Pages 138-165
|  Pages 192-216
|
| Pages 138-165
| Pages 192-216
|
| CHAP. LXVII. | From Rev. Bills of 1779, ch. XXIX. | |
| ||
| I. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That all alienations and warranties of lands, tenements, and hereditaments, made by any, purporting to pass or assure a greater right or estate than such person may lawfully pass or assure, shall operate as alienations or warranties of so much of the right and estate in such lands, tenements, or hereditaments, as such person might lawfully convey; but shall not pass or bar the residue of the said right or estate purported to be conveyed or assured. | Alienations and warranties of land, to pass only what grantor might lawfully convey. | |
| II. But if the deed of the alienor doth mention that he and his heirs be bound to warranty, and if any heritage descend to the demandant of the side of the alienor, then he shall be barred for the value of the heritage that is to him descended. And if in time after any heritage descend to him by the same alienor, then shall the tenant recover against him of the seizin warranted by judicial writ, that shall issue out of the rolls of the justices, before whom the plea was pleaded, to re-summon his warranty, as before hath been done in cases where the warrantor cometh into the court, saying, that nothing descended from him by whose deed he is vouched. | How far heirs barred, or bound to recompense tenant. | |
| III. This act shall commence and be in force from and after the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven. | Commeucement of act. | |
 CHAP. LXVIII. An act to prevent the circulation of private bank notes. |
From Rev. Bills of 1779, ch. XXXV. | |
| I. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That it shall not be lawful for any person to offer in payment, a private bank bill or note for money, payable | Penalty for circulating private bank notes, payable to bearer. |
| to bearer, and whosoever shall offend herein, shall not only forfeit to the informer ten times the value of the sum mentioned in such bill or note, but may be apprehended by warrant of a justice, and upon due proof of the fact made to him, or upon his own acknowledgment thereof, be bound to the good behaviour, or if he afterwards offend in the like manner, it shall be deemed a breach of the condition of the recognizance. | |
| III. This act shall commence and be in force from and after the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven. | Commencement of act. |
| CHAP. LXIX. An act to prevent losses by pirates, enemies, and others, on the high seas. |
From Rev. Bills of 1779, ch. XXXVII. |
| I. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That when any ship or other vessel of this commonwealth shall have been defended against pirates or enemies, and brought to her port of delivery, and in making such defence any of the offices or seamen shall have been killed or wounded, the judges of the admiralty, on the petition of the master or seamen, shall call unto them four or more good and substantial merchants, and by advice with them, shall levy on the respective adventurers and owners of the ship or other vessel and goods, by process out of the said court, such sums of money as themselves and the said merchants, by plurality of voices, shall judge reasonable, not exceeding two pounds per cent. of the freight, ship or other vessel, and goods, according to the first cost of the goods, and shall distribute the same among the captain, master, officers and seamen of the ship or other vessel, and the widows and children of the slain, proportioning the same according to their best judgment, and having special regard to the said widows and children, and to | Premium for defending vessel against pirates and enemies, how adjudged and paid. |
| such as shall have been wounded. And if the commander, master, or other officer, or any seaman or mariner, in any vessel carrying guns and arms, shall not, when attacked by any pirate or enemy, fight, and endeavour to defend themselves and their vessel, or shall utter any words to discourage the other mariners from defending the same, and by reason thereof the said vessel shall fall into the hands of such pirate or enemy, such offender shall forfeit all wages due to him to the owner, and shall suffer imprisonment at the discretion of a jury, if in their opinion such vessel might have been saved by a defence. | |
| II. If any combination shall be set on foot for running away with, or destroying any vessel, or the goods and merchandizes therein laden, the captain, commander, or master, on due proof thereof, shall give a reward of fifty dollars, if the vessel be of one hundred tons or under, and seventy-five dollars if of greater burthen, to such person as shall first make discovery thereof; payment to be made at the port where the wages of the seamen ought next to be paid, and to be reimbursed as in other cases of salvage. | Mutiny on board vessels how suppressed. |
| III. This act shall commence and be in force from and after the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven. | Commencement of act. |
| CHAP. LXX. An act concerning estrays. |
From Rev. Bills of 1779, ch. XXXIX. |
| I. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That it shall be lawful for any person by himself or his agent, to take up any estray on his own land, and having taken it, he, or his agent, shall forthwith give information thereof to some justice of the peace for the said county, who shall thereupon issue his warrant to three disinterested freeholders of the neighbourhood, commanding them, having been first duly sworn, to view and appraise such estray, and certify the valuation under their hands, together with a particular description | Method of taking up and appraising estrays. |
| of the kind, marks, brand, stature, colour, and age; which certificate shall by the justice be transmitted to the clerk of the county court within twenty days, and by such clerk entered in a book to be kept for that purpose, for which he may demand and take ten pounds of tobacco, to be paid down by the taker up. | |
| II. The clerk shall moreover cause a copy of every such certificate to be publicly affixed at the door of his court-house, on two several court-days next after he receive the same, for which, and a certificate thereof, he shall receive the like fee as for entering the same in the book. | How advertised. |
