Pages 471-482 
|  Pages 521-540
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| Pages 471-482
| Pages 521-540
|
| CHAP. X. An act for reviving several Publick Warehouses for the inspection of Tobacco. | |
| FOR the more effectual preventing the exportation of trash, bad, unsound, and unmerchantable tobacco, and for preventing frauds in the duties thereon, Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That all tobacco which from and after the commencement of this act shall be exported out of this state by water, except only such tobacco as hath been or shall be reviewed and inspected according to the directions of the laws which expired on the first day of October one thousand seven hundred and seventy eight, shall be first brought to some or one of the publick warehouses hereafter mentioned, and shall be there viewed and inspected in manner as herein after is expressed. | Tobacco for exportation to be first inspected at warehouse. |
| And be it farther enacted, That no person shall put on board, or receive into any ship or other vessel, in order to be exported therein, any tobacco not packed in hogsheads or casks, upon any pretence whatsoever, | No tobacco to be taken on board vessels, unless in hogsheads and inspected. |
| nor in any hogshead or cask, to be in that or any ship or other vessel exported out of this state, before the same shall have been reviewed 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 or other vessel, and to be therein exported, or to be carried and put on board any other ship or vessel for exportation as aforesaid, shall be received and 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 state 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 purposes. 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 five hundred pounds. | Oath required of master of vessel. |
| 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 he 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 fifty pounds 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, one moiety thereof to the use of the informer, and the other moiety to the use of the commonwealth. | Penalty on master of vessel, for breach of this act. |
| And be it farther enacted, That if any person not being a servant or slave taking upon himself to carry any tobacco to or from any of the said warehouses in his boat, or other vessel, for hire, shall 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 two shillings for every pound weight of such tobacco; 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, 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. | Penalty on others, not servants or slaves. |
| And if any servant or other person employed in navigating any such boat or other vessel shall connive at or conceal the taking or receiving on board any tobacco in bulk or parcel as aforesaid, he shall pay the sum of five pounds, to be recovered as aforesaid; and if such servant or other person shall be unable to pay the said sum, he or they, and ever slaves so employed, shall, by order of such justice receive on his bare back thirty nine lashes well laid on; and if such boat or other vessel be under the care and management of a servant who cannot pay and satisfy the penalty so to be inflicted on the master or skipper offending as aforesaid, then such servant, and every other person employed under him, unable to pay the said penalty, 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 again be entrusted with the care and management of any boat or other 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 two shillings per pound for every pound weight of such tobacco so taken or received on board in bulk or parcel, and shall also forfeit and pay ten shillings for every day such | Penalty on servants or others for taking on board tobacco in parcels. |
| servant shall thereafter be employed as skipper or master of any boat or other vessel to him belonging, to be recovered and applied as aforesaid. | |
| Provided nevertheless, That it shall be lawful for the proprietor or proprietors to break any hogshead of tobacco after it shall be passed and stamped, and to repack and prize the same into small casks for the conveniency of stowing, providing it be done at the warehouse where the same was inspected, and weighted, and marked, and stamped; and the inspectors shall particularise all such casks in their manifests to be given to the masters or skippers of the vessel in which such tobacco shall be laden. | Exceptions. |
| Provided always, That nothing herein before contained shall be construed to prohibit any person from 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, or to prohibit any person to put or take on board any boat or other vessel any hogsheads or casks of tobacco to be waterborn to any warehouse appointed by this act, so as the same be not carried out of the naval officer's district where in 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 state wherein the same 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, fifty shillings for every hogshead to the informer. | Further exceptions. |
| 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 | Privileges of inhabitants of Fleet's bay, and Warrasqueak. |
| the parts adjacent to carry their tabacco to be passed at any warehouse in the upper district of James river. | |
| And be it farther enacted, That every master of a ship or vessel wherein tobacco shall be laden, shall, at the time of clearing, deliver to the naval officer a fair manifest of all the tobacco on board his ship or vessel, expressing the marks and numbers of every hogshead or cask, 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 or cask, as the same was taken down by the person or persons appointed by him to take the same before the said tobacco was stowed away; and no ship or vessel shall be cleared by the naval officer before he shall have received such list and manifest, which shall by the said naval officer be transmitted to the treasurer of this commonwealth for the time being. | Manifests. |
| And be it farther enacted, That if the skipper of any boat or vessel, or the person or persons to whom the care and management thereof shall be entrusted, 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 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 waterborn and landed, and take thereout any tobacco before the same be received 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. | Felony to put on shore tobacco carrying to warehouse, or open hogshead & take tobacco thereout. |
| 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 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 | Exceptions. |
| of the tobacco laden in such vessel, and that the same may with all convenient speed be carried thereafter to the warehouse or ship (as the case may be) to which it was designed, without embezzlement. | |
| Provided also, 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 or vessel in which it is intended to be exported receive so much damage as that the master of such ship or vessel 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 weighted and stamped with the weight by the inspector 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 to separate, repack, weight, and stamp the same, and such inspectors shall receive of the owner of such tobacco fifteen shillings for their own use for each hogshead or cask of tobacco, to be paid by such owner before the said tobacco shall be delivered out for exportation. | Damaged tobacco, how managed. |
| And be it farther 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, stemming, or cutting the same, provided that such tobacco shall not be shipped off until it shall again be 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 hogsheads, when delivered out. |
