Pages 407-437 
|  Pages 458-478
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| Pages 407-437
| Pages 458-478
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| AT A GENERAL ASSEMBLY, BEGUN AND HELD | |||
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Thomas Nelson, jun. esq. governor.* | ||
 CHAP. I.† | |||
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| I. FOR incorporating the town of Fredericksburg in the county of Spotsylvania, Be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the freeholders and house-keepers who shall have been resident in the said town three months next preceding such election, to meet at some convenient place in the said town annually on the third Monday in March, and then and there nominate and elect by ballot, twelve fit and able men, being freeholders and inhabitants of the town, to serve as mayor, recorder, aldermen and common councilmen for the same; and the persons so elected shall, within one week after their election, proceed to chuse by ballot out of their | Town of Fredericksburg incorporated.
Officers, how elected. | ||
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| * Thomas Nelson, jun. esq. was elected governor June 12th 1781; and on the 30th of November 1781, Benjamin Harrison, esq. was elected his successor. | |||
| † In the original the acts of this session are distinguished both by chapters and sections. |
| own body, one mayor, one recorder, and four aldermen, and the remaining six shall be common councilmen, whose several authorities as mayor, recorder, aldermen and common councilmen, shall continue until the third Monday in March in the year succeeding, and until others shall be qualified in their stead, and no longer, unless where re-elected. That the mayor, recorder, aldermen and common councilmen so elected, and their successors, shall, and are hereby make a body corporate and politic, by the name of mayor and commonalty of the town of Fredericksburg, and by that name to have perpetual succession, with capacity to purchase, receive, and possess lands and tenements, goods and chattels, either in fee or any lesser estate therein, and the same to give, grant, let, sell, or assign again, and to plead and be impleaded, prosecute and defend all causes, complaints, actions, real, personal or mixt, and to have one common seal and perpetual succession. That the person who shall be first elected mayor of the said town, shall, within one week after his election, take an oath or make solemn affirmation before a justice of the quorum in the commission of the peace for the said county of Spotsylvania, for the due and faithful execution of his office; and every succeeding mayor shall be qualified to his office before the mayor for the time being; and every recorder, alderman and common councilman shall take the like oath or make the like affirmation with respect to their office, before the mayor for the time being: But no person shall hold the office of mayor for more than one year within any two years: Provided nevertheless, Where a vacancy shall have happened in the office of mayor within the year, the person elected for the remainder of that year, may be elected again at the next general election, and act in the said office until the next general election, and until another shall be elected and qualified in his stead. | Designation of officers. Style of corporation. Corporate powers. Officers, how qualified. Limitation of office of mayor. |
| II. And be it enacted, That the mayor, recorder and aldermen for the time being, are hereby declared and constituted justices of the peace within the limits of the said town, which limits shall extend to low-water mark on the north-west side of Rappahannock river, and a half a mile without and around the other limits of the said town, and have the like jurisdiction in all cases whatsoever, originating with the limits afore-mentioned, | Territorial limits of jurisdiction. |
| as the justices of the county courts within this state now have. That the said mayor, recorder and aldermen, or any four or more of them (the mayor or recorder being one) shall have power to hold a court of hustings on the third Monday in every month, and to hold pleas in all cases whatsoever, originating within the limits before described, in the same manner as the county courts may do. To have the sole power of licencing tavern-keepers and settling their rates, to appoint a serjeant, who shall have the power of a sheriff, constables, and other necessary officers of court, and surveyors of the streets and high ways, and to settle and allow reasonable fees of office, so as the same do not exceed the fees allowed the like officer in the county courts: Provided, That the said officers shall take an oath of office before the said court of hustings, before they shall be allowed to act, and that the serjeant shall moreover give bond and security for the due performance of his office, which bond shall be made payable to the mayor for the time being, and his successors, and may be put in suit by the party grieved, in like manner as sheriffs bonds. And provided always, That in civil cases, the said court of hustings shall not have jurisdiction where the demand shall exceed one thousand pounds of crop tobacco, or the value thereof in money at the time of entering the action, unless both parties shall be inhabitants of the town, at the time of suing out the first process in the suit. | Judicial and ministerial powers. Civil jurisdiction limited. |