| III. If the valuation shall be under twenty shillings, and no owner shall appear until notice shall have been twice published, as aforesaid, the property shall then be vested in the owner of the land, on which such estray was taken; and if the valuation shall exceed twenty shillings, such owner shall, within three months after the appraisement, send to the public printer a copy of the certificate, to be advertised three times in the Virginia Gazette, with notice of the place where such estray is, for which the printer may demand four shillings for each estray; and if no owner appears to claim such estray within a year and a day after the publication, the property shall from thenceforth be vested in the owner of the lands whereon it was taken. But the former owner, in either case, may at any time, within five years afterwards, upon proving his property, demand and recover the valuation money, deducting therefrom the clerk and printer's fees, and five shillings for every horse or head of neat cattle, and one shilling for every other beast. | When property vested in taker up. Valuation money, reserved for proprietor. |
| IV. If any person shall take up a boat or other vessel adrift, he shall in like manner make application to a justice of one of the adjacent counties, for his warrant to have the same valued and described by her kind, burthen and built, and shall proceed in all other respects, and have the same benefit as before directed in the case of estrays. Provided always, That if after notice published as aforesaid, any estray shall happen to die, or by any casualty get out of the possession of the person who took the same up, without his or her default, such taker up shall not be answerable for the same, or for the valuation thereof; nor shall any taker | Boats and vessels adrift, how proceeded on. Provision in in case estray should die. |
| up be answerable for any boat or other vessel lost as aforesaid. | |
| V. This act shall commence and be in force from and after the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven. | Commencement of act. |
| CHAP. LXXI. An act for the restitution of stolen goods. |
From Rev Bills of 1779 ch. XL. |
| I. Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That if any felon do rob or take away any money or goods, or chattels, from any of the citizens of this commonwealth or from any person travelling through or making a temporary stay within the same, from their person or otherwise, within this commonwealth, and thereof the said felon be indicted, and after arraigned of the same felony, and found guilty thereof, or other wise attainted by reason of evidence given by the party so robbed, or owner of the said money, goods, or chattels, or by any other by their procurement, that then the party so robbed, or owner, shall be restored to his said money, goods, and chattels: And that the justices before whom any such felon shall be found guilty, or otherwise attainted by reason of evidence given by the party so robbed, or owner, or by any other by their procurement, have power by this present act, to award form time to time, writs of restitution for the said money, goods, and chattels. | Restitution of stolen goods, to be ordered by court, before whom conviction. |
| II. This act shall commence and be in force from and after the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven. | Commencement of act. |
| CHAP. LXXII. An act for preventing infection of the horned cattle. |
From Rev. Bills of 1779, ch. XLI. |
| I. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That the driving of cattle into, or through the commonwealth, or any part thereof, if it be not to remove them from one plantation to another of the same owner, or to be used at his house, shall be deemed a nuisance, unless the driver shall produce to any freeholder of a county wherein the drove is passing, who shall require it, a bill of health, signed by some justice of the commonwealth, containing the number of the drove, with description of the cattle, by their sexes, flesh marks, and ear marks, or brands, and certifying them to be free from distemper; or, notwithstanding he may produce such bill of health, unless he shall forthwith obtain another at the like requisition, if any such freeholder make affidavit, before a justice, that he hath cause to suspect some of the cattle to be distempered. Such bill of health shall not be given, in either case, before two disinterested freeholders, appointed by warrant of a justice, shall have viewed the cattle, and reported them to be free from distemper. A freeholder refusing to obey such warrant, shall be amerced by the justice granting such warrant, in any sum not exceeding twenty five shillings. If the cattle appear by the report to be distempered, the owner may impound them; and if he refuse to do so, or if he suffer them to escape from the pound, before a justice shall have certified that they may be removed without annoying others, the same justice, or some other to whom information shall be given of the fact, shall, by his order, cause them to be slaughtered, and their carcases, with the hides on, but so cut or mangled that none may be tempted to take them up and flay them, to be buried four feet deep. −− Those who shall be employed in executing such orders, shall receive five shillings for every head so buried, to be paid by the county wherein it shall happen; and every one appointed by the order, who shall refuse or neglect to execute it, shall be amerced in the sum of five shillings for every head so ordered to be buried. −− | Bills of health to be produced, by persons driving cattle into
or through this state. How obtained. Proceedings where cattle found distempered. |
| Every one shall so restrain his distempered cattle, or such as are under his care, as that they may not go at large off the land to which they belong, and when they die, shall bury them with their hides, in manner aforesaid; and knowingly offending in either of those instances, shall be amerced in the sum of twenty shillings for every head they shall neglect so to bury. | Owners of distempered cattle to confine them; & when dead, bury them. |
| II. This act shall commence and be in force from and after the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven. | Commencement of act. |
| CHAP. LXXIII. An act for improving the breed of horses. |
From Rev. Bills of 1779, ch. XLII. |
| I. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That no person shall suffer a stoned horse of the age of two years, whereof he is owner, or hath the keeping, to run at large out of the enclosed ground of the owner or keeper; and whosoever shall wilfully or negligently do so, after having been admonished to confine such horse, shall forfeit and pay five pounds, to him who will sue for it, and double that sum for any such transgression after one conviction; and, if after a second conviction, the same horse be found so running at large, it shall be lawful for the person who will take him up, to retain him to his own use. | Penalty for suffering a stoned horse to run at
large. When forfeited. |
| II. This act shall commence and be in force from and after the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven. | Commencement of act. |
| CHAP. LXXIV. An act for licensing and regulating taverns. |
From Rev. Bills of 1779, ch. XLV. |
