Pages 349-368 
|  Pages 389-419
|
| Pages 349-368
| Pages 389-419
|
| CHAP. III. | ||
| ||
| WHEREAS the troubles in which this commonwealth hath been involved, and its distressed circumstances, induced the general convention, by several resolutions, to recommend it to the courts of justice not to proceed to the trial of suits, except in some particular instances therein mentioned, and it is now judged indispensably necessary that all the said courts should be opened, for the general administration of justice: Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, That all the said resolutions of convention, so far as they tend to stop the proceedings in any court of justice, be, and the same are hereby repealed. | Preamble. Resolutions of convention tending to stop proceedings in courts repealed. | |
| And be it farther enacted, That an act of general assembly made in the nineteenth year of the reign of king George II. intituled "An act for the better regulating and collecting certain officers fees, and other purposes therein mentioned," which was continued by several subsequent acts, and is since expired, be, and the same is hereby revived (except the fifteenth section thereof) and shall continue in force from and after the end of this present session of assembly for one year, and from thence to the end of the next session of assembly, except that the fees therein given to the secretary shall be payable to the clerks of the general court and high court of chancery respectively performing the service for which such fee is given; and those given to the sheriff attending the general court heretofore, for any | The fee-bill act, (except the 15th section) revived for one year. |
| service hereafter to be performed by the serjeant at arms attending on the high court of chancery, shall be allowed to the serjeant at arms. | |
| Provided always, and it is farther enacted, That it shall be lawful for the person or persons chargeable with any of the tobacco fees mentioned in the said act to pay the same in money, at the rate of twelve shillings and sixpence per hundred of the gross tobacco; and the sheriffs or collectors shall receive, levy, and account for the same accordingly. | Tobacco fees, payable in money at 12s. 6d. per hundred. |
| And it is farther enacted, That the several officers mentioned in the said act shall be entitled to the fees according to the said act, and the subsequent regulations, for any services by them respectively performed since the expiration of the said acts, to be collected, levied, and accounted for in like manner as if the said acts had been in force; and that, conformable thereto, the clerks of the courts where judgments have been entered, during that period, shall tax the costs, if recovered. | Fees for services rendered since the expiration of that act; how paid. |
 CHAP. IV. An act for laying a publick levy. | |
| BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That fourteen pounds of tobacco, or money in lieu thereof, at the rate of threepence by the pound, be paid by every tithable within this commonwealth, for the defraying and payment of the publick charge of the country, being the publick levy from the sixth day of February one thousand seven hundred and seventy two to the twentieth day of December one thousand seven hundred and seventy seven, and that it be paid by the collector of the several counties to the several persons and counties respectively to whom it is proportioned by the general assembly. And if it shall happen that there should be more tithables in any county than the present levy is laid on, then such county shall have credit for so much to the use of the county; and if fewer tithable [tithables] in any county, then such county shall bear the loss. | Public levy, on tithables. |
| Provided always, That where any allowance is made in the book of proportions to any county, to be paid in the same county, no more per poll shall be collected from the tithables of such county than will discharge the balance after such allowance shall be deducted; and that every county court shall regulate the levy accordingly. | |
| And be it farther enacted, That the sheriff of every county shall, at the court of his county to be held in the months of April or May, give bond and security for the due collection and payment of the publick levy now laid and assessed. | Sheriffs to give bond. |
| And whereas there are several balances due to the publick from the following counties, to wit, from the county of Charles City four hundred and forty nine, from the county of Chesterfield three thousand two hundred and twenty four, from the county of Fluvanna three thousand eight hundred and forty four, from the county of Goochland twenty one thousand seven hundred and seventy seven, from the county of Hanover twenty four thousand four hundred and eighty two, from the county of Kentucky two thousand six hundred and thirty two, from the county of King George five hundred and sixty two, from the county of Louisa six thousand and seventy, from the county of Powhatan twenty five thousand three hundred and fifty, from the county of Prince George ten thousand two hundred and forty two, and from the county of Spotsylvania six hundred and seventy pounds of tobacco, as appears by the book of proportions: | Balances due from certain counties. |