| III. And be it farther enacted, That the mayor, recorder, aldermen and common councilmen shall have power to erect work-houses, houses of correction, prisons, and other public buildings for the benefit of the town, and to make bye-laws and ordinances for the regulation and good government of the said town; and to assess the inhabitants, and all property within the actual bounds of the said town, for the charge of repairing the streets: Provided, That such bye-laws and ordinances shall not be repugnant to, or inconsistent with, the laws and constitution of this commonwealth. And the mayor, recorder, aldermen and common councilmen shall have power to hold and keep within the said town, two market days, the one on Wednesday, the other on Saturday, in every week, and from time to time to appoint a clerk of the market, who shall have assize of bread, wine, wood, and other things, | Powers of corporation to erect public buildings; to pass by-laws; to assess taxes. Market days. |
| and generally to do and perform all things belonging to the office of the clerk of the market within the said town. And every person to be elected to any office as afore-directed, and refusing to undertake and execute the same, shall pay the fines following, that is to say: The mayor fifty pounds, recorder forty pounds, aldermen thirty pounds, common councilmen twenty-five pounds, serjeant one hundred pounds, constable fifty pounds, clerk of the hustings court, and clerk of the market, each fifty pounds, surveyors of the streets or roads thirty pounds each, to be imposed by the judgment of the said court of hustings for the use of the town, and levied by execution against the goods and chattels of the offender. And in case of misconduct in the office of mayor, recorder, aldermen, common councilmen, or either of them, the others, being seven at the least, shall have power to remove the offender; and as to all other offices, the power first appointing shall or may at pleasure revoke. And in case of vacancy in the office of mayor, recorder, aldermen or common councilmen, the vacancy shall be filled up in the following manner: the recorder shall succeed the mayor, the eldest alderman succeed the recorder, and so on according to priority, to be reckoned by the number of votes at the last election. And if a vacancy shall happen among the common councilmen, his place shall be filled from the body of the freeholders within the town, by ballot of the mayor, recorder, aldermen and common councilmen. | Penalties for refusing to execute offices. Officers, how removed for misconduct. Vacancies, how supplied. |
| IV. And be it farther enacted, That the mayor, recorder, and two of the aldermen shall have power, so often as they find occasion to summon a common council of the said town, which shall consist of the mayor, recorder, two aldermen, and four common councilmen, at the least; that no law, order or regulation shall be binding and valid, nor shall the same be revoked or altered, or fine imposed for a breach thereof, unless seven members concur therein. | Common council, how convened. |
| V. And be it farther enacted, That all the property, real and personal, now held or possessed by the trustees of the said town of Fredericksburg, in law or equity, or in trust for the use and benefit of the inhabitants thereof, and particularly the charitable donation of the late Mr. Archibald M'Pherson, now vested in the trustees of the said town, in trust for the education | Property heretofore vested in trustees, particularly the donation of Archibald M'Pherson, transferred to corporation. |
| of poor children, shall be, and the same are hereby transferred and vested in the mayor and commonalty of the said town, to and for the same uses, intents and purposes as the trustees of the said town now hold the same; any former law, or any clause or devise in the said Archibald M'Pherson's will, to the contrary thereof notwithstanding. And in all courts of law and equity, this act shall be construed, taken and held most beneficially and favourably for the said corporation. | ||
| CHAP. II. | ||
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| I. BE it enacted, That an act entitled "An act for farther continuing an act entitled An act to empower the governor and council to lay an embargo for a limited time," shall be, and the same is hereby repealed. | Act empowering governor & council to lay embargoes repealed. |
| CHAP. III. | |||
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[Chan. Rev. p. 142.] | ||