| I. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That it shall not be lawful for any one to keep a tavern, before they shall have obtained a license for that purpose, from the court authorized to grant the same; and if any one, without such license, open a tavern, or sell by retail, wine, beer, cyder, or rum, brandy, or other spirituous liquor, or a mixture thereof, to be drank in or at the place where it shall be sold, or in any booth, arbour or stall, such offence shall be deemed a breach of the good behaviour, and he or she so offending, shall moreover forfeit and pay the sum of ten pounds current money, to be applied towards lessening the county levy: Which license shall be granted only to such as the court shall think able to provide for the accommodation of travellers, and in such places as are most convenient for them; and shall be in force one year, and from the end thereof until the next session. If guests or others play at any game, contrary to law, in a tavern, and the keeper thereof shall not endeavour to hinder them, and if they persist, to give information of the offence, within one month thereafter, to the court, or two justices of the peace, his license shall be revoked by the court, unless, being summoned to shew cause to the contrary, he appear, and prove such facts as induce them to believe, not only he did not know of, but moreover that he had no reason to suspect such playing. The prices to be paid for diet, liquors, lodging, provender, stableage, and pasture, at taverns, shall be rated once a year by the court, of which rates a copy, within one month afterwards, as they shall be set, or from time to time altered, attested by the clerk of the court, shall be set up by every keeper of a tavern, exposed in some public room thereof, not more than six feet above the floor, and so long as he neglect this, after the month, he shall have no right to demand any price for a rated article. Neither shall the keeper of a tavern recover more than twenty-five shillings for liquor sold, within the space of a year, to one person, residing less than twenty miles from such tavern, and drunk, or sold to be drunk in the | None to keep tavern without license
Penalty. How license obtained. Gaming at taverns. Tavern rates. Limitation of recovery for liquor sold. |
| place where it is kept: and a written contract or bond, or other speciality, for payment, delivery, or security, of money, or other thing, for performance of any work or service, whereof the whole or any part shall have become due for liquors so sold, shall be void. | |
| II. This act shall commence and be in force from and after the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven. | Commencement of act. |
| CHAP. LXXV. An act concerning public roads. |
From Rev. Bills of 1779, ch. XLVI. |
| I. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That where any person or persons shall make application to any county court, to have a new road opened, or a former one altered, within their county, for the convenience of travelling to their county court-house, to any public warehouse, landing, ferry, mill, lead or iron works, or to the seat of government, they shall appoint three or more fit and able persons, to sworn before a justice of the peace, to view the ground along which such road is proposed to be conducted, and to report to them truly and impartially the conveniences and inconveniences which will result, as well to individuals as to the public, if such way shall be opened; and where the application is to alter a former road, they shall also view the former road, and report in like manner, the comparative conveniences and inconveniences thereof. | County courts authorised to open new roads, or alter former ones. |
| II. Upon the return of the said viewers, if the court shall be of opinion that the road applied for will be convenient, they shall order summonses to be issued to the proprietors and tenants of the lands through which the same is proposed to be conducted, if they be found within the county, and if not, then to their agents therein, if any they have, to shew cause why such road should not be opened; upon the return of which summons, if any proprietor or tenant so desire, the said court shall order their clerk to issue a writ in the nature | Proceedings thereon. |
| of a writ ad quod damnum, to be directed to the sheriff, commanding him to summon and empannel twelve able and discreet freeholders of the vicinage, no ways related to either party, to meet at some certain place on the ground through which the said road is proposed to be conducted, and on a certain day to be named by the court, and inserted in the said writ, of which shall be given by the sheriff, to the said proprietors or tenants, or their agents, as before directed, if they were not present in court at the time of the order made; which freeholders, taking nothing (on pain of being discharged form the inquest, and immediately imprisoned by the sheriff) either of meat or drink, from any person whatever, from the time they shall come to the said place until their inquest sealed, shall be charged by the said sheriff impartially, and to the best to their skill and judgment to view the lands through which the said road is proposed to be conducted, and say to what damage it will be of to the several and respective proprietors and tenants, who desired such writ, taking into estimation as well the use of the lands to be laid open for such road, as the additional fencing, which will thereby be rendered necessary; and if the said inquest cannot be compleated in one day, the sheriff shall adjourn the said jurors from day to day, until the same be compleated: Which inquest, sealed by the said jurors, together with the writ, shall be returned to the court, who thereupon, as well as upon other evidence, shall proceed to consider whether, all circumstances weighed, it be better that the said road shall be opened, and if they be of opinion that the same shall be opened, they shall levy on their county, at their next levy to be laid, the damages so found, and the costs of the inquest, and direct them to be paid to those respectively entitled thereto. But if they shall be of opinion that the said road ought not to be opened, the costs of such inquest shall be adjudged against the party applying for the said road. But it shall not be lawful for any court to order a road to be opened through any lot of land in any town, without the consent of the owner and tenant thereof. | |
| III. The several courts shall also divide all the public roads into precincts, and as often as it shall be necessary, appoint a surveyor over every precinct, whose duty it shall be to superintend the road in his precinct, | To divide roads into precincts, & appoint surveyors. |
| and see that the same be cleared and kept in good repair which surveyor shall continue in office until another shall be appointed by the said court in his stead. | |