| And be it farther enacted, That publick warehouses for the reception and inspection of tobacco pursuant to this act shall be kept at the several plates herein after mentioned, that is to say: In the county of Accomack, | Warehouses at what places. |
| at Pitt's landing upon Pocomoke, at Guilford, and at Pungoteague, where the warehouses were lately established, under one inspection; in the county of Caroline, at Roy's and Conway's; in the county of Charles City, at Kennon's, and Swinyard's, under one inspection; in the county of Dinwiddie, at Bolling's Point, Bollingbroke, and Cedar Point; in the county of Essex, at Hobb's Hole, and at Piscattaway, and Bowler's, under one inspection, and at Layton's, and Port Micou, under one inspection; in the county of Fairfax, at Colchester, at Pohick, at Alexandria, where the inspection called Hunting creek was formerly established, and at the falls of Potowmack; in the county of Gloucester, at Poropotank, and at Deacon's neck; in the county of Hanover, at Crutchfield's, at Page's, and at Meriwether's; in the county of Chesterfield, at Cary's, at Osborne's, at Rocky Ridge, and at John Bolling's; in the county of Henrico, at Byrd's, and Shocko; in the county of Isle of Wight, at Smithfield, and at Fulgham's, under one inspection; in the county of King and Queen, at Turner's, and Shepherd's, under one inspection; and at Mantapike, and Frazer's, in the county of King William, under one inspection; and at Todd's, in King and Queen, and at Aylett's in the county of King William, under one inspection; in the county of King William, at Williams's, and at the Piping tree, under one inspection; in the county of King George, at Boyd's Hole, at Gibson's, at Machotack, and at Morton's; in the county of Lancaster, at Davis's, and at Lowry's, under one inspection; in the county of Northumberland, at Coan's, and at south Wycomico, and at north Wycomico, at Dymer's, and at Indian creek, under one inspection, and at Deep creek, and Glasscock's, under one inspection; in the county of Middlesex, at Urbanna; in the county of Nansemond, at South Quay, on the land of Benjamin Baker, and at Milners; in the county of Northampton, at Cherrystones, Hungar's, and at Nasswaddox, under one inspection; in the county of New Kent, at Littlepage's, at the Brick House, and at Waddy's; in the county of Prince George, at Boyd's, at Davis's, at Blandford, and at Noble's; in the county of Prince William, at Quantico, and Dumfries; in the county of Richmond, at Cat Point, and Beckwith's, under one inspection, and at Totuskey; in the county of Surry, at Cabbin Point, and at Gray's creek; in the county of Stafford, at Acquia, at Falmouth, |
| at Dixon's, and at Cave's; in the county of Spotsylvania, at Fredericksburg, and at Royston's; in the county of Warwick; at Denbigh; in the county of Westmoreland, at Nominy, at Leeds, and Maddox, under one inspection, at Yeocomico, and Rust's, under one inspection; at the College Landing, in the county of James City; and Capitol Landing, in the county of York, under one inspection, and at Roe's, in the county of York. | |
| And be it farther enacted, That the rents of the several warehouses hereby established shall be, and they are hereby established at the following rates; At Pungoteague eight pounds; at Nasswaddox six pounds; at Pitt's and Guilford's ten pounds; at Cherrystones and Hungar's five pounds; at Roe's ten pounds; at the College Landing ten pounds; at the Capitol Landing ten pounds; and at all the other warehouses there shall be paid and allowed for the rents of the same four shillings annually for every hogshead of tobacco that already have been or shall be received, inspected and delivered out of such warehouses respectively. | Rents of warehouses. |
| 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 proportionable to the expense of such building in both the said cases, such farther 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 of the money received by them for inspecting tobacco; and if the money received by any inspector of any of the warehouses aforesaid shall not be sufficient to pay the salaries and rents aforesaid, and other incident charges in this act mentioned, such deficiency shall be 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. | Expenses of wharves and new warehouses, how reimbursed. |
| And be it farther 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 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 and the rent hereby established for such warehouses respectively; and if any proprietor or owner shall refuse so to do he shall forfeit and pay five 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 hsall be lawful for the justices of the court of that county wherein such place is or shll be, and they are hereby required, at the next court to be held for their county, after the commencement of this act, or after such new warehouse shallbe so appointed (as the case may be) 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 two thirds of the number of hogsheads, which in their opinion will be annually 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 tobacco refused and picked at such warehouses, and such wharfs, and other conveniencies as shall be necessary, and shall cause the owner or proprietor of the land where 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 may be) of such owner or proprietor, to be summoned to appear befor ethem 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 attorney, or agent, will undertake the same, then the said court shall and they are hereby required to take bond with one sufficien security in a reasonable penalty, payable to the governour and his successours, to the use of the commonwealth, with a condition for the due performance | Warehouses already built how rented. New ones, how erected. Proceedings thereon. |
| 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 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 use 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 conveniencies, as is herein before directed, and shall certify the charge thereof to the treasurer of this state 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 the rent established at such warehouses for reimbursing the publick the charge of such buildings until the same shall be repaid. | Tenure of new warehouses. |
| And where the justices of any county court, or any other person or persons have already built warehouses on the lands of another person by virtue of, or in pursuance of the laws lately in force, the said justices or other person or persons shall in like manner be seized in fee to 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. | Tenure of warehouses already built. |
| And be it farther enacted, 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 tobacco inspected at their respective warehouses the preceding year, and of the condition of the warehouses under their charge, and the quantity of tobacco they are capable of containing; and thereupon such court, if they shall not be satisfied | Inspectors to report to court, condition of warehouses. |
| that the warehouses already built at any of the said inspections are properly secured, and contain sufficient room for two thirds 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 at 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 already built, shall be sufficient in the opinion of such court conveniently to contain two thirds of the quantity of tobacco mentioned in such inspector's 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 may 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 the governour for the time being, and his successours, with a condition for the due performance of the same, then it shall 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 state for the time being, who is hereby required to pay the same out of the publick money in his hands arising from the inspection of tobacco, and shall take and receive from the inspectors a proportion of the rents established at such warehouses for reimbursing the publick the charge of such buildings and repairs, which proportion shall be settled by the court, and by them certified to the 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, provided, that where tow 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 | Proceeding thereupon. |