| I. WHEREAS the act of assembly passed at the last March session, entitled "An act to exempt artificers employed at iron works from militia duty," which was continued by an act passed at the last session, will expire at the end of this present session of assembly; and it is expedient and necessary that the same should be farther continued: | Act exempting artificers at iron works, from militia duty, further continued. | ||
| II. Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, That the act entitled "An act to exempt artificers employed at iron works from militia duty," shall continue and be in force from and after the expiration thereof, until the end of the next session of assembly, and no longer. | |||
| CHAP. IV. | |||
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| I. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That the execution of the act of assembly entitled "An act to empower the court of Greenbrier county to have a waggon road opened from their court-house to the eastern waters," and all proceedings had thereupon, shall be, and the same are hereby suspended for the term of two years. | Act empowering court of Greenbrier county to have a waggon road opened from their court house to the eastern waters suspended. |
| CHAP. V. | |||
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[Chan. Rev. p. 143.] | ||
| I. WHEREAS under the present mode established by law for obtaining grants for waste and unappropriated lands within this commonwealth, many of the good citizens thereof are subject to great inconvenience and expence in travelling to the land-office in order to produce the necessary title papers for obtaining grants on the same; for remedy whereof, | Preamble. | ||
| II. Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That the register of the land-office shall, and he is hereby empowered to appoint a deputy, for whose good conduct he shall be accountable, to reside in some convenient part of the Kentucky country, whose business it shall be to receive the platts and certificates of all surveys made within the counties of Lincoln, Jefferson, and Fayette, together with the title papers upon which they are founded, to be by him registered in a book to be kept for that purpose; all which platts and certificates of survey, as well as all such title papers, the said deputy register shall once in every six months, or oftener if convenient, transmit to the principal land-office, to be proceeded on in the same manner as if the entry had been there first made. And when titles are compleated upon the said platts and certificates of survey, the register shall forward the same to his deputy, who shall, after making a proper entry thereof in his office, deliver them out to the proprietors. | Register of the land office to appoint a deputy, to reside in
the Kentucky country. His duties. |
| CHAP. VI. | ||
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| I. WHEREAS there are divers persons possessed of lots in the towns of Richmond and Manchester, and of lands and tenements contiguous thereto, who derive titles to the same under the lottery of the late William Byrd, esquire, whereof John Robinson, Peter Randolph, Peyton Randolph, Presley Thornton, John Page, Charles Carter, and Charles Turnbull, esquires, were appointed managers and trustees; and other persons are possessed of lands and tenements, who purchased and derived titles to the same, under a deed of trust, bearing date the eighteenth day of December, one thousand seven hundred and fifty-six, made and executed by the said William Byrd, esquire, to the said John Robinson, Peter Randolph, Peyton Randolph, Presley Thornton, John Page, Charles Carter, and Charles Turnbull, esquires, for the purpose of paying his, the said William Byrd's debts, which said deed of trust is recorded in the general court of this commonwealth. And whereas by the deaths of the said William Byrd, John Robinson, Peter Randolph, Peyton Randolph, Presley Thornton, and John Page, esquires, there are not now living a sufficient number of the said trustees to execute proper deeds of conveyance for the said lots, lands and tenements to the purchasers thereof, whereby the several proprietors are discouraged from improving the same: For remedy whereof, | Charles Carter, esq. the surviving trustee of William Byrd, esq. authorised to convey lots and lands, held under Byrd's lottery, and a deed of trust. | |
| II. Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That the said Charles Carter, esquire, the only acting surviving trustee of the said William Byrd, be, and he is hereby empowered and required, upon the application and at the costs and charges of the said purchasers, to execute deeds of conveyance in fee simple for the aforesaid lots, lands and tenements to the respective purchasers |