| IV. All male labouring persons, of the age of sixteen years or more, except such as are masters of two or more male labouring slaves, of the age of sixteen years or more, shall be appointed by the court to work on some public road: For every person so appointed, who, when required by the surveyor placed over him, shall, without legal cause or disability, fail to attend, with proper tools for clearing the road, or shall refuse to work when there, or to find some other person equally able, to work in his room, the sum of seven shillings and six pence for every day's offence,, shall be paid by himself, if he be a freeman of full age, if an infant, then by his parent guardian, or master, and if a slave or servant, then by his overseer; if he be under one, or otherwise, by his master. | Who to work on roads. Penalty for failure. |
| V. The clerk of every county court shall within ten days after the appointment of any surveyor of a road, deliver a copy of the order to the sheriff of the county, under the penalty of fifteen shillings; and the sheriff, within fifteen days after the receipt of such order, shall deliver the same to the surveyor, under the penalty of fifteen shillings. And each clerk shall moreover, once in every year, fix up in the court-house, a list of the names and precincts of all the surveyors of roads in his county, under the penalty of fifty shillings for every neglect. | Surveyors, how notified. |
| VI. Every surveyor of a road shall cause the same to be constantly kept well cleared and smoothed, and thirty feet wide at the least; and at the fork or crossing of every public road, shall cause to be erected, and kept in repair form time to time, a stone, or otherwise an index on a post or tree, with plain inscriptions thereon, in large letters, directing to the most noted place to which each of the said roads shall lead, and may take stone or wood for that purpose from any adjoning lands and for the expence of setting up and inscribing such stones, posts, or indexes, and keeping them in repair, the surveyor shall be reimbursed by the county court in their next succeeding levy; and where bridges and causeys are necessary, the surveyor shall cause them to be made, twelve feet broad at the least, convenient and save, and shall keep the same in repair, and for that purpose may cut and take from the lands of any person | Duty of surveyors. Sign posts. Bridges and causeys. |
| adjoining such, and so much timber, earth, or stone, as may be necessary, the same being first viewed and valued by two honest house-keepers appointed and sworn for that purpose by a justice of the peace, unless the owner shall freely give such timber, stone, or earth, for that use; but where a road leads through a city or town, the surveyor shall not take any timber, stone, or earth, from any lot within the town, without the permission of the owner, but shall take the same from the lands nigh or adjacent to the said town, where it will do the least injury to the proprietor; and where the assistance of wheel-carriages is necessary for making or repairing any causeys, any justice of peace may issue his warrant, under his hand and seal, for empowering the surveyor to impress such necessary carriages, draught horses; or oxen with their gear and driver, belonging to any person who, or their servants or slaves, are appointed to work on the road, and appointing two honest house-keepers, who, being sworn, shall value by the day, the use of such carriages, draught horses, oxen, and driver, which valution, with a certificate from the surveyor how many days the said things were employed in the work, shall entitle the owner of timber, stone, earth, taken for bridges or causeys, be entitled to the valuation thereof in the next county levy, upon a certificate from the two house-keepers who value the same. Every surveyor of a road, who fails to do his duty as aforesaid, shall forfeit fifteen shillings for every offence. | Materials for, how procured. Penalty on surveyors for neglect. |
| VII. Where a bridge or causey shall be necessary, and the surveyor, with his assistants, cannot make or maintain the same, the court of the county are empowered and required to contract for the building and repairing such bridge or causey, and to levy the charge thereof in their county levy. And where such bridge or causey shall be necessary from one county to another, the court of each county shall join in the agreement for building and repairing the same; and the charge shall be defrayed by both counties, in proportion to the public tax or assessment paid by each. Upon every such contract or agreement, bond and security shall be given by the undertaker, payable to the governor and his successors, for the use of the county or | How bridges and causeys are to be built, and repaired, within the county. |
| counties, as the case shall be, with condition for performing the same, and may be prosecuted at the costs, and for the benefit of the county or counties, or any person sustaining a lose by the breach thereof, as often as it shall happen, until the whole penalty of the bond shall be paid. And all such contracts made by the county courts, or others appointed by them, shall be available and binding upon the justices and their successors, so as to entitle the undertaker to his stipulated reward in the county levy, or to a recovery thereof with costs, by action of debt, against the justices refusing to levy the same. | |
| VIII. When the justices of one county shall judge a bridge or causey over any place between them and another county to be necessary, they shall notify the same to the justices of such other county, and require them to appoint three persons to meet at the said place on a certain day to be named by the court requiring the same, to confer with three others, to be appointed by the said requiring court, and agree on the manner and condition of executing the same; which six persons, or so many of them as meet, being not fewer than three, shall have power to agree on the manner and conditions of doing the said work, and to see that the same be done: And if the court so required shall fail to appoint persons to act on their behalf, or to do what on their part should be done towards executing and paying for the said work, the justices of the court which made the requisition shall apply to the general court for a writ of mandamus, to be directed to the justices of the other court, commanding them to do, what on their part they ought to have done, and have failed to do, or to signify to them cause to the contrary thereof; upon the return of which writ, the general court, if they shall be of opinion that the work is unnecessary, or that other sufficient cause is returned, shall quash the writ; or if they think otherwise, shall cause such further proceedings to be had as are usual in other cases of mandamus issuing from the said court: And the like method of proceeding by way of mandamus shall be used, where the justices of one county shall think ti necessary to open a road to their county line, for the convenience of passing to some public place in another, and the justices of such other shall refuse to continue the road through their county. | When over any place between two counties. |