| Be it farther enacted, That the sheriff of each of the said counties above mentioned shall after giving one month's notice in the Virginia Gazette, sell the respective quantities of tobacco levied in his county as a depositum for the use of the publick, or such part thereof as he shall actually receive in tobacco, to the highest bidder, at the court of his county to be held in the months of August or September next, provided a court be then held, if not, at the next succeeding court, for ready money, and shall transmit the same, together with such other monies as shall be paid him in lieu of tobacco for any part of the said depositum, to the treasurer of this commonwealth, within one month after the same shall have been actually so received by him; and if such sheriff shall neglect to transmit the monies aforesaid, it shall and may be lawful for the general | Public tobacco how sold. |
| court, or the court of the county where such sheriff resides, on a motion to them made by the treasurer of this commonwealth for the time being, to give judgment for the same, and thereon to award execution, provided such sheriff and his securities, his or their heirs, executors, or administrators, have ten days previous notice, which monies shall be accounted for by the said treasurer to the general assembly. | |||
| CHAP. V. | |||
|
[Chan. Rev. p. 63.] | ||
| I. WHEREAS the smallpox, at this time in many parts of the commonwealth, is likely to spread and become general, and it hath been proved, by incontestible experience, that the late discoveries and improvements therein have produced great benefits to mankind, by rendering a distemper which taken in the common way is always dangerous and often fatal comparatively mild and safe by inoculation, and the act for regulating the inoculation of the smallpox having been found in many instances inconvenient and injurious, makes it necessary that the same should be amended: | Preamble. | ||
| II. Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, That any person, having first obtained, in writing, to be attested by two witnesses, the consent of a majority of the housekeepers residing within two miles, and not separated by a river, creek or marsh, a quarter of a mile wide, and conforming to the following rules and regulations, may inoculate, or be inoculated for the smallpox, either in his or her own house, or at any other place. No patient in the smallpox shall remove from the house where he or she shall have the distemper, or shall go abroad into the company of any persons who hath not before had the smallpox or been inoculated, or go into any publick road where travellers usually | Licence to inoculate, how obtained. Regulations for preventing infection. |
| pass without retiring out of the same, or giving notice upon the approach of any passenger, until such patient hath recoverd from the distemper, and hath been so well cleansed, in his or her person and clothes, as to be perfectly free from infection, under the penalty of forty shillings for every offence, to be recovered, if committed by a married woman, from her husband, if an infant, from the parent or guardian, and if by a servant or slave, from the master or mistress. | Penalty for breach. |
| III. Every physician, doctor, or other person undertaking inoculation at any house, shall cause a written advertisement to be put up at the nearest publick road, or other most notorious adjacent place, giving information that the smallpox is at such house, and shall continue to keep the same set up so long as the distemper or any danger of infection remains there, under the penalty of forty shillings for every day that the same shall be omitted or neglected, to be paid by the physician or doctor if the offence shall be committed when he is present, or by the master, mistress, manager, or principal person of the family respectively, if the offence is committed in the absence of the physician or doctor. Every physician, doctor, or other person, undertaking inoculation at any publick place or hospital for the reception of patients, shall before he discharges the patients, or suffers them to be removed from thence, take due care that their persons and clothes are sufficiently cleansed, and shall give such patients respectively a certificate under his hand that in his opinion they are free from all danger of spreading the infection, under the penalty of three pounds for every offence; and every person wilfully giving a false certificate shall be subject to the penalty of ten pounds. | Duty of physicians and others to give notice, by advertisement,
of small-pox, at place of inoculation. Penalty for neglect. |
| IV. If any person who hath not had the smallpox, other than those who have been or intend to be inoculated, shall go into any house where the smallpox then is, or intermix with the patients, and return from thence, any justice of the peace of the county, on due proof thereof, may, by warrant, cause such person to be conveyed to the next hospital where the smallpox is, there to remain until he or she shall have gone through the distemper, or until the physician or manager of the hospital shall certify that in his opinion such person cannot take the same; and if such person shall not be able to pay the necessary expenses, the same shall be paid by the county. | Person who has not had the small-pox, intermixing with patients, how dealt with. |
| V. Every person wilfully endeavouring to spread or propagate the smallpox without inoculation, or by inoculation, in any other manner than is allowed by this act, or by the said recited act, in special cases, shall be subject to the penalty of five hundred pounds, or suffer six months imprisonment, without bail or mainprise. | Penalty for wilfully spreading the infection. | |