| thereof, which said deeds so to be executed shall be as good and effectual in law for conveying the right to the said lots, lands and tenements, and to every of them, as though the same had been made and executed by a majority of the aforesaid trustees: Provided nevertheless, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to alter or affect the title to any of the before-mentioned lots, lands or tenements, where tow or more persons set up titles or claim to the same lot or tenement as purchasers, either under the aforesaid lottery or deed of trust, nor to affect the title or claim of the heir at law of the said William Byrd, esquire, to all or any of the aforesaid lots, lands or tenements; Provided, The said heir at law prosecute such claim within twelve months from the passing of this act. | |
| CHAP. VII. An act for dividing the county of Bedford. | |
| I. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That from and after the first day of February next, the county of Bedford shall be divided into two distinct counties, by a line to begin at the mouth of Judy's creek on James river, thence to Thompson's mill on buffalow creek, thence to the mouth of Back creek on Goose creek, thence the same course continued to Staunton river, and that part of the said county lying east of the said line, shall be called and known by the name of Campbell; and all the residue of the said county shall retain the name of Bedford. That a court for the said county of Campbell shall be held by the justices thereof on the first Thursday in every month after the said division shall take place, in such manner as is provided by law for other counties, and shall be by their commissions directed. | Bedford county divided, and Campbell
formed. Boundaries. Court days. |
| II. And be it farther enacted, That the justices to be named in the commission of the peace for the said county of Campbell shall meet at the house of Micajah Terrill, |
| in the said county, upon the first court day after the said division shall take place, and having taken the oaths prescribed by law, and administered the oath to office to, and taken bond of the sheriff according to law, proceed to appoint and qualify a clerk, and fix upon a place for holding courts in the said county, at or as near the centre thereof, as the situation and convenience will admit of; and thenceforth the said court shall proceed to erect the necessary public buildings at such place; and until such buildings be compleated, to appoint any place for holding courts as they shall think fit. Provided always, That the appointment of a place for holding court, and of a clerk, shall not be made, unless a majority shall have been prevented from attending by bad weather, or their being at the time out of the county, in such cases, the appointment shall be postponed until some court day when a majority shall be present. That the governor, with advice of the council, shall appoint a person to be first sheriff of the said county, who shall continue in office during the term, and upon the same conditions as is by law appointed for other sheriffs. | |
| III. Provided always, and be it farther enacted, That it shall be lawful for the sheriff of the said county of Bedford, to collect and make distress for any public dues or officers fees which shall remain unpaid by the inhabitants thereof at the time such division shall take place, and shall also be accountable for the same in like manner as if this act had not been made; and that the court of the said county of Bedford shall have jurisdiction of all actions and suits in law or equity, which shall be depending before them at the time of the said division, and shall try and determine the same, and issue process and award execution thereon. | |
| IV. And whereas by the division of the said county, the court-house in the county of Bedford will be inconveniently situated; Be it therefore enacted, That the justices thereof shall hold their first court at the house of David Wright, and the said justices, or a majority of them, shall have power to fix on a place in the said county, as near the centre thereof as the situation and convenience will admit of, for building a court-house and prison, and until such buildings are |
| compleated, to hold courts at such place in the said county as they shall think proper. That in all elections of a senator, the said county of Campbell shall be of the same district with the county of Bedford. | |
| CHAP. VIII. An act for regulating the military and naval arrangements of this state. | |
| I. WHEREAS there are several corps of troops on the state establishment of this commonwealth, which having very few soldiers in them cannot render any essential services, but are nevertheless productive of a considerable annual expence, which ought to be re-trenched: | Preamble. |