| most proper, and if there shall be in the whole sufficient house-room, according to the directions of this act, for two thirds of the tobacco brought to such inspections, the court shall not direct the building other houses at any of them. | |
| And be it farther enacted, That if any county court shall fail or refuse to do their duty in directing such houses, funnels, wharfs, and other necessary conveniencies, 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 twenty pounds, to be recovered in the general court with costs, by action of debt or information against such justices jointly. | Penalty on county courts for failure of duty. |
| 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 publick warehouses, except their riding horses, 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 be lawful for the proprietors of the said lands to kill or cause to be killed or destroyed all such swine. | Restrictions, as to houses, orchards, &c. Inspectors not to keep hogs at warehouse. |
| Provided also, That where any warehouses have been or shall be built by the justices or other persons 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, who 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. | How lands re-vested in the proprietor. |
| Provided also, That if any proprietor, so as aforesaid restored to his estate, shall neglect or refuse to build and repair such houses and wharfs as the court shall think necessary, the justices shall again be seized of the fee simple estate in such land during the time such | How he may lose it, by failing to build. |
| place shall be made use of for a publick warehouse, and such proprietor shall not have any benefit of the rents that shall hereafter become due. | |
| And be it farther enacted, That on complaint being made by the owner or owners of any of the warehouses aforesaid, to any justice of the peace in the county where 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 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 twenty five shillings in his opinion; and if such damages shall exceed that sum then it shall 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 of record within this state. | Waste or destruction in warehouses, proceedings on. |
| And be it farther enacted, That there shall be kept at every one of the said warehouses herein before appointed, and at all others hereafter to be appointed, a good and sufficient pair of scales with weights to weigh fifteen hundred pounds at the least, and 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 hereafter be 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 for the time being is hereby empowered and required to provide the same with all convenient speed, and the treasurer for the time being 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 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 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 one hundred | Scales and weights. |
| pounds; 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. | |
| And be it enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That all tobacco which shall be brought to any of the publick warehouses 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 state wherein any of the publick warehouses appointed by this act are established, shall, and they are hereby required, once in every year, and no oftener, at their respective county courts held in the months of August and [or] September, to nominate and recommend to the governour or chief magistrate 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 one and the same inspection happen to lie in different counties, in that case the court 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 clerk of the privy council; and out of the said four persons nominated and recommended for each inspection, the governour or chief magistrate, with advice and consent of the council, shall 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 chief magistrate, with the like advice and consent, shall appoint such persons as he 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 chief magistrate 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 nomipation | Inspectors, how appointed. |
| and appointment of inspectors, but if neither [either] of the nersons named in such last recommendation will not accept the said offices, [office,] in that case the governour or chief magistrate may appoint any other person they shall think fit; and besides the two inspectors appointed as aforesaid, the governour or chief magistrate for the time being, with the advice of the council, shall 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 to 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. | Additional inspector. |
| And be it farther 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 two hundred pounds, to be recovered with costs, by action of debt in any court of record within this state, by any person suing for the same; and every person offering or paying, directly or indirectly, any fee, service, gratuity, or reward whatsoever, to any inspector to resign his said office, shall for the said offence be for ever disabled from holding the office of inspector within this state: | Penalty on inspectors accepting reward for resigning. |
| Provided always, That no justice of the peace, being an inspector, or recommended to be an inspector, shall be allowed to vote in the nomination and recommendation of persons to be inspectors as aforesaid; and that all inspectors who were in office on the thirtieth day of September last upon taking the oaths hereby required at their next county court, or the court succeeding, 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 | Justice, are inspector not to vote in nomination. Inspectors in office may act without new commissions. |
| 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. | |
| And be it farther enacted, That the inspectors at the several warehouses within this commonwealth shall, within twenty days after the passing of this act, take a true and perfect inventory of all the tobacco at their respective warehouses, and enter the same in a book to be kept for that purpose, and shall immediately thereafter be liable for all such tobacco to the proprietors thereof, who shall allow and pay them sixpence per hogshead as a recompence for their trouble in taking such inventory. | Inspectors to take inventory of tobacco, on hand. |
| 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 one thousand pounds, payable to the governour for the time being, and his successours, with condition for the true and faithful performance of his duty according to the directions of this act, which bond shall be transmitted by the clerk of the court to the treasurer under the penalty of one hundred pounds, wh shall move for judgment against every inspector failing to discharge the same within two months after it becomes due under the penalty of one hundred pounds, and shall also take the following oath, that is to say: "You shall swear that you will diligently and carefully view and examine all tobacco brought to any publick warehouse or warehouses where 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 intituled An act for reviving several publick warehouses for the inspection of tobacco, 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 | Bond and security by inspectors. Their oath. |