| VI. All the penalties infleited [inflicted] by this act may be recovered with costs, by action of debt or information, in any court of record, where the sum exceeds five pounds, and where it is under, or amounts to that sum only, by petition in the court of the county where the offence shall be committed, and shall be one half to the informer, and the other half to the commonwealth; or the whole to the commonwealth, where prosecution shall be first instituted on the publick behalf alone. | How recoverable, and appropriated. | |
| VII. So much of the act of general assembly intituled an act to regulate the inoculation of the smallpox within this colony, as contains any thing contrary to this act, is hereby repealed. | ||
| CHAP. VI. | ||
| ||
| WHEREAS, on the late appearance of a hostile fleet in the bay of Chesapeake, a large body of militia were collected and arrayed, and to prevent the dangerous consequences which might have been produced by a communication of intelligence to the enemy it become necessary for the governour and council, for the publick safety, to remove and restrain, during the imminence of the danger, at a distance from the posts and encampments of the said militia, and from other places near the ports and harbours of this commonwealth, certain persons whose affections to the American cause | Preamble. Governor & council and others indemnified for removing and confining suspected persons, during the late public danger. |
| were suspected, and more especially such as had refused to give assurance of fidelity and allegiance to the commonwealth, according to the act of assembly for that purpsoe made an dprovided, and it may happen that some of the said persons so removed and restrained may be disposed to vex with actions at law those who were disposed to vex with actions at law those who were concerned in advising, issuing, or executing the orders for that purpose: | ||
| Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, that the governour, members of the council, and all others concerned in advising, issuing, or executing the said orders for the removal or restraint of such persons, stand indemnified and clearly exonerated from all actions, suits, and damages on account thereof; and that if any action or suit should be brought by or on behalf of any person so removed or restrained, for the recovery of damages for such removal or restraint, against any person or persons so indemnified, the defendant or defendants may plead the general issue, and give this act in evidence. | ||
| CHAP. VII. | ||
| ||
| FOR more effectually securing the commonwealth against the designs and attempts of certain evil-minded persons, now or lately in the counties herein after mentioned, who, lost to such sentiments of virtue, honour, or regard for their country, have been induced to aid the enemy: | Preamble. | |
| BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That Samuel Washington, Gabriel Jones, and Joseph Reed, esquires, commissioners appointed by the United States of America in congress assembled to repair to Fort Pitt in order to investigate the rise, progress, and extent of the disaffection in that quarter, or such other persons as shall be appointed in their room, and shall undertake to execute the office, be authorised and empowered, and | Certain commissioners appointed to investigate the rise, progress,& extent of the disaffection near Fort Pitt. |
| they are hereby authorised and empowered, at any time within six months after the passing of this act, to apprehend such inhabitants of the counties of Ohio, Monongalia, and Yohogania, as shall appear to the said commissioners to have been concerned in any conspiracy or plot against the said states, or any or either of them, and to deliver the offenders over to the proper civil officer to be prosecuted according to law. | Their powers. | |
| And to provide for the farther protection and defence of the frontiers, Be it farther enacted, That the governour, with the advice of the privy council, may order such part of the militia as may be most convenient, and as they shall judge necessary, consistently with the safety of the commonwealth, to act in conjunction with any troops on any expedition which may be undertaken by desire of the United States of America, in congress assembled, against any of our western enemies; and also, that the governour, with advice of the privy council, at any time within nine months after the passing of this act, may empower a number of volunteers, not exceeding six hundred, to march against and attack any of our said enemies, and may appoint the proper officers and give the necessary orders for the expedition. | Governor, &c. authorised to send a force for protection of western frontiers. | |
| CHAP. VIII. | ||
| ||
| WHEREAS the probability of a winter campaign hath rendered it indispensably necessary to furnish an immediate supply of clothing for the troops raised in this commonwealth and now in continental service, and the usual methods of supply may prove tedious and inadequate to the present emergency: | Preamble. | |
| For remedy herein, Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That the governour, with the advice of the council of state, be, and he is hereby empowered to appoint commissioners, in every part of this commonwealth | Clothing for troops provided by seizure of goods. |