| IX. If any person shall fell a tree into a public road, or into any stream of water, whereon there shall be any public bridge, and shall not remove the same within forty-eight hours, or shall kill a tree within the distance of fifty feet from the road, or shall cut, pull up, destroy, or deface, any stone, or post, erected for the direction of travellers, or the indexes or inscriptions thereon, it shall be deemed a nuisance. | Penalty for felling a tree into a road or killing a tree near it. |
| X. Every free man, of full age, so offending, or the parent, master, or owner, of every child, apprentice, servant, or slave, so offending, with his or her knowledge, shall forfeit and pay ten pounds for every offence. And where any fence shall be made across a public road, the owner or tenant of the land shall pay ten shillings for every twenty-four hours the same shall be continued. | For making a fence across a road. |
| XI. The owner or occupier of every dam over which a public road passes, shall constantly keep such dam in repair, at least twelve feet wide at the top, through the whole length thereof, and shall keep and maintain a bridge of like breadth, with strong rails on each side thereof, over the pier-head, flood-gates, or any waste, cut through or round the dam, under the penalty of ten shillings for every twenty-four hours failure; but where a mill-dam shall be carried away or destroyed by tempest, or accident, the owner or occupier thereof shall not be liable to the said penalties from thenceforth, until one month after such mill shall have been so repaired as to have ground one bushel of grain. | Roads over mill dams, how to be kept. |
| XII. All the penalties in this act, not otherwise directed, shall be one moiety to the informer, and the other to the use of the county, recoverable with costs, on warrant, petition, or action, as the case may be. Any justice, who, upon his own view, shall discover a road, bridge, causey, or mill-dam, as aforesaid, out of repair, shall issue a warrant against the surveyor, or other delinquent, and if no reasonable excuse be made for such default, may give judgment for the penalty and costs, not exceeding twenty-five shillings, or such offenders may be presented by the grand-juries; in all which cases of conviction, on view of a justice, or presentment, or on private informations to justices, where there shall be no evidence to convict the offender but the informer's own oath, the whole penalties shall be to the use of the county, towards lessening the levy thereof, | Penalties how recovered and appropriated. |
| and shall be annually collected and accounted for by the sheriff, in the same manner as county levies; and to enable the sheriff to make such collection, every justice, immediately on conviction of any offender, where the penalty is to be to the county, shall certify the same to the clerk of his county court, who shall yearly, before the first day of march, deliver to the sheriff a list of all the offenders so certified, and of all other convicted in court, within one year preceding of any offence against this act. | |
| XIII. Provided, that prosecutions for any offence herein mentioned, shall be commenced within six months after the offence committed, and not after. | Limitation of prosecution. |
| XIV. This act shall commence and be in force from and after the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven. | Commencement of act. |
| CHAP. LXXVI. An act for unlading ballast and burial of dead bodies from on board ships. |
From Rev. Bills of 1779, ch. XLIX. |
| I. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That the court of every county or corporation, adjacent to any navigable river or creek, shall from time to time, as vacancies happen, appoint one or more ballast-masters, residing near to the places where vessels usually ride in such river or creek, to be overseers and directors of the delivery and unloading of ballast from on board any ship or vessel within a certain district, to be by them ascertained. | Ballast masters, how appointed. |
| II. Every ballast-master so appointed, upon receiving notice from the master or chief officer on board of any ship or vessel within his district, that ballast is to be discharged from such vessel, shall go on board the same, and attend until the whole ballast is delivered, which he shall see brought on shore and laid at some convenient place near the vessel, where it may not obstruct | Their duty. |
| navigation, nor be washed into the channel, shall thereupon give such master or officer a certificate that the ballast hath been duly unladen from on board such vessel; for which service he shall receive five shillings per day, to be paid by the master or chief officer to whom such certificate is granted. | |
| III. Every ballast-master failing to do his duty, according to this act, shall forfeit twenty pounds for each default, in which case, or if there be no ballast-master, the naval-officer of the district, shall, under the like penalty, perform the same duty. | Penalty for neglect. |
| IV. Every master or chief officer of a ship or vessel, having ballast to unlade, shall give notice in writing, of the time he purposes to land the same, to the ballast-master of the district; and shall produce to the naval-officer, at the time of his clearing out, a certificate of his having unladen his ballast, according to this act. And if any master or chief officer on board of any ship or vessel, shall presume to land or cast overboard any ballast therefrom, without giving such notice, or contrary to the orders he shall receive from the ballast master of the district, or shall fail to produce a certificate of his having duly landed his ballast, to the naval-officer at the time of his clearing out, he shall forfeit fifty pounds for every offence or failure; and, in any suit to be brought for the said penalty, the clerk shall endorse on the writ that bail is to be required, and the court may rule the defendant to give special bail, if they see cause so to do. | Notice of intention to unlade ballast. Certificate. Penalties. |
| V. When any person shall die on board of any ship or vessel, within this state, the master thereof shall cause the dead body to be brought on shore, and there buried, at least four feet deep above high-water mark, or be subject to the penalty of fifty pounds; in any suit for which, the defendant may be ruled to give special bail, and the clerk shall endorse on the writ that bail is required. | Dead bodies from on board ships, how to be buried. |