| II. Be it therefore enacted, That the officers of the regiments and corps now in the service of this state (except so many of them as are necessary to command the men actually in service) be, and they are hereby reduced; and the governor, with the advice of council, is hereby directed and required to consolidate the officers and men which shall be retained in service, into one or more corps, according to the number of privates, in such manner as shall be judged most expedient: Provided, That as the number of privates shall be lessened by the expiration of their enlistments or otherwise, the governor shall, with the advice of council, make from time to time a proportionate reduction of officers. Provided also, That nothing contained in this act shall be construed to affect the legions under the command of brigadier general Spotswood. | Officers, in state line reduced. Regiments consolidated. Not to affect gen. Spotswood's legions. |
| III. And be it farther enacted, That the governor, with advice of council, is hereby directed and required to make immediate enquiry into the departments of state quarter-masters, commissaries of purchases and issues, commissioners acting under the provision law, and the state hospital, and to dismiss all persons who | State quarter masters, commissaries, commissioners, &c. not absolutely necessary, to be discharged. |
| shall not be found absolutely necessary for the service of the troops which shall continue in service, and for the transportation of troops, stores and other necessaries for the southern army. | |
| IV. And whereas during the continuance of the present expensive war it is necessary to husband the resources of the state with the utmost œconomy; and since the finances of the commonwealth will not admit of the putting the naval establishment at present upon such a footing as to be productive of any public benefit adequate to its expenditure; | |
| V. It is farther enacted, That the officers of the navy of every denomination, be, and they are hereby reduced; also that all and every person of the naval staff establishment, including the commissioner of the navy, chaplains, surgeons, paymasters, or others, shall be, and they are hereby dismissed; and that the paymasters general both of the army and navy shall be included among the number hereby directed to be dismissed; Provided, That such officers as shall be thought necessary for the command of the look-out boat Liberty, shall be retained in the public service. | Officers of navy reduced; & staff, including paymasters general
of army and navy dismissed. But officers, for look-out boat Liberty retained. |
| VI. And be it farther enacted, That the executive and the officers of government whose business it is, shall take care to call all persons hereby reduced or dismissed, who have received any public monies on account, who have possession of any public stores, or who may be in any manner indebted to the state, or chargeable with delinquencies of any kind, to a strict account and settlement, and to exact speedy payment for all balances which may appear to be due. The governor, with the advice of council, may also order any surplus stores of provisions which may be in possession of the state quarter-masters, commissioners acting under the provision law, or commissaries, and are of a perishable nature, to be delivered over to the similar continental departments, taking care that proper vouchers, to make the continent chargeable therewith, be lodged with the auditors; or may otherwise dispose of them in the most beneficial manner for the state. | Executive to call all officers reduced or dismissed to account.
Surplus stores, &c. transferred to similar continental offices. |
| CHAP. IX. | ||
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| I. WHEREAS in consequence of an act of the congress of the United States, recommending it to the several states to vest congress with a power enabling them to levy a duty of five per centum ad valorem, on certain goods, wares and merchandizes, and also on all prizes and prize goods, the last session of this present general assembly passed an act "To enable the congress of the United States to levy a duty on certain goods and merchandizes, and also on all prizes;" and it being represented that the other states in the union have not passed similar laws: | Act authorising congress to levy a duty on goods imported, and on prizes suspended, until the other states have passed similar laws. | |
| II. Be it enacted, That the operation of the said act shall be, and the same is hereby suspended, until the governor by his proclamation, which he is hereby empowered to issue on being certified that the different states have passed similar laws, shall declare the said act to be again in force. |
| CHAP. X. An act for restoring to Robert Baine his former estate. | |
