delivered out at and from the several warehouses in this colony between the twentieth day of October then next following and the twentieth day of October in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four, and by another act, made in the thirty-second year of the reign of his said late majesty, entitled An act for granting an aid to his majesty for the better protection and defense of this colony, and for other purposes therein mentioned, the like duty of two shillings was imposed for every hogshead of tobacco so to be passed and delivered between the said twentieth day of October one thousand seven hundred and sixty-four, and the twentieth day of October one thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven, and by another act made in the thirty-third year of the reign of his said late majesty, entitled, An act for granting the sum of ten thousand pounds for the further protection of this colony, the like duty of two shillings was imposed for every hogshead of tobacco so to be passed and delivered between the said twentieth day of October one thousand seven hundred and sixty-seven, and the twentieth day of October one thousand seven hundred and sixty-nine, which duties the inspector at the several warehouses are by the said acts directed and required to receive, account for, and pay to the treasurer of this colony, without fee or reward, which is found to be very unreasonable: Be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That from and after passing of this act the said inspectors shall be allowed in their accounts to be settled with the treasurer for the said duties five per centum on the amount thereof, as a salary for their trouble in receiving, accounting for, and paying the same. | [30th Geo II] Five per centum allowed the inspectors for receiving the duty of 2s. per hogshead. |
| LXXIII. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That all the penalties and forfeitures in this act contained, and not herein before particularly appropriated, shall be one moiety to our sovereign lord the king, his heirs and successours, to be applied towards defraying the charges of the execution of this act, | How the penalties are to be recovered and applied. |
| and the other half to the person who shall inform or sue for the same, and shall and may be recovered, with costs, by action of debt or information, in any court of record within this dominion, where the penalty or forfeiture exceeds twenty-five shillings, or two hundred pounds of tobacco, and where the same does not exceed those sums, before any justice of the peace for the county where the offence shall be committed. | |
| LXXIV. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That all penalties and forfeitures laid and imposed by any of the laws in force at the time of passing this act, and all breaches and offences against the same, shall and may be sued for and prosecuted, and judgments given in such suits and prosecutions, notwithstanding the said laws shall be expired at the time of the prosecutions begun, or judgments given, in the same manner as such suits and prosecutions might have been commenced, and judgments given, in case the said laws were not expired; any law, statute, custom, or usage, to the contrary thereof, in any wise, notwithstanding. | Suits to be commenced and prosecuted notwithstanding one expiration of laws. |
| LXXV. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That when any action shall be prosecuted against any sea-faring person, founded on this or the before recited act, such person shall not be admitted to appear to such action until he or they shall have given special bail; any law, or custom, to the contrary notwithstanding. | Seafaring men to give bail. |
| LXXVI. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That all and every act and acts heretofore made, as to so much thereof as is within the purview of this act, be, and the same is repealed. | |
| LXXVII. And be it further enacted, That this act shall commence and be in force from and after the first day of October next, and shall continue for and during the term of two years. |
| Pages 54-68
| Pages 112-137
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