| VI. This act shall commence and be in force from and after the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven. | Commencement of act. |
| CHAP. LXXVII. An act concerning slaves. |
From Rev. Bills of 1779, ch. LI. |
| I. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That no person shall henceforth be slaves within this commonwealth, except such as were so on the first day of this present session of assembly, and the descendants of the females of them. Slaves which shall hereafter be brought into this commonwealth, and kept therein one whole year together, or so long at different times as shall amount to one year, shall be free. | Who declared slaves. Slaves hereafter introduced, to be free. |
| II. No negro or mulatto shall be a witness, except in pleas of the commonwealth against negroes or mulattoes, or in civil pleas wherein negroes or mulattoes alone shall be parties. | Negroes and mulattoes, how far witnesses. |
| III. No slave shall go from the tenements of his master or other person with whom he lives, without a pass, or some letter or token whereby it may appear that he is proceeding by authority from his master, employer, or overseer: If he does, it shall be lawful for any person to apprehend and carry him before a justice of the peace, to be by his order punished with stripes or not, in his discretion. | Slaves not to go from home without a pass. Punishment. |
| IV. No slave shall keep any arms whatever, nor pass unless with written orders from his master or employer, or in his company with arms from one place to another. Arms in possession of a slave contrary to this prohibition, shall be forfeited to him who will seize them. Riots, routs, unlawful assemblies, trespasses, and seditious speeches, by a slave or slaves, shall be punished with stripes, at the discretions of a justice of the peace, and he who will may apprehend and carry him, her, or them, before such justice. | Slaves not to keep arms. Riots, unlawful assemblies, &c. how punishable. |
| V. Provided, That nothing in this act contained, shall be construed to extend to those who may incline to remove from any of the United States and become citizens of this; if within ten days after such removal he or she shall take the following oath before some justice of the peace of this commonwealth: "I A. B. do swear that my removal into the state of Virginia, was with no intent of evading the laws for preventing the further importation of slaves, nor have I brought | Who may bring slaves into this commonwealth. |
| with me any slaves with an intention of selling them, nor have any of the slaves which I have brought with me been imported from Africa, or any of the West-India islands, since the first day of November, 1778. So help me God." Nor to any persons claiming slaves by descent, marriage, or devise; or to any citizens of this commonwealth, being now the actual owners of slaves within any of the United States and removing such hither; nor to travellers and others making a transient stay, and bringing slaves for necessary attendance, and carrying them out again. | |
| VI. And be it further enacted, That no person whatsoever shall buy, sell, or receive of, to or from a slave, any commodity whatsoever without the leave or consent of the master, owner, or overseer of such slave. And if any person shall presume to deal with any slave without such leave or consent, he or she so offending, shall forfeit and pay to the master or owner of such slave four times the value of the thing so bought, sold, or received, to be recovered with costs, by action upon the case, in any court of record within this commonwealth; and shall also forfeit and pay the further sum of five pounds, to any person who will sue for the same, to be recovered with costs, by summons and petition, in the same manner as other debts not exceeding five pounds, nor under twenty-five shillings are, or receive on his or her bare back thirty-nine lashes well aid on at the public whipping-post, but shall nevertheless be liable to pay the costs of such summons and petition. | Penalty for dealing with slaves. |
| VII. This act shall commence and be in force from and after the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven. | Commencement of act. |
| CHAP. LXXVII. An act declaring what persons shall be deemed mulattoes. |
From Rev. Bills of 1779, ch. LIV. |
| I. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That every person of whose grandfathers or grandmothers any one is, or shall have been a negro, although all his other progenitors, except that descending from the negro, shall have been white persons, shall be deemed a mulatto; and so every person who shall have one-fourth part or more of negro blood, shall, in like manner, be deemed a mulatto. | Who deemed mulattoes. |
| II. This act shall commence and be in force from and after the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven. | Commencement of act. |
| CHAP. LXXIX. An act concerning aliens. |
From Rev. Bills of 1779, ch. LVI. |
| I. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That in case that war arise betwixt the United States of America and any foreign state, the merchants and people of such state, their families, agents, and servants, found in this commonwealth at the beginning of the war, shall not be attached either in their body or goods because of such war, but shall be warned by proclamation from the governor, taking thereon the advice of the council of state, that they shall depart the commonwealth with their families, agents and servants aforesaid, and their goods, freely within forty days after the proclamation made and published. In the mean time they shall not be impeached, nor let of their passage, or of making their profit of the same merchandizes, if they will sell them. And in case that for default of wind or of ship, or for sickness, or for other evident cause, they cannot depart the commonwealth within so short a time, then they shall have | In case of war between the U. States, and foreign powers, how their merchants and people shall be treated. |
| other forty days, or so much more as the necessity of their affairs may require, and the governor and council may think it safe to allow, and in the mean time may sell their merehandize as afore is said. | |
| II. But if before their departure credible intelligence shall be brought to the governor, that the merchants or people of any of the United States be evil treated in the land making war against us, then they shall be attached without harm of body or goods, until the truth of the matter be certainly known unto the governor and council of state: And if the merchants and people of the United States be well treated there, theirs shall be likewise with us: And if otherwise, theirs shall be treated or demeaned within the commonwealth, in the manner, form, and condition as the merchants or people of the United States be treated or demeaned in the land making war against us. | When retaliation may be resorted to. |