| to the best of your skill and judgment, and according to the directions of the said act, without fear, favour, affection, malice, or partiality. So help you God." Which oath shall be taken before the governour or commander in chief of this state for the time being, before the general court, or in the court of the county wherein such inspector shall reside, or the 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 having taken such oath, which certificate shall be lodged with the clerk of the county where such inspector shall be, and if any person shall presume to execute the office of inspector before he shall have given such bond, and taken such oath as aforesaid, he shall forfeit and pay five hundred pounds. | |
| And be it farther 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 said tenth day of August shall be delivered, but no inspector shall be obliged to view any tobacco 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 twenty shillings for every neglect, or shall be liable to the action upon the case of the party grieved, to recover all such damages as 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 that all persons having tobacco at the publick warehouses may have equal justice, the inspectors shall enter in a book to be kept for that purpose, the marks and owners names of all tobacco brought to their respective warehouses for inspection as they shall be brought in, and shall view and inspect the same in due turn as they shall be entered in such book, without favour or partiality, and shall uncase and break every hogshead and cask of tobacco | Inspectors, when to attend. Further duties of inspectors. |
| 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 of 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 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 a 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; and the inspectors at each of the warehouses revived or established by this act, shall constantly keep so many able hands at their respective warehouses, not exceeding two, as the courts of the several counties wherein they lie shall from time to time judge necessary and direct, for the purpose of taking care of all tobacco brought to such warehouse, and stowing it away after the same shall be inspected and stamped; and no inspector shall, by himself, his servant, or by any other persons, either directly or indirectly, be concerned in picking any refused tobacco, unless it be his own property, on any pretence whatsoever, under the penalty of being forever thereafter disabled from holding the office of inspector. | Hands to be kept by inspectors. |
| And be it farther enacted, That when any tobacco shall be refused by the inspectors the proprietor shall either carry such refused tobacco from the inspection or be at liberty to separate the good from the bad, but if the owner shall nether carry away the same, nor have it picked within one month, then the inspectors shall employ one of the pickers attending the warehouse to pick and separate such refused tobacco, and give the owner credit for so much thereof as shall be found merchantable, after paying the picker one fifteenth part of the quality saved, and the inspectors shall cause the tobacco which shall by them be judged unfit to pass to be | Refused tobacco picked or burnt. |
| burnt in the brick funnel erected, or to be erected, at such warehouse, under the penalty of twenty shillings for every failure to the informer, recoverable with costs before any justice of the county wherein such warehouse shall lie. | |
| And whereas many persons attending the warehouses under the denomination of tobacco pickers, 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 wherein any of the publick warehouses appointed by this act are established, shall, and they are hereby required to nominate and appoint, from time to time, such and so many persons as to them shall seem necessary, who are willing to undertake the same, to attend the several warehouses within this state, 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, or the inspectors shall employ him to pick, and every picker of tobacco shall be allowed to demand and receive from the respective proprietors five shillings per hogshead for opening, and one fifteenth part of all the tobacco saved out of any refused hogshead or cask by him picked, for his services in opening, sorting, and picking the same, and no more; and no picker of tobacco shall keep or employ any negro or mulatto slave at any publick warehouse on any pretence whatsoever, nor shall any picker presume to hinder any person who may choose to open their own tobacco, or to pick what may be refused by the inspectors, from the free use of the picking houses, and prize for the conveniency of picking, and prizing the same; and if any picker shall misbehave himself in his said office, it shall and may 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 every after be rendered incapable of serving as a picker at any publick warehouse provided, that such picker have ten days previous notice of such motion; and any person who | Pickers, how appointed. Compensation & duty. How removed. |
| shall be aggrieved by any such misbehaviour in a picker, may make complaint thereof to any justice of the peace who is hereby empowered and directed to take depositions thereon (provided such picker have notice thereof) and to transmit the same to the next court to be held for the county where the offence shall be committed, to be there given in evidence, on the examination into such misbehaviour; and if any person not being appointed and sworn as aforesaid, shall presume to undertake the opening, picking, sorting, or separating any such tobacco, for hire or reward, every 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. Provided, that any proprietor of tobacco who may choose to open, prick, and prize his own tobacco, may employ his own servants or slave or any other person or persons to assist him in opening, picking, or prizing the same, and the person or persons so employed shall not incur or be subject to the last mentioned or any other penalty or forfeiture for so doing. And the inspectors shall issue receipts for all tobacco saved by picking to the proprietors only of such tobacco, and not to the picker of the same, and the inspectors shall not suffer or permit any picker to prize up any tobacco that he shall have saved by picking for his own use. | |
| And be it farther 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 weighed 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 Oronoko, stemmed or leaf; which receipts shall be in the form following, to wit: river, number warehouse, the day of , 17 Received of pounds of transfer tobacco to be delivered on demand to him or his order, according to the directions of the act of assembly for reviving several publick warehouses for the inspection of tobacco. Witness our hands. And shall bear date the day the tobacco for which the same is given shall be received and passed, and shall be current | Transfer receipts, form of. Currency of such receipts. |
| 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, below Taliaferro's mount, or by the bay of Chesapeake; and shall be transferrable 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 every hundred pounds the tobacco therein contained shall weight, 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 one thousand 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 ten shillings for inspecting, and six for prizing and for nails, which said sum of six shillings the said inspectors may retain in their hands for their own use, to reimburse them the expense and trouble of providing nails and prizing. 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 | Allowance. Weight of hogsheads. Fees for inspecting, prizing and nails. Allowance for shrinkage. |