| where he shall think it proper, who shall, and they, or any two of them, are hereby declared to have power and authority respectively to seize all linens, woollens, trimmings, tanned leather, hats, leather breeches, dressed deerskins, shoes, and stockings, proper for the use of the army which may be found in the possession of any person or persons whatsoever, who hath purchased the same in any of the United States of America for sale; and if any person who may, on good grounds, be suspected by the said commissioners of having concealed any of the said articles in any storehouse, or other place, shall refuse to permit such commissioners to have free access thereto, the said commissioners are hereby empowered, in company with a justice of the peace, and by his order, to break open any locks or doors to enable them to discover whether any such articles are concealed; and where the said justice and commissioners shall meet with resistance in accomplishing this discover, the said justice is hereby directed to call upon the sheriff, or any constable, for such aid of the county as shall be sufficient to enforce obedience to this act. The said commissioners shall be, and they are hereby required and empowered to appoint four honest and reputable housekeepers of the neighbourhood (of whom any three may act) who, having first taken an oath, to be administered by any one of the commissioners, faithfully and impartially to perform that service, shall appraise such goods in ready money, at a reasonable price. | Power of commissioners to break locks,
&c. Goods, how appraised. |
| The commissioners who shall have performed the service shall give a certificate in writing, after such valuation is made, to the holders of such goods respectively, distinguishing the particular species, quantity, and value thereof, with an order to be drawn on the treasurer of this commonwealth to pay the said appraised value to the holder, or his order, within one month after the date thereof, which orders the treasurer is hereby required and directed to pay. And in all cases where such goods shall be applied to the use of the troops in continental service, the same shall be charged to the account of the United American States. And the commissioners, or any two of them, may employ, or if necessary impress, so many workmen as they shall judge sufficient to make up into wearing apparel such clothing and leather. The wages of any workmen impressed, in case of disagreement between the parties. | How paid for. When charged to United States. How made up into clothing. Power to impress workmen. |
| shall be settled in the same manner as the value of the materials seized; and orders for such wages, as well as what shall become due to the persons voluntarily employed, shall be drawn upon the treasurer, paid by him, and charged in manner aforesaid. If any workman impressed shall refuse, or, being a servant, his master shall not permit him to work, the servant or master so offending, upon complaint of the commissioners, or any two of them, may by a justice of the peace, be committed to prison until he shall comply. | |||
| The said commissioners shall by some safe conveyance, and in due time, transmit to the treasurer a list of the sums for which they shall have drawn orders, together with the names of the persons in whose favour they were drawn, for his more certain information. | Commissioners to transmit accounts to treasurer. | ||
| And if any person shall be sued 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 demurrer, the defendant shall recover double costs; and in all such suits the onus probandi shall lie upon the plaintiff. | Indemnification. | ||
| This act shall continue and be in force until the last day of February next. | |||
| CHAP. IX. | |||
|
[Chan. Rev. p. 64. | ||
| I. WHEREAS divers persons, subjects of Great Britain, had during our connexion with that kingdom, acquired estates, real and personal, within this commonwealth, and had also become entitled to debts to a considerable amount, and some of them had commenced | Preamble. |
| suits for the recovery of such debts before the present troubles had interrupted the administration of justice, which suits were at that time depending and undetermined, and such estates being acquired, and debts incurred, under the sanction of the laws and of the connection then subsisting, and it not being known that their sovereign hath as yet set the example of confiscating debts and estates under the like circumstances, the publick faith, and the law and usages of nations, require that they should not be confiscated on our part, but the safety of the United States demands, and the same law and usages of nations will justify, that we should not strengthen the hands of our enemies during the continuance of the present war, by remitting to them the profits or proceeds of such estates, or the interest or principal of such debts: | |