| I. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That so much of the estate of Robert Baine, as was sold by virtue of the act of assembly entitled "An act concerning escheats and forfeitures from British subjects," and purchased by the executive for the use of this state, shall, on the first day of February next, be vested in, and restored to, the said Robert Blaine. That retribution be made by the public to the said Robert Baine, in manner directed by the said recited at, for so much of his estate as was sold to individuals. The auditors of public accounts shall settle and allow the said Robert Baine so much money as shall compensate not only for the use of the estate held by the public, but also for any timber that may have been taken from the land of the said Robert Baine, for public use, and to draw on the treasurer for payment thereof. The executive shall cause the estate to be delivered to the said Robert Baine, agreeable to the directions of this act. Provided always, That the said Robert Baine shall take the oaths of allegiance to this state before he shall be entitled to the benefit of this act. | Estate of Robert Baine, sold as escheated property, restored to him. |
| CHAP. XI.* | |||
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[Chan. Rev. p. 143.] See May 1782, ch. 41. | ||
| I. WHEREAS during the late invasion, the records of several county courts within this commonwealth, with other papers of consequence, were burnt or otherwise destroyed by the enemy, and this assembly being willing to afford all possible relief to the persons concerned in the said misfortune, whose estates, titles and interests may be affected thereby: Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, That the courts of the counties where any such destruction may have happened, when any original deeds with the endorsement of the acknowledgment or proof thereof, and order for recording the same attested by the clerk of the court, or the copies of any deeds with the endorsements so attested, or of any wills with the endorsement of the proof and order for recording the same so attested, or of any judgment decree, or order of court in like manner attested, the original records of which deeds, wills, judgments, decrees or orders are lost, (shall be produced to them for that purpose) shall order the clerk to again record all such original deeds, copies of deeds, or wills with the said endorsements respectively, and all such copies of judgments, decrees, and orders of the court of their county; and the said clerk, when he shall have recorded any thing in pursuance of this act, shall endorse on the same that the original hath been destroyed by the enemy, to which he shall subscribe his name, and likewise enter the same endorsement upon record with the thing recorded, which shall have the same operation and effect in law, to all intents and purposes, as if the said original records had not been lost. | Preamble. Where deeds, wills, judgments, decrees, or orders have been destroyed by the enemy, attested copies to be again recorded. How far evidence. | ||
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| * In the Chancellors' Revisal, the sections of this act are differently arranged from the original. As most of the references, in other books, have been made to the Chancellors' Revisal, and not to the original acts, it is deemed most proper to preserve the arrangement made in that collection. |
| II. And be it farther enacted, That the clerks of the several courts shall do and perform the services in this act mentioned for the same fee that is or shall be allowed by law in other cases for a copy of any thing herein before-mentioned; and in like manner shall take no other or greater fee for the recording any deed which hath been already made and recorded, or shall be made by occasion only of the misfortune aforesaid, for the settling the right or title of any person or persons whatsoever to lands and tenements, slaves or goods and chattels, than in other cases is or shall be allowed by law for a copy of any such deed, any law, custom or usage to the contrary notwithstanding. | Fees of clerks. |
| III. And for perpetuating the testimony of witnesses in relation to any deed, will, inventory, or other writing recorded in the county courts where the original is lost and no attested copy thereof can be produced, Be it farther enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for the governor, with the advice of council, to issue one or more commissions (as the case may require) under the seal of the commonwealth, to nine able and discreet persons directed, giving them, or any three or more of them, full power and authority to meet at some convenient place by them to be appointed, and to adjourn from time to time as they shall think fit, and to summon, hear and examine all witnesses at the instance of any person whatsoever touching the premisses; and to take their depositions in writing, and to return the same, with such commission or commissions, to the executive, which depositions shall be by them laid before the general assembly at the next session, to the end they may be enabled to give such effectual relief to the sufferers by the loss of the said records, as to them shall seem most just and reasonable. And the said commissioners shall have power to appoint some fit person skilled in clerkship to attend them for keeping a journal of their proceedings, and drawing the depositions aforesaid, which person shall be paid for his services by each county respectively. | For perpetuating testimony, executive to appoint commissioners.