| 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 tobacco so refused or delayed to be paid, to be recovered with costs in any court of record within this state, if the receipt or the receipts so refused or delayed to be paid exceed two hundred pounds of tobacco, and if the said receipt or receipts do not exceed twenty five 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. | Remedy against inspectors failing to deliver tobacco. |
| And be it farther enacted, That all tobacco brought to any of the said warehouses in hogsheads or casks to be exported on account and for the use of the owner thereof, after the same shall have been viewed, examined, and weighted, 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 by sweet scented or Oronoko, stemmed or leaf, or whether the same be 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 tobaco 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 ten 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 one hundred 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 | Tobacco notes how to be given. Inspection fees. Penalty for changing tobacco. |
| after having weighted 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 one thousand pounds of neat tobacco, and not mixed leaf and stemmed. | |
| Provided nevertheless, That no inspectors shall give their receipt or receipts for any transfer or crop tobacco, which shall be opened or picked by any picker legally appointed, until the proprietor of such tobacco or his or her agent shall have first paid or tendered to such picker his lawful charges for opening or picking the same, and in the absence of any such picker, a payment or tender to either of the inspectors there attending, for the use of the picker, shall be as effectual as if made to such picker in person; and if any inspector shall deliver their receipt or receipts for any such tobaccco so opened or picked, before such payment or tender be made, they shall be liable to such picker for the amount of the same. | Pickers, how paid. |
| And for restraining the undue practice of mixing trash with stemmed tobacco, and preventing the packing tobacco in unsizable casks, Be it enacted, 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 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 then before expressed, shall be obliged to repack the same in sizable casks, at his own charge, before the same shall be received and stamped by the inspectors. | How tobacco to be prized. Size of hogshead. |
| And whereas many and great inconveniencies have arisen from inspectors undertaking to deliver tobacco, the property of others in their warehouses, without order from the proprietor of the same, Be it enacted, That from and after the passing of this act, if any inspector shall presume to deliver any tobacco in his warehouse without order from the owner or proprietors of such tobacco, every inspector so offending, and being thereof duly convicted in the court of the county wherein he officiates, is declared incapable of serving for every after | Penalty on inspectors for delivering tobacco without order. |
| as an inspector in this state, and moreover shall be liable to the penalty of fifty pounds for every hogshead of tobacco so as aforesaid delivered without order of the owner or proprietor thereof, to be recovered by such owner or proprietor if he or she shall prosecute within four months after the offence committed, or if he or she decline the prosecution, then after the time by any person who shall inform or sue for the same, by action of debt or information in any court of record within this commonwealth. And if any inspector shall deliver any transfer receipts, or notes of credit, for tobacco, to any person or persons, unless at the time of delivering the same he shall have actually and bona fide received and passed tobacco the property of him, her, or them, in whose name or names such receipts or notes shall be made out to the full amount of the quantity therein specified, every inspector so offending, and being duly convicted, shall be disabled from serving as an inspector, and moreover shall forfeit ten pounds for every such fictitious note to any person who will sue for the same, recoverable by action of debt in any court of record; and for every prosecution against any inspector for the said offence, the proof of his innocence shall lie upon himself. | Or receipts for tobacco not passed. |
| And be it farther enacted, That the owner of any transfer receipts may at any time before the sale 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 hogshead shall pay to the inspectors sixteen shillings for the inspection and nails for every hogshead, that is to say, six shillings down to the use of the inspectors for nails and their trouble in prizing, and ten 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 or their county, lay before the court an account upon oath of all 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 | Transfer, how converted into crop tobacco. Transfer tobacco, when to be sold. |
| receipts contained, deducting the allowance for shrinkage and wasting, at publick auction at the door of the courthouse 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 and 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 directed concerning transfer tobacco not received, and shall also sell the tobacco so ganed and saved in the 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 state 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 to his own use. | |
| And be it farther enacted, That all inspectors shall, before the tenth day of October in every year, account with the treasurer of this state 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 and for their trouble in prizing or for repacking damaged tobacco which shall be relanded at their inspection) for every hogshead 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. | When inspectors to account with treasurer. |
| And for the more effectual prevention of frauds in shipping uninspected tobacco, and in the not regularly entering and reporting at the naval offices tobaccoes shipped from the warehouses, Be it farther enacted, That the several inspectors of tobacco in this state shall annually at the time of settling their accounts with the treasurer deliver to him an account upon oath of all the tobacco shipped from their respective warehouses within the year preceeding, containing the number of hogsheads or casks sent on board each ship or vessel respectively, and every inspector failing herein shall forfeit and pay the sum of fifty pounds; and that the several naval officers shall, on or before the 25th day of October annually, return to the said treasurer an | Inspectors to deliver to treasurer account of tobacco shipped. |
| account upon oath of all the tobacco on board each ship or vessel which shall have been cleared out in such naval officer's district in the preceding year, according to the manifests thereof delivered by the master or such ship or vessel at the time of clearing, distinguishing the number of hogsheads or casks put on board such ship or vessel from each respective werehouse, and every naval officer failing herein shall forfeit and pay the sum of one hundred pounds for every failure. | |