| II. Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, That the lands, slaves, stocks, and implements thereunto belonging, within this commonwealth, together with the crops now on hand, or hereafter to acrue, and all other estate, of whatever nature, not herein otherwise provided for, of the property of any British subject, shall be sequestered in to the hands of commissioners to be appointed from time to time by the governour and council for each particular estate, which commissioners shall have power, by suits or actions to be brought in the names of the proprietors, to receive and recover all sums of money hereafter to become due to the said proprietors of such estates, to direct by agents, stewards, or overseers, the management of the said estates to the best advantage, to provide out of the monies so received and recovered, and the crops and profits now on hand, or hereafter accruing, for the maintenance, charges, taxes, and other current expenses of such estates, in the first place, and the residue to carry into the loan office of this commonwealth, and to take out certificates for the same for the said office in the name of the proprietor of such estate, which certificates shall be delivered into the governour and council, before who also a fair account, on oath, of the receipts and disbursements for the said estate, shall be annually laid, and if wrong, shall be subject at their instance to be revised and adjusted, in the name of the proprietors; and all balances due thereon from the said commissioners to be recovered in a court of justice, according to the ordinary forms of the law; and such balances, so recovered, to | British property sequestered. Commissioners of sequestration, for each particular estate, how appointed. Their powers and duties. |
| be placed in like manner in the said loan office. And the governour and council shall once in every year lay before the general assembly an account of the said certificates put in [into] their hands, specifying the names of the owners, and shall see to the safe keeping of the same, subject to the future direction of the legislature. And where any such estate is holden in joint tenancy, tenancy in common, or of any other undivided interest with any citizen of this commonwealth, it shall be lawful for such citizen to proceed to obtain partition by such action, suit, or process, to be instituted in the general court or high court of chancery, as is allowed to be had against a citizen in the like case; and service of process in any such suit on the commissioners appointed for such estate, and orders, judgments, and decrees thereon, to be rendered, shall be, to all intents and purposes, as valid and effectual as if the party himself had appeared in defence: Saving nevertheless to such defendant, if the partition be unequal, such redress as shall be hereafter allowed him by the legislature against the party plaintiff, his heirs, executors, or administrators, and against the lands themselves alloted to the plaintiff on such unequal partition, and not sold to any person for valuable consideration actually and bona fide paid or agreed to be paid; but all lands so sold after partition shall be absolutely confirmed to the purchaser and all claiming under him, according to the terms of his purchase, in like manner as if the vendor had held an indefeasible estate therein. And the said commissioners shall use their best skill and endeavours to obtain a fair an dequal partition for their principal, for whichpurpose they may employ necessary agents and counsel at his expense; and for this, and all other their trouble and expenses, such allowance shall be made them out of the profits of the estate as to the governour and council shall seem reasonable. | Accounts laid before the assembly,
Partition between British subjects and citizens, joint-tenants, &c. how made. |
| III. And be it farther enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for any citizen of this commonwealth owing money to a subject of Great Britain to pay the same, or any part thereof, from time to time, as he shall think fit, into the said loan office, taking thereout a certificate for the same in the name of the creditor, with an endorsement under the hand of the commissioner of the said office expressing the name of the payer, and shall deliver such certificate to the governour and | British debts, payable into loan office. |
| council, whose receipt shall discharge him from so much of the debt. And the governour anc council shall in like manner lay before the general assembly once in every year, an account of these certificates, specifying the names of the persons by and for whom they were paid, and shall see to the safe keeping of the same, subject to the future direction of the legislature. | |
| IV. Provided, That the governour and council may make such allowance as they shall think reasonable, out of the said profits and interest arising on money so paid into the loan office, to the wives and children residing in this state, of such proprietors or creditors. | Provision for wives, &c. of British subjects. |
| V. And be it farther enacted, That all suits which were depending in any court of law or equity within this commonwealth on the twelfth day of April in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy four, wherein British subjects alone are plaintiffs, and any citizen of this commonwealth is a defendant, shall stand continued (unless abated by the death of either party) in the same state in which they were at that time; and where citizens and British subjects are joint plaintiffs against a citizen, the court may proceed to trial and judgment, but execution as to so much of any debt sued for and recovered in such action, as will accrue to such British subject, shall be suspended till farther direction of the legislature. And in all such suits wherein any citizen of this commonwealth is a plaintiff, and any subject of Great Britain is a defendant, the court may proceed to trial, judgment, and execution, saving to the defendant such benefit of rehearing, or new trial, as shall be hereafter allowed by the legislature. | Suits by British subjects suspended.