| III. This act shall commence and be in force from and after the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven. | Commencement of act. |
| CHAP. LXXX. An act directing what prisoners shall be let to bail. |
From Rev. Bills of 1779, ch. LVIII. |
| I. FOR ascertaining in what cases persons apprehended on suspicion of felony shall or shall not be admitted to bail: Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That those shall be let to bail who are apprehended for any crime not punishable in life or limb: And if the crime be so punishable, but only a light suspicion of guilt fall on the party, he shall in like manner be bailable: but if the crime be punishable in life or limb, or if it be manslaughter, and there be good cause to believe the party guilty thereof, he shall not be admitted to bail. | What prisoners may be admitted to bail, what not |
| II. No person shall be bailed after conviction of any felony. |
| III. If any justice let any go at large on bail who is not bailable, or refuse to admit to bail any who have right to be so admitted, after they shall have offered sufficient bail, or require excessive bail, he shall be amerced at the discretion of a jury. | Penalty for admitting or refusing bail improperly. | ||
| IV. This act shall commence and be in force from and after the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven. | Commencement of act. | ||
| CHAP. LXXXI. |
From Rev. Bills of 1779, ch. LVII. | ||
|
Magna Charta. | ||
| I. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That no freeman shall be taken or imprisoned, or be dis-seized of this freehold, or liberties or free customs, or be outlawed or exiled, or any other wise destroyed, nor shall the commonwealth pass upon him, nor condemn him; but by lawful judgment of his peers, or by the laws of the land. Justice or right shall not be sold, denied, or deferred, to any man. | Trial by jury, and equal and speedy justice secured. | ||
| II. This act shall commence and be in force from and after the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven. | Commencement of act. |
| CHAP. LXXXII. An act concerning mill-dams and other obstructions of water courses. |
From Rev. Bills of 1779, ch. XLVIII. |
| I. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That when any person owning lands on one side of any water course, the bed whereof belongeth to himself, or to the commonwealth, and desiring to build a water grist-mill on such lands, and to erect a dam across the same, for working the said mill, shall not himself have the fee-simple property in the lands on the opposite side thereof, against which he would abutt his said dam, he shall make application for a writ of ad quad damnum, to the court of the county wherein the lands proposed for the abuttment are, having given ten days previous notice to the proprietor thereof, if he be to be found in the county, and if not, then to his agent therein, if any he hath, which court shall thereupon order their clerk to issue such writ, to be directed to the sheriff, commanding him to summon and empannel twelve fit persons to meet upon the lands so proposed for the abuttment, on a certain day, to be named by the court, and inserted in the said writ, of which notice shall be given by the sheriff, to the said proprietor or his agent, as before directed, if neither of them were present in court at the time of the order made; which freeholders taken, shall be charged by the said sheriff, impartially, and to the best of their skill and judgment, to view the said lands so proposed for an abuttment, and to locate and circumscribe, by certain metes and bounds, one acre thereof, having due regard therein to the interests of both parties, and to appraise the same according to its true value, to examine the lands above and below, of the property of others, which may probably be overflowed, and say to what damage it will be of to the several proprietors, and whether the mansion house of any such proprietor, or the offices, curtilage, or garden, thereunto immediately belonging, or orchards, will be overflowed; to enquire whether, and in what degree, fish of passage and ordinary navigation will be obstructed; whether by any, and by what means, such obstruction may be prevented; and whether in | Proceedings, on erecting mills. Writ of ad quad damnum. Notice. Jury. Inquest, what to contain. |
| their opinion the health of the neighbours will be annoyed by the stagnation of the waters. And the inquest so made and sealed by the said jurors, together with the writ, shall be returned by the said sheriff to the succeeding court, who shall thereupon order summonses to be issued to the several persons, proprietors or tenants of the lands so located, or found liable to damage, if they be to be found within the county, and if not, then to their agents therein, if any they have, to shew cause why the party applying should not have leave to build the said mill and dam. And in like manner, if the person proposing to build such mill and dam shall have the fee-simple property in the lands on both sides the stream, yet application shall be made to the court of the county wherein the mill-house will stand, for a writ to examine as aforesaid what lands may be overflowed, and say to what damage it will be of to the several proprietors, and whether the mansion house of any such proprietor, or the offices, curtilage, or garden, thereto immediately belonging, or orchards will be overflowed; also, whether, and in what degree fish of passage and ordinary navigation will be obstructed thereby, whether by any, and by what means, such obstruction may be prevented, and whether in their opinion the health of the neighbours will be annoyed by the stagnation of waters; which writ shall be directed, executed and returned, as prescribed in the former case. And if on such inquest, or on other evidence, it shall appear to the court that the mansion house of any proprietor, or the offices, curtilage, or garden, thereto immediately belonging, or orchards, will be overflowed, or the health to the neighbours be annoyed, they shall not give leave to build the said mill and dam; but if none of these injuries are likely to ensue, they shall then proceed to consider whether, all circumstances weighted, it be reasonable that such leave should be given, and shall give or not give it accordingly; and if given, they shall lay the party applying under such conditions for preventing the obstruction, if any there will be, of fish of passage and ordinary navigation, as to them shall seem right. | Leave to build, when
granted. |
