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| CHAP. LXXXIV.
|
| An
| act to empower the vestry of the parish of Saint James
Northam, in the county of Goochland, to sell the glebe of the said parish, and to lay out the
money in purchasing a more convenient glebe.
|
|
| [Passed the 6th of December, 1787.]
|
| I. WHEREAS It is represented to this present general assembly, that
the glebe lands in the parish of Saint James Northam, in the county of Goochland, are for the
most part worn out and not stocked with timber sufficient to keep up the necessary repairs; and
that the houses thereon are in a ruinous situation; and that it would be very advantageous to the
inhabitants of the said parish, if the vestry or trustees thereof were empowered to dispose of
the said glebe, and to lay out the money arising from the sale thereof in purchasing other lands
for a glebe:
|
Vestry of St. James Northam, authorized to sell their glebe.
|
| II. And be it further enacted, That all and every other
act and acts, clause and clauses, heretofore made for or concerning any matter or thing within
the purview or meaning of this act, shall be and are hereby repealed. by the General
Assembly, That the said glebe-lands, with the appurtenances, be, and the same are hereby
vested in the vestry or trustees of the said parish, in trust; Nevertheless, That the
said vestry or trustees, or the greater part of them, shall by deed or deeds of bargain and sale,
sell and convey the said glebe, with the appurtenances, for the best price that can be got, to
any person or persons who shall be willing to purchase the same; to hold to such purchaser or
purchasers, his or their heirs and assigns forever.
|
| III. And be it further enacted, That the money arising by
the sale of the said glebe, shall be by the said vestry or trustees laid out and applied towards
purchasing a more convenient glebe, for the use and benefit of the inhabitants of the said
parish.
|
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|---|
| CHAP. LXXXV.
|
| An
| act to amend the act appointing trustees to sell part of the
lands of John Todd, deceased, for the payment of his debts, and for other purposes.
|
|
| [Passed the 29th of November, 1787.]
|
| I. WHEREAS by an act of the last session, intituled "An act appointing trustees to sell part of the lands of John Todd,
deceased, for the payment of his debts, and for other purposes," the tract of land whereon
the said John Todd resided at the time of his death was particularly reserved from being sold by
the said trustees; And whereas it hath been represented to the present general assembly, that it
will be more advantageous to the representatives of the said John Todd, to sell the land whereon
he resided at the time of his death, and reserve the lands whereon his widow Jane Todd now lives
in lieu thereof:
|
Act authorising trustees to sell part of the land of John Todd,
ceceased amended.
|
| II. Be it therefore enacted, That the said trustees may
sell the tract of land whereon the said John Todd resided at the time of his death; and the tract
whereon his widow now resides shall be, and the same is hereby reserved in lieu thereof; any
thing in the said recited act to the contrary thereof notwithstanding.
|
| III. And be it further enacted, That James Overton shall
be, and his is hereby added to the former trustees with the same power and authority as any one
particularly named in the said recited act.
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|---|
| CHAP. LXXXVI.
|
| An
| act to encrease the allowance for pilotage between Urbanna
and Tappahannock.
|
|
| [Passed the 3d of November, 1787.]
|
| I. WHEREAS it hath been represented to the present general
assembly, that the prices allowed for pilotage of vessels between Urbanna and Tappahannock, are
inadequate to the duty;
|
Pilotage between Urbanna and Tappahannock encreased.
|
| II. Be it therefore enacted, That instead of three
shillings and six pence per foot, there shall be allowed and paid the sum of five shillings per
foot, for pilotage between Urbanna and Tappahannock; any law to the contrary thereof
notwithstanding.
|
CHAP. LXXXVII.
An act to amend the act for establishing
certain inspections of tobacco.