Proceeding, where joint plaintiffs, or defendants with a citizen. |
| CHAP. X. | ||
| ||
| BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That from and after the passing of this act the agents, commissaries, or contractors, acting under appointment of the United States or this commonwealth, shall, and they are hereby authorised and required to seize for the use of the army any salt which they may discover in the possession of any person or persons within this commonwealth imported or purchased for sale, proceeding therein in the same manner as is directed in the case of seizing provisions by an act of assembly passed this session, intituled "An act for enabling the publick contractors to procure stores of provisions necessary for the ensuing campaign, and to prohibit the exportation of beef, pork, and bacon, for a limited time;" save only, that instead of the appraisement by the said act directed the person or persons from whom any salt shall be taken by virtue of this act shall be entitled to five pounds per bushel, together with the charge of carriage from the place of importation, for the same. | Salt may be seized for the use of the army. | |
| This act shall continue and be in force for the space of one month, unless the governour and council shall by proclamation declare that the publick wants are sufficiently provided, for, and no longer. |
| CHAP. XI. | |||
|
[Chan. Rev. p. 65.] | ||
| I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly, that if any person shall buy, or cause to be bought, any goods, wares, merchandise, or victual, which at the time of purchase shall be under carriage or transpiration to any market or fair within this commonwealth to be sold therein, or to any city or town wherein there is no publick market established, or to any port or harbour of this commonwealth for sale, or shall make any bargain, contract, or promise, for the buying or having such goods, or [the] pre-emption thereof, before the same shall be in or at the market, fair, city, town, port, or harbour, ready to be there sold, or shall persuade any person coming to this commonwealth, or any market therein, to forbear bringing any goods, wares, or merchandise thereto, or use any means or device for the enchancing [enhancing] of the price of any such goods in this commonwealth, or any market therein, every such person offending in either of the said particulars is declared a forestaller. But this shall not extend to any person living more than four miles from any town within this commonwealth, and purchasing any victual, goods, or commodities, necessary for the use and consumption of himself and his family, or those in his employ, for one year. | Who deemed a forestaller. | ||
| II. If any person shall, by any means, buy, obtain, or get into his possession, in any fair or market, any victual that shall have been brought to the said fair or market to be sold, and shall make sale thereof again in the same place, or in any other place, within four miles thereof, he is declared a regrater. | Who a regrater. | ||
| III. If any person shall buy within this commonwealth to sell again, in this or any of the United States, any goods, wares, merchandise, or victual, which shall have been imported or brought into this state from any other state or place whatsoever, or any victual, commodities, manufactures, or materials for manufacture, raised or wrought within this state, except such purchase be made from the original importer, owner, maker, or | Who an engrosser. |
| manufacturer of such goods, wares, merchandise, victual, commodities, manufactures, or materials for manufacture, respectively every person so offending is declared an engrosser. But this act shall not extend to any person purchasing such articles from one who purchased from the importer and retailing the same more than twenty five miles from any tide water, nor to any agent of this commonwealth or of the United States, or any of them, purchasing necessaries really and bona fide for the use of the army or navy, and not dealing in such articles on the account of himself or any other private persons (such agent for the United States, or any of them, producing, whensoever called on, sufficient proof of his acting under authority from the United States, or some one of them) nor to the managers of any iron works purchasing necessaries for the use of those employed about such iron works and selling them to such persons, nor to the purchasers of materials for manufacture which shall be really applied to that use in the family of the purchaser, or some manufactory wherein he is interested, not to ordinary keepers purchasing victual to be retailed in their ordinaries, or persons keeping private houses for lodging or entertainment who may buy any kind of victual and retail the same in their respective houses after it is prepared and dressed for the table, nor to the owners of any imported goods sold as being damaged for the benefit of the ensurers, or condemned in the admiralty and purchased by the said owners. | |