| And if any justice of the peace shall know or be informed upon oath of any tobacco pressed or packed in order to be shipped off or carried out of this state by water, without being inspected, such justice by himself, or any sheriff or constable by warrant from such justice 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 in the day time (the keys of such doors having been first demanded and refused to be delivered) to search for the same, and if any tobacco shall be found by such justice, sheriff, or constable, pressed in any hogshead, cask, barrel, or other package whatsoever, that shall not contain five hundred pounds of neat tobacco, such justice, sheriff, or constable, shall seize the same, and the person in whose possession such tobacco shall be found shall forfeit to the informer ten pounds for every hundred weight, and so in proportion for a less quantity, to be recovered with costs in any court of record if it be recovered with costs in any court of record if it be twenty five shillings current money or upwards. And if any justice of peace of any county near the place where any ship or other vessel shall ride, upon information to him made upon oath by any freeman, that there is good cause to suspect any tobacco uninspected, in cask, bulk, or parcels, to be on board such ship 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 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 said tobacco to be carried to the nearest warehouse and there inspected, and if passed restored to the owner in case he shall be innocent of the fraud, but if he shall appear to have been concerned in such fraud, or if no owner shall claim within one month, | Duty of justices in presenting exportation of tobacco not inspected. |
| the said tobacco shall be sold by the inspectors, and the money arising from such sale be paid into the publick treasury, and accounted for the general assembly, and the commanding officer or skipper of any ship or vessel on board which such tobacco be found shall forfeit to the informer ten pounds for every hundred weight, and in proportion for a less quantity, to be recovered with costs in any court of record if it be twenty five shillings or more; and if any master or commanding officer, or skipper of any ship 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 or skipper shall forfeit and pay two hundred pounds, and every sailor or other person so resisting shall forfeit and pay forty pounds; and if any action shall be brought against any justice of the peace, 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 nonsuited, and a verdict pass against him, upon a judgment of demurer, the defendant shall recover double costs. | |
| And be it farther enacted, That if any tobacco hath remained or shall hereafter remain undemanded in a publick warehouse two years after the same hath been or shall be inspected, the inspectors at such warehouse shall advertise in the Virginia Gazette a list of the marks, numbers, weights, and names of the person for whom such tobacco was inspected, and if no owner appears to claim the same within three months, they shall, at the next court to be held for the county in which such warehouse shall be, after the expiration thereof, deliver to the court the like list, which court is hereby empowered and required to order the same to be publickly sold at the courthouse door on a court day to the highest bidder, and the money arising from the sale thereof shall be repaid by the inspectors to the treasurer of this state for the time being, who shall account for the same, from time to time, to the general assembly; and if any person having a right to any tobacco so sold shall prove his property therein, the said treasurer shall repay to such person the money for which such tobacco was sold. | Tobacco undemanded, in warehouses, how disposed of. |
| And be it farther enacted, That no person taking upon himself the office of inspector shall, during his continuance in that office, or within two years after he | Inspectors ineligible to general assembly. |
| shall be out of his said office, be capable of being elected a member of either house of assembly, or shall presume to intermeddle or concern himself with an election of a member or members of either of the said houses, otherwise than by giving his vote, or shall endeavour to influence any person or persons to give his or their vote, under the penalty of one hundred pounds for every offence; nor shall any inspector, by himself, or any person for him, be allowed to keep an ordinary or house of entertainment at or near the warehouse where he is an inspector, and every inspector herein offending shall be incapable of serving in that office, neither shall any inspector, during his continuance in that office, be, or undertake to be, collector of any publick tax (other than what relates to such office) county or parish levies, or any officers fees, nor shall directly or indirectly for himself, or for any other person, buy or receive by way of barter, loan, or exchange, any tobacco whatsoever, under the penalty of forfeiting fifty shillings for every hundred pounds of tobacco so bought or received; provided, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to hinder any inspection from receiving his rents in tobacco, which shall be first viewed, examined, and stamped, according to the directions of this act. | Not to interfere in elections. |
| And for the farther and better directions of the inspectors aforesaid in their duty, Be it enacted, That no inspectors 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 the sum of one hundred pounds current money, to be recovered with costs by any person or persons who shall inform and sue for the same, by action of debt or information in any court of record within this commonwealth, and moreover shall be disabled from holding the office of inspector during the continuance of this act; and if any person 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 directed, every person so offending, and being thereof convicted, shall for every such offence forfeit and pay the sum of twenty pounds current money, to be recovered in any court of record | Inspectors not to receive any fee or reward, except allowed by law. |
| within this state, one half of which forfeiture shall be to and for the use of such inspector refusing such bribe or reward, and the other half to the person who will inform and sue for the same. | |
| And be it farther enacted, That if any inspector or inspectors shall give or deliver to any person whatsoever their receipt for any hogshead or cask of tobacco which they have not actually received into the warehouse whereof they are inspectors at the time of giving such receipt, he or they shall forfeit and pay five pounds 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, Guilford's, and Pungoteague, under one inspection, fifty pounds per annum; at Roy's, one hundred pounds; at Conway's, eight pounds; in the county of Charles City, at Kennon's, and Swinyard's, under one inspection, fifty pounds; at Bolling's Point, one hundred and seventy five pounds; at Bollingbroke, at Bolling's Point, one hundred and seventy five pounds; at Cedar Point, at Bolling's Point, one hundred and seventy five pounds; at Hobb's Hole, fifty pounds; at Piscattaway, and Bowler's, under one inspection, fifty pounds; at Layton's and Port Micou, under one inspection, fifty pounds; at Colchester, eighty pounds; at Pohick, sixty pounds; at Alexandria, eighty pounds; at the falls of Potowmack, sixty pounds; at Poropotank, sixt pounds; at Deacon's neck, seventy pounds; at Crutchfield's, one hundred and seventy pounds; at Page's, one hundred and seventy pounds; at Meriwether's, one hundred pounds; at Cary's, one hundred and seventy pounds; at Rocky Ridge, on ehundred and seventy five pounds; at Osborne's, at Bolling's Point, one hundred and seventy five pounds;at John Boling's, one hundred and fifty puonds; at Byrd's one hundred and seventy five pounds; at Shocko's, at Bolling's Point, one hundred and seventy five pounds;at Smithfield, and Fulgham's, under one inspection, seventy pounds; at Mantipike, and Frazer's, under one inspection, sicty pounds; at Todd's, and Aylett's, under one inspection, ninety pounds; at William's, and the Piping Tree, under one inspection, sixty pounds; at Boyd's Hole, seventy pounds; at Falmouth, one hundred and twenty pounds, at Dixon's, one hundred and | Penalty for giving receipts for tobacco not received.