[Passed the 3d of November,
1787.]
|
| I. WHEREAS doubts have arisen whether the inspectors at Lynch's and
Rivanna warehouses are by law required to receive the duties and imposts on tobacco brought to
such warehouses: For removing such doubts,
|
Inspectors of tobacco at certain warehouses authorized to
receive duties.
|
| II. Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That the
inspectors at the said warehouses of Lynch's and Rivanna, shall be, and they are hereby
authorised and required, to receive, to receive the duties and impost on all tobaccoes inspected
at such warehouses; and shall account for, and pay into the public treasury, such duties and
impost, in the same manner and under the like penalties, as other inspectors are by law directed.
And the said inspectors shall give their manifest for such tobacco when required, which may
thereupon be shipped by the owners thereof, without being reinspected at any other warehouse.
|
| | |
|---|
CHAP. LXXXVIII.
An act giving certain powers to
trustees of the town of Dumfries.
[Passed the 4th of December,
1787.]
|
| BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That the trustees
of the town of Dumfries, in the county of Prince William, and their successors, or a majority of
them, shall have power to erect or repair a market-house in the said town, to appoint a clerk of
the market, to establish an assize of bread, to appoint and pay watchmen, remove nuisances and
obstructions in the town or streets, and to repair and keep in order the main street in the said
town, and to impose taxes not exceeding one hundred pounds annually on the tithables and property
real and personal, within the town, for the carrying into execution all or any of the powers
hereby given them; to make provision and regulations for the collecting and accounting for the
taxes so raise, by appointing a collector, and directing distress to be made for delinquencies,
or by any other ways or means; and to make all such ordinances and regulations not contrary to
the laws and constitution of this commonwealth, as shall by them or a majority of them be thought
necessary for carrying this act into effect. Vacancies by death or otherwise of the said
trustees, or any of them, shall be supplied by the election of the freeholders, housekeepers, and
free male inhabitants of the said town, aged twenty one years, other than free negroes or
mulattoes, who shall have resided therein for the space of six months, and who possess in their
own right within the said town moveable property of the value of fifty pounds; which election
shall be conducted by the sheriff of the said county, and held at the court house thereof in the
said town, upon a day to be appointed for that purpose by the said trustees, or a majority of
them; whereof ten days previous notice shall be given by the sheriff in the said town, who shall
make return of the person elected, together with a fair copy of the poll by him taken, to the
said trustees; who shall record the return with their other proceedings in books to be by them
kept for that
|
Power of trustees of town of Dumfries enlarged.
|
| | |
|---|
| purpose. No person shall be capable of being elected a trustee who is not a freeholder
and inhabitant of the said town at the time of election. Whenever a trustee shall cease to be a
freeholder or an inhabitant of the said town, he shall thenceforth be considered as disqualified,
and another shall be elected in his stead,
|
CHAP. LXXXIX.
An act to establish a town in each of the
counties of Mercer and Nelson.
[Passed the 1st of November,
1787.]
|
| I. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That fifty acres
of land lying on Kentucky river, near Harrow's landing in the county of Mercer, the property of
Walter Beall, are hereby vested in Hugh Magary, Thomas Allen, Benjamin Bell, Christopher Greenup,
Samuel M'Affee, and Stephen Arnold, gentlemen, trustees, to be by them, or a majority of them,
laid off into lots of half an acre each, with convenient streets, and established a town by the
name of Warwick.
|
Towns of Warwick and Beallsborough, in Kentucky, established.
|
| II. And be it further enacted, That fifty acres of land
lying at the mouth of Beachfork, on Salt river, in the county of Nelson, the property also of the
said Walter Beall, are hereby vested in James Morrison, Francis Parepoint, Samuel Pottinger,
Isaac Morrison, James Adams, Isaac Cox, Cuthbert Harrison, George Harrison, Andrew Hinds, John
Kennedy, William Kendell, and Adkin Hill, gentlemen, trustees to be by them or a majority of
them, laid off into lots of half an acre each, with convenient streets, and established a town by
the name of Beallsborough.