| IV. Every person becoming a forestaller, regrater, or engrosser, as before described, shall, on conviction for the first offence suffer imprisonment by the space of one month without bail or mainprise, and forfeit the value of the things so by him bought or sold, and for the second offence shall be imprisoned two months without bail or mainprise, and shall forfeit the double value of the things so by him bought or sold, and for any such offence afterwards committed shall stand in the pillory for such time bought or sold, and for any such offence afterwards committed shall stand in the pillory for such time as the court shall direct, not exceeding two hours, shall forfeit treble the value of the things by him bought or sold, and be imprisoned at the discretion of the jury convicting him of the said offence, provided such imprisonment doth not exceed three months. | Forestaller, &c. how punishable. |
| V. No goods, wares, merchandise, victual, commodities, manufactures or materials for manufacture, imported | Public vendues prohibited. |
| into this commonwealth, or raised or manufactured within the same (except slaves, stocks, and household furniture, goods condemned in the admiralty court, or goods which being damaged are by the law and the custom of merchants to be sold for the benefit of ensurers, victual, or goods sold on account and for the benefit of the United States, or some one of them, goods taken in execution or upon attachment, or distrained for rent or public taxes, or sold by executors or administrators) shall be exposed to sale at publick vendue, under penalty on each person selling or buying at such vendue, for each article so sold, of double the value thereof. | Exceptions. |
| VI. All the penalties hereby inflicted shall be one half to the use of the commonwealth and the other to the informer, and where the sum doth not exceed twenty five shillings, shall be recoverable with costs before any justice of the peace, and where it shall exceed that sum by action of debt or information, in any court of record; and in such action of debt the clerk shall endorse on the writ, that bail is to be required, whereupon the sheriff shall take sufficient bail for the appearance of the defendant, or be answerable himself, as in other like cases, and the court may either rule and defendant to give special bail, or admit an appearance without, as to them shall appear just. | Penalties how recovered and appropriated. |
| VII. All acts of parliament and of general assembly, relating to any thing within the purview of this act, are hereby repealed. |
| CHAP. XII. | ||
| ||
| WHEREAS divers persons, devoting themselves to avarice and extortion, and intending to amass riches out of the ruins of their country, or treacherously to betray it into the hands of its enemies, have industriously bought up, and already got into their possession, so great a proportion of the provisions usually brought to market at this season, that there is little hope of our being able to lay up such stores thereof as will be requisite for the purposes of the ensuing campaign, unless an embargo be laid on the exportation thereof: Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, That from and after the passing of this act no pork, beef, or bacon, shall be exported out of this commonwealth by land or by water, by any person whatever, except only such as shall be sent thereout for the support of the continental army, or any troops sent out of this commonwealth, by the agents, contractors, or commissaries, acting under appointment from the United States, or any of them, or to fulfil contracts already made to supply the owners of certain iron works with a quantity of beef or pork in the state of Maryland in exchange for iron, and except also such quantity as may be really necessary for the crew of a vessel going out upon a voyage or cruise, and such as may be purchased by the agents of the United States as sea stores for any vessels in the continental service going from Maryland or North Carolina on a voyage or cruise. Any person so offending herein, by exporting, or endeavouring to export, pork, beef, or bacon, contrary to this act, shall forfeit the provisions so endeavoured to be exported, which may be seized by any naval officer, where the exportation shall be by water, or by order of any justice of peace, where it happens by land, or, happening | Preamble. Embargo, on exportation of pork, beef and bacon. |
| by water, a naval officer hath not been appointed, or, being appointed, shall not be present at the place where the exportation is intended, and shall also pay the double value thereof, with costs of suit, one moiety to the commonwealth, and the other moiety to him who will sue as well for the commonwealth as for himself, or the whole to the commonwealth, if a prosecution shall be first instituted on the publick behalf alone. | |
| And be it farther enacted, That if any justice of peace, from his own knowledge, or the information of others, shall have cause to suspect that any pork, beef, or bacon, is about to be carried out of this commonwealth contrary to this act, he may issue his warrant for seizing the same; and if the owner shall not give security that he will not carry the same out of the commonwealth, such justice may either retain such provisions for publick use, to be appraised and paid for in manner herein after mentioned, or may cause the same to be sold for the benefit of the owner, and at his or her expense. | How enforced. |