Salaries of inspectors. |
| and twenty pounds; at Gibson's, sixty pounds; at Morton's, sixty pounds; at Davis's, and Lowry's, under one inspection, sixty pounds; at north Wycomico, forty pounds; at south Wycomico, thirty six pounds; at Dymer's, and Indian creek, under one inspection, eighty pounds; at Deep creek, and Glasscock's, under one inspection, sixty pounds; at Urbanna, sixty pounds, at Milner's, one hundred and twenty pounds; at South Quay, fifty pounds; at Cherrystones, Hungar's, and Nasswaddox, under one inspection, ninety pounds; at Littlepage's, sixty pounds; at the Brickhouse, sixty pounds; at Waddy's, fifty pounds; at Coan's, seventy pounds; at Boyd's, one hundred and seventy five pounds; at Davis's, one hundred and seventy five pounds; at Blandford, one hundred and seventy five pounds; at Noble's, forty pouuds; at Quantico, one hundred and seventy pounds; at Dumfries, one hundred and seventy pounds; at Cat Point, and Beckwith's, under one inspection, at Totuskey, seventy pounds; at Cat Point, one hundred pounds; and at Gray's creek, sixty pounds; at Acquia, one hundred pounds; at Cave's, fifty pounds; at Fredericksburg, one hundred and seventy pounds; at Royston's, one hundred and seventy pounds; at Denbigh, fifty pounds; at Nominy, sixty pounds; at Machotack, fifty pounds; at Leeds, and Mattox, under one inspection, one hundred and twenty pounds; at Yeocomico, and Rust's, under one inspection, eighty pounds; at the College Landing, and Capitol Landing, under one inspection, seventy pounds; and at Roe's, fifty pounds. | |
| And for the better detecting inspectors who shall not do their duty, and for the more speedy and easy examination into complaints against them, Be it enacted, That any two justices of the peace, not being inspectors, shall have power to hear all complaints against any inspector within their county, and to take the deposition 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 protestatum; and moreover any two justices shall have power to visit | Power of justices to detect misconduct in inspectors. |
| 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 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 be for ever after incapable of serving as an 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 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 to 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. | Inspectors, how removed from office. |
| And be it farther enacted, That all tobacco due or to grown due and payable for publick county and parish levies, or for 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 shall be paid in some warehouse in the county where such levies are laid, 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 than all fees shall be paid in such county; but the said levies 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. | Levies and officer's fees how & when payable. |
| Provided always, That the receipts of the warehouses hereafter mentioned shall pass in payment of all levies and officers fees, payable in the counties following, that | Currency of notes. |
| is to say: In the county of Accomack, Cherrystones, Hungar's, and Nassawaddox; in the county of Albemarle, Cary's, Crutchfield's, Page's, Fredericksburg, Royston's, Meriwether's, Rocky Ridge, Shocko's, and Byrd's; Amelia, Charlotte, Halifax, Henry, Lunenburg, Mecklenburg, Pittsylvania, and Prince Edward; at Blandford, Bolling's Point, Bollingbroke, Davis's, Cedar Point, Boyd's, Cary's, Rocky Ridge, and Osborne's; Amherst, Byrd's, Shocko's, Rocky Ridge, Cary's, Crutchfield's, and Page's; Bedford, Shocko's, Byrd's, Cary's, Rocky Ridge; Brunswick, Blandford, Bolling's Point, Bollingbroke, John Bolling's, Boyd's, Davis's, Cedar Pont, Cabin Point; Smithfield, Gray's Creek, Nansemond, South Quay, Cabin Point, and Noble's; Buckingham, Shocko's, Byrd's, Cary's, Rocky Ridge, Osborne's; Caroline, Todd's, Aylett's, Layton's, Micou's; Culpeper, Dixon's, Falmouth, Conway's, Fredericksburg, and Royston's; Cumberland and Powhatan, Byrd's, Shocko's, Cary's, Rocky Ridge, and Osborne's; Dinwiddie, Blandford, Boyd's, John Bolling's, Davis's, and Noble's; Elizabeth City, Roe's; Fauquier, Falmouth, Dixon's, Quantico, Dumfries, and Acquia; Goochland and Fluvanna, Shocko's, Byrd's, Crutchfield's, Page's, Cary's, and Rocky Ridge; James City, Brickhouse, Littlepage's, Kennon's, College Landing, and Capitol Landing; Isle of Wight, Swinyard's, Kennon's, Milner's, and South Quay; King William, Meriwether's, Crutchfield's, and Page's; Lancaster, Indian creek, Loudoun, at any of the warehouses in Fairfax and Prince William; Louisa and Orange, Fredericksburg, Royston's, Conway's, Crutchfield's, Page's, Meriwether's, Byrd's, and Shocko's; Norfolk, any of the warehouses in Nansemond and Elizabeth City; Northampton, Guilford's, Pitt's, and Pungoteague; New Kent, Brickhouse, Waddy's, Littlepage's, Swinyard's, and Kennon's; Northumberland, Yeocomico, and Rust's; Prince George, Bolling's Point, Bollingbroke, John Bolling's, Cedar Point, Cabin Point, and Gray's creek, Noble's, Swinyard's, and Kennon's; Prince William, Pohick and Alexandria, Acquia, and Colchester; Princess Anne, any of the warehouses in Nansemond and Elizabeth City, Southampton, Cabin Point, Noble's, Smithfield, Fulgham's, and South Quay; Spotsylvania, Conway's, Stafford, Machotack, Morton's, Gibson's, and Quantico; Surry, Swinyard's, Kennon's, Smithfield, Blandford, Boyd's, |
| Noble's, and Davis's; Sussex, Blandford, Bolling's Point, Bollingbroke, Boyd's, John Bolling's, Davis's, Cedar Pont, Cabin Point, Gray's creek, Smithfield, Milner's, South Quay, and Noble's; Westmoreland, Leeds, and Gibson's. | |
| And be it farther enacted, That all publick, county, and parish levies, 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 May yearly; and if any person chargeable with the levies and fees aforesaid shall neglect or refuse to pay the same, within the time aforesaid, it shall be lawful to and for the sheriffs and other collectors immediately after the said tenth day of May to distrain the goods and chattels of the person or persons so neglecting or 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 paying the several levies 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; and the sheriffs or other collectors of the said levies and fees shall, before the last day of June yearly, pay and deliver to each creditor according to their respective debts or claims, all the inspectors receipts he or they shall 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 state. | Levies and officers' fees when payable. Distress for. when sheriffs to account for and pay. |
| And be it farther 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 inspector shall be sued or molested for or by reason of any receipts by them given for any tobacco burnt in any of 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. | If warehouses burnt, loss repaid by general assembly. Inspectors indemnified. |
| Provided always, That if the receipts for tobacco so burnt and destroyed shall be of an older date then twelve months, the tobacco shall not be paid for by the publick, but the owner or proprietor thereof shall bear the loss. | Provided receipts be not of older date than 12 months. |
| And be it farther enacted, That the inspectors shall not 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, and it shall appear that such warehouse was burnt, and it shall appear 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 for the time being all such sum or sums of money as shall have been paid to the person or persons so injured. | Proprietors not to use warehouses. |