How to take deposition, and where to return them. Power to appoint a clerk. |
| CHAP. XII. | |||
|
[Chan. Rev. p. 144.] See ante p. 421. | ||
| I. WHEREAS by an act passed the last session of assembly, the county, as well as other courts, were suspended under certain exceptions; and such suspension being now unnecessary and improper: Be it therefore enacted, That the said courts shall hear and determine any matter, cause or thing, in like manner as they could or might have done before the passing of the said act. That the sessions of the general court shall hereafter begin on the first day of April and October in every year, if not Sunday, and then on the Monday thereafter. That a court of appeals shall hereafter be holden on the twenty-ninth, or when that shall happen to be sunday, on the thirtieth day of April and October in every year. That the two sessions of the court of chancery shall hereafter begin on the fifth day of May and November in every year, if not Sunday, and then on the Monday following. | Preamble. Suspension of courts removed. Terms of court of appeals, high court of chancery, & general court altered. | ||
| II. Provided always, and be it farther enacted, That the court of appeals shall have power to hold their court any number of days exceeding the term now fixed by law, as they may think necessary to go through the business depending before them, in which case the court of chancery shall stand adjourned to, and commence on, the day next succeeding the rising of the said court, if not Sunday, and then the day following. | Court of appeals may sit beyond their term; and then the chancery term to commence the day after. |
| CHAP. XIII. An act for calling in and funding the paper money of this state. |
[Chan. Rev. p. 144.] See Oct 1782, c. 13. |
| BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That from and after the passing of this act, the paper money heretofore issued by this state shall cease to be a tender in payment of any debt or contract whatsoever, except in payment of taxes due to the several collectors thereof for the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-one; and that on or before the first day of October, in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-two, the proprietors or holders of the said paper money shall deliver or cause the same to be delivered to the treasurer for the time being, at his office where the said paper money so received shall be destroyed and not re-issued; and if any proprietor or holder of the said paper money shall refuse or neglect to deliver the same to the treasurer, at his office, as aforesaid, such proprietor or holder shall forfeit his, her, or their interest in the same, and the said paper money so withheld or neglected to be delivered, shall not, from and after the said first day of October, in the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-two, be redeemable. | Paper money not a legal tender; except for taxes. To be returned to treasurer, & destroyed. Not returned, forfeited. |
| II. And whereas it is necessary that the just value of the public debt in specie, arising from the emissions of the paper money aforesaid, should be ascertained, and that equitable compensation should be made to the proprietors or holders of the said money, Be it farther enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the treasurer for the time being, upon the receipt of the paper money as aforesaid, shall deliver to the proprietors or holders thereof, a loan-office certificate, of the value of the said paper money received from such proprietors or holders, in specie, at the rate or difference of one thousand for one in specie, to be entered with the auditors of public accounts, which said certificates shall be redeemable, and paid in specie, by the treasurer for the time being, that is to say, The principal for which such certificate shall be granted, on or before the first day of December, in the year one thousand seven hundred and ninety, and the interest at the rate of six per | Loan office certificates, for paper money returned, to be
delivered by treasurer, at the rate of one for a thousand. When redeemable. Interest payable annually. |
| centum, as the same shall become due thereon, annually, from the date of the said certificates; and for the punctual payment of the interest aforesaid, as the same shall become due, the treasurer for the time being, shall annually set apart so much of the revenue arising from taxes upon lands, and paid into the treasury, as shall be sufficient to discharge the same, which money so set apart as aforesaid, and to no other use or purpose whatsoever. | |
| III. And be it farther enacted, That the treasurer for the time being, shall preserve a check or counterpart to all certificates granted by virtue of this act, and shall compare the same upon any demand for payment of interest or principal thereof, before the same shall be paid; and when any payment shall be made by virtue of this act, the treasurer shall specify the same in his hand writing, together with the date thereof, upon the back of the said certificate; and where any of the said certificates shall be transferred by the proprietor thereof, the same shall be done by assignment in writing on the back thereof, declaring the day when, and the person to whom, the same shall have been assigned; and where any certificate shall be transferred contrary to this act, the same shall be forfeited to the commonwealth, and be cancelled whenever the same shall be presented to the treasurer for payment thereof: Provided nevertheless, That any person possessed of, or holding any money emitted by congress, or by this state, shall be at liberty to lay out the same in the purchase of warrants for unappropriated lands, at the price now established by law, at any time before the said first day of October next. | Payment on certificates to be endorsed. Transferrable by assignment. Paper money receivable for land taxes. |
| IV. And be it farther enacted by the authority aforesaid, That so much of all and every other act or acts providing for the redemption of the bills of credit emitted by this commonwealth, as is within the purview of this act, be, and the same is hereby repealed. | Repeal of former laws. |
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| Pages 458-478
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