| And that those who have engrossed, or shall engross, the provisions necessary for the army, and refuse to sell the same for that use at moderate prices, may be disappointed in their wicked designs to distress or ruin their country: Be it farther enacted, That if any person, who, since the first day of November last, hath purchased, or during the continuance of this act shall purchase, any live stock, or beef, pork, or bacon, more than is sufficient for the consumption of his family, and of those in his employ, shall refuse to sell the same to any agent, commissary, or contractor, acting under appointment of the United States or this commonwealth, for such price as shall be estimated by three freeholders authorised by a justice of the peace by warrant under his hand and seal, and sworn truly and faithfully to ascertain the number and quantity sufficient for the family of the owner and those in his employ, and to appraise the surplus, such agent, commissary, or contractor, by warrant under the hand and seal of a justice of the peace, who is hereby required to issue the same, may, in company with the sheriff or constable, and such assistants as the said justice shall judge necessary, seize such surplus, and for that purpose, in the day time, enter any warehouse or enclosure, paying or tendering to the owner the price so estimated by the appraisers, or in case the seizure be made by an agent, | Provisions purchased, by any person, more than necessary for the consumption of his family, may be seized, for use of the army. |
| commissary, or contractor of this commonwealth, drawing orders on the treasurer, payable one month after date, and transmitting copies of such orders to the said treasurer in the meantime. | ||
| And that any person against whom an action may be commenced for what he shall lawfully do by virtue and in execution of this act may plead the general issue, and give this act in evidence; and if a verdict be found, or a judgment be given for him, he shall recover double costs. | ||
| This act shall continue and be in force until the end of the next session of assembly, unless the governour and council shall by proclamation declare that the publick wants are sufficiently provided for, and no longer. | Indemnification. | |
| CHAP. XIII. | ||
| ||
| WHEREAS by an act of assembly, passed in the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy six, intituled, "An act for exempting the different societies of dissenters from contributing to the support and maintenance of the church as by law established and its ministers, and for other purposes therein mentioned," reciting, that by the exemptions allowed dissenters it might be too burthen some in some parishes to the members of the established church if they should still be compelled to support the clergy by certain fixed salaries, and that it was judged best that this should be done for the present by voluntary contributions, it was enacted, that so much of an act of the general assembly, made in the twenty second year of the reign of king George the second, intituled "An act for the support of the clergy, and for the regular collecting and paying the parish levies," or any other act as provided | Salaries of ministers of Church of England further suspended. |
| salaries for the ministers and authorised the vestries to levy the same, except in the cases in the same act of one thousand seven hundred and seventy six, before directed, should be suspended until the end of the then next session of assembly, at which next session of assembly the act so suspended was by another act further suspended until the end of this present session of assembly, and it is reasonable that the same suspension should be farther continued: | ||
| Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, That so much of the said act as was so suspended by the above recited act of one thousand seven hundred and seventy six shall be farther suspended until the end of the next session of general assembly. | ||
| CHAP. XIV. | ||
| ||
| BE it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the number of delegates hereafter to be chosen to congress shall be seven, of whom any three, when more than five do not attend, shall be sufficient to represent this commonwealth therein. That no persons shall be hereafter eligible to or capable of serving in congress for more than three years, in any term of six years. | Number of delegates to congress. How many may represent the state. How long eligible. | |
| Each member for every day he shall attend, shall receive ten dollars, and also one third of a dollar per mile going, and the same returning, together with his ferriages, in lieu of the allowances heretofore settled by law, to be paid, wherever congress shall be sitting, by the treasurer of this commonwealth, out of any publick monies which shall be in his hands. | Their wages. |
| That so much of an act of assembly, intituled "An act limiting the time for continuing the delegates to general congress in office and making provision for their support, and for other purposes," as is within the purview of this act, be, and is hereby repealed. |
| Pages 349-368
| Pages 389-419
|