| And be it farther enacted, That if any person shall hereafter make any fire within any publick warehouse, or without doors within two hundred yards of such house, other than in the squares or funnels, such person, if a freeman, shall for every such offence forfeit and pay ten pounds, to be recovered with costs by action of debt or information in any court of record within this state by the informer to his own use, and if a servant or slave he or she shall by order of any justice of the peace receive on his or her bare back twenty lashes for every such offence. And it shall not be lawful for any person whatsoever to erect or build, or cause to be erected or built, any wooden chimney within two hundred yards of any publick warehouse; and where any wooden chimney or chimnies are already built within the distance aforesaid of any publick warehouse, the owner or proprietor thereof shall pull down the same, or on refusal or on neglect so to do in three months after the passing of this act, it shall be lawful for the sheriff of the county, and he is hereby required to cause such chimney or chimnies to be pulled down and demolished. | Penalty for making fires near warehouses. Or building wooden chimnies near. |
| And to the intent that a just quantity of tobacco exported may be more exactly known, an devil practices to defraud the publick of the duty prevented, Be it enacted, That all inspectors shall carefully enter in a book to be provided and kept for that purpose, the marks, numbers, gross, neat 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 or boat load of tobacco send a list of the marks, numbers, gross, neat | Books, how kept by inspectors of tobacco shipped. |
| weight, and tare, of every hogshead or cask 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 be put on board several ships or vessels, then they shall deliver so many distinct and several lists as aforesaid of the hogsheads or casks 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, some time before her clearance; 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 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 by no ship to receive the said tobacco, then it shall 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 four shillings 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. | Manifests. |
| And be it farther enacted, That if any person whatsoever shall forge, counterfeit, or alter the stamp or receipt of any inspector, or tender in payment any such forged, counterfeited, or altered 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 | To forge, counterfeit or alter tobacco notes, felony, without clergy. |
| into any hogshead or cask of tobacco stamped by any inspector any tobacco whatsoever, or shall draw or take out any staves, 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 as in case of felony. | Certain other offences felony. |
| And be it farther enacted, That if any inspectors receipt 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 any 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 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 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, such person shall forfeit and pay twelve pence for every pound weight of tobacco contained in such certificate, and moreover, on conviction thereof, shall suffer as in case of wilful and corrupt perjury. | Lost notes how restored. |
| And be it farther 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 hogshead | New inspectors to give receipts to their predecessors. |
| or cask 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 receipt was by him or them so as aforesaid given. And if any hogshead or cask of tobacco shall 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 charges, 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 shall specify, any thing wherein 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 shall 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 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 ten shillings for stamping, and for all tobacco repacked and prized by the inspectors four shillings for each hogshead, and also two shillings for nails, unless the proprietors 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 transfer or | Owners of light tobacco entitled to free use of prizes. |
| crop tobacco, but the same (if fit to pass) shall be put into the hogshead or bulk 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 by the informer, one moiety to his own use, and the other moiety to the use of the proprietor of such tobacco, 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 reprized tobacco for which they have before given a receipt; and for preventing confusion and mistakes, shall keep a waste book, 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 one thousand pounds neat, so as to make it up the weight, but shall receive the same fee upon such hogshead as for transfer tobacco, and may make the lawful abatement for 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. | Inspectors not to convert draughts to their own use.
Book of inspectors. |
| And be it enacted, That the inspectors of tobacco at the several warehouses within this state, 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 the same to the said warehouses, expressing therein that the same is for uninspected tobacco. | Inspectors to give receipts for tobacco, when brought in. |
| And be it farther enacted, That all the penalties and forfeitures in this act contained, and not herein before particularly appropriated, shall be one moiety to the commonwealth, to be applied towards defraying the charges of the execution of this act, and the other half for the person who shall inform and sue for the same, and shall be recovered with costs by action of debt or information in any court of record within this state 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 | Penalties, how recovered and appropriated. |
| committed. And all penalties and forfeitures laid and imposed by any of the laws heretofore in force, 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, custom, or usage, to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding. | |
| And whereas recoveries and forfeitures, inflicted by this act, are liable to be evaded by masters or commanders, and skippers of vessels, and other persons leaving this state, before any action or suit brought for such recovery can be determined: | |
| For remedy thereof, Be it enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That upon the appearance of the defendant in any action or suit brought against any master or commander, or skipper of any vessel, or any other person for a breach of this act, where the plaintiff shall move that the defendant may be held to special bail, the court may, if they see cause, rule him to give special bail accordingly, or commit him in custody of the sheriff until such bail be given; any law, custom, or usage, to the contrary notwithstanding. | Special bail required. |
| And whereas from the discontinuance of some of the publick inspections, it is necessary that provision should be made in respect to such tobacco as may remain on hand at those inspections, Be it enacted, That the late inspectors at any discontinued warehouse shall, and they are hereby directed to continue to take care of, and deliver such tobacco, when demanded, and make out manifests for the same in the same manner as if the said inspections had been continued, and shall receive of the persons shipping such tobacco four shillings per hogshead for warehouse rent, and three shillings per hogshead for their trouble; and the said inspectors shall sell all tobacco remaining in their respective warehouses, and account for the money in the same manner as directed to be done at the several inspections established by this act. And where any new inspections are appointed by this act, or any revived which have been discontinued, or where different warehouses are put under the same inspcetion, or the name of any inspection changed, whereby it shall be necessary that inspectors | Tobacco, at inspections discontinued how disposed of. |
| should be immediately recommended, in either of the above cases the justices, at the first or second court after the passing of this act, shall recommend inspectors, who shall be commissioned by the governour, take the oath of office, and give bond and security for the performance thereof, as in other cases. | |
| And be it farther enacted, That this act shall be in force from the passing thereof, for and during the term of two years, and from thence to the end of the next session of assembly. | Limitation of this act. |
| Pages 471-482
| Pages 521-540
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