| II. And if the party applying obtain leave to build the said mill and dam, he shall, upon paying respectively to the several parties entitled, the value of the acre located, and the damages which the jurors find will be | Payment of valuation money. |
| done by overflowing the lands above or below, become seized in fee-simple of the said acre of land. But if he shall not, within one year thereafter, begin to build the said mill, and finish the same in three years, and afterwards continue it in good repair for public use, or in case the said mill or dam be destroyed, if he shall not begin to rebuild it within one year after such destruction, and finish it within three years, the said acre of land shall revert to the former proprietor, and his heirs, unless at the time of such destruction of the said mill or dam the owner thereof be an infant, feme covert, imprisoned, or of unsound mind, in which case he shall be allowed the same terms for beginning and compleating the said mill or dam after such disability removed. | Effect of not building, or re-building, in time. |
| III. The inquest of the said jurors nevertheless, or opinion of the court, shall not bar any prosecution or action, which any person would have had in law, had this act never been made, other than for the injuries as were actually foreseen and estimated by the said jury. | Inquest no bar to damages not foreseen. |
| IV. It shall be lawful for the owner or tenant of any such mill, or of any other grist-mill, to take for toll one eighth part, and no more, of all grain of which the remaining part shall be ground into meal, and one sixteenth part, and no more, of that, the remainder of which shall be ground into hominy or malt. | Toll. |
| V. No owner or tenant of any mill, not having fifty acres of land adjoining thereto, shall keep any swine un-inclosed at such mill, on pain that the same shall be liable to be taken and converted to his own use by the proprietor or tenant of any adjacent lands, or by any other person authorized by them. | Who may keep hogs at mills. |
| VI. Where the owner of any mill now standing, or licensed to be built, hath by any act of assembly been compelled to make locks, slopes, or opening, for navigation, or the passage of fish, the same shall be continued under the conditions imposed by such act, and shall be deemed sufficient in law, so long as the dam now standing, or building, shall remain: But it shall not be lawful to rebuild such dam in future, but on enquiry by jury into the obstructions of fish and navigation, and the means of preventing the same, and the final order of the court, to be applied for and conducted in the manner before directed in other cases. | Locks and slopes. |
| VII. It shall not be lawful for any person to erect or fix in any water-course, any dam, hedge, weir, seine, drag, or other stoppage, whereby navigation, or the passage of fish, may be obstructed, save only for the purpose of working some machine or engine useful to the public, in which cases the same proceedings shall be had as are before directed in the case of a water grist-mill, or for the purpose of a water grist-mill, before provided for: And where any such are now standing, or shall hereafter be erected or fixed, the owner or tenant of the lands adjacent thereto (whether the same were erected or fixed by himself or another) shall cause it to be abated: And whoso offendeth herein, shall be deemed guilty of a nuisance. | Hedges, weirs and other obstructions in water courses prohibited. |
| VIII. This act shall commence and be in force from and after the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven. | Commencement of act. |
|
| |
| CHAP. LXXXIII. An act concerning servants. |
From Rev Bills of 1777 ch. LII. |
| I. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That all white persons not being citizens of any of the confederated states of America, who shall come into this commonwealth under contract to serve another in any trade or occupation, shall be compellable to perform such contract specifically during the term thereof, or during so much of the same as shall not exceed seven years. Infants under the age of fourteen years brought in under the like contract, entered into with the consent of their father or guardian, shall serve till their age of twenty-one years only, or for such shorter term as the said contract shall have fixed. | Servants who may be, and how long to serve. |
| II. The said servants shall be provided by their master with wholesome and sufficient food, clothing and lodging, and at the end of their service, if they shall not have contracted for any reward, other than transportation, food clothing, and lodging, shall receive from him one new and complete suit of clothing suited | Duty of masters. |
| to the season of the year, to wit, a coat, waistcoat, pair of breeches and shoes, two pair of stockings, two shirts, a hat, and blanket. | |
| III. The benefit of the said contract of service shall be assignable by the master to any person to whom the servant shall, in the presence of a justice of the peace, freely consent that it shall be assigned, the said justice attesting such free consent in writing, and shall also pass to the executors, administrators, and legatees of the master. | How contract for service assignable. |
| IV. Any such servant being lazy, disorderly, guilty of misbehaviour to his master, or in his master's family, shall be corrected by stripes, on order from a justice of the county, city, or corporation, wherein he resides, or refusing to work, shall be compelled thereto in like manner, and moreover shall serve two days for every one he shall have so refused to serve, or shall otherwise have lost, without sufficient justification. All necessary expences incurred by any master for apprehending and bringing home any absconding servant shall be repaid by further service, after such rates as the court of the county, city, or corporation shall direct, unless such servant shall give security, to be approved to by the said court, for re-payment in money within six months after he shall be free from service, and shall accordingly pay the same. | Servants, how punished. Runaway servants, to compensate for loss of time. |
| V. If any master shall fail in the duties prescribed by this act, or shall be guilty of injurious demeanor towards his servant, it shall be redressed, on motion by the court of the county, city, or corporation, wherein the servant resides, by immediate discharge from service if the injury were gross, or by a specific order for a change in his demeanor and a discharge from service, if such order be disobeyed. | Complaints of servants against masters, how redressed. |
| VI All contracts between master and servant during the time
of service shall be void. VII. This act shall commence and be in force from and after the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven. |
Contracts between master and servant void. Commencement of act. |
| Pages 138-165
| Pages 192-216
|