|
| III. That so soon as the said lands shall respectively be laid off
into lots and streets, the trustees of each, or a majority thereof, shall proceed to sell the
same at public auction, for the best price that can be had; the time and place of which sales
shall be previously advertised for six months at the court-house of each of the counties of
Mercer, Nelson, Lincoln, and Fayette; and convey the said lots to the purchasers in fee, subject
|
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|---|
| to the condition of building on each a dwelling-house sixteen feet square at least, with
a brick or stone chimney, to be finished fit for habitation within three years from the day of
sale; and pay the money arising from such sales to the said Walter Beall, or his legal
representatives.
|
| IV. The trustees of the said towns respectively, or a majority of
either of them, shall have power, from time to time, to settle and determine all disputes
concerning the bounds of the lots, and to establish such rules and orders for the regular
building of houses thereon, as to them shall seem best.
|
| V. In case of the death, resignation, removal out of the county, or
other legal disability of any of the said trustees, it shall be lawful for the remaining
trustees, respectively, of either of the said towns, to elect others in their stead, who shall be
vested with the same powers as any particularly appointed by this act.
|
| VI. The purchasers of the said lots, so soon as they shall have
built upon and saved the same according to the condition of their respective deeds of conveyance,
shall be entitled to, and enjoy all the rights, privileges, and immunities, which the freeholders
and inhabitants of other towns in this state, not incorporated, hold and enjoy.
|
| VII. If the purchaser of any lot shall fail to build thereon within
the time before limited, the trustees of the town where such failure shall happen, or a majority
of them, may thereupon enter into such lot, and sell the same again, and apply the money for the
benefit of the inhabitants of the said town.
|
CHAP. XC.
|
| An
| act to empower the trustees of the Fredericksburg Academy, to
raise a sum of money, by way of Lottery.
|
|
[Passed the 19th of November, 1787.]
BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That it shall be lawful for
the trustees of the Fredericksburg
|
Lottery authorised, for Fredericksburg academy.
|
| | |
|---|
| Academy, to raise, by lottery, a sum o money not exceeding five hundred pounds, for the
purpose of supporting the said academy, and repairing and making additions to the buildings.
|
CHAP. XCI.
An act to establish a town in the county of
Bourbon.
[Passed the 11th of December, 1787.]
|
| I. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That one hundred
acres of land, lying on the lower side of Limestone creek, in the county of Bourbon, the property
of John May and Simon Canton, are hereby vested in Daniel Boone, Henry Lee, Arthur Fox, Jacob
Boone, Thomas Brooks, and George Miford, gentlemen, trustees, to be by them, or a majority of
them, laid off into lots of half an acre each, with convenient streets, and established a town by
the name of Maysville.
|
Town of Maysville, in Bourbon county, Kentucky, established.
|
| II. So soon as the said land shall be laid off into lots and
streets, the trustees, or a majority of them, shall proceed to sell the same, at public auction,
for the best price that can be had, the time and place of which sale being previously advertised
at the court house of the said county on three successive court-days
and convey the said lots to the purchasers in fee, subject to the condition of building on each a
dwelling-house sixteen feet square, with a brick or stone chimney, to be finished fit for
habitation within three years from the day of sale; and pay the money arising from the sale of
the said lots to the said John May and Simon Canton, or their legal representatives.
|
| III. The said trustees, or a majority of them, shall have power,
from time to time, to settle and determine all disputes concerning the bounds of the lots, and to
establish such rules for the regular building of houses thereon, as to them shall seem best and
most convenient.
|
| IV. In case of the death, removal out of the county, or other legal
disability, of any one or more of the said
|
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|---|
| trustees, it shall be lawful for the remaining trustees to elect others in their room;
and the persons so elected shall have the same power and authority as if particularly named in
this act.
|
| V. The purchasers of lots in the said town, so soon as they have
built upon and saved the same, according to the conditions of their respective deeds of
conveyance, shall then be entitled to, and have and enjoy, all the rights, privileges, and
immunities which the freeholders and inhabitants of other towns in this state, not incorporated,
hold and enjoy.
|
| VI. If the purchaser of any lot shall fail to build thereon within
the time before limited, the said trustees, or a majority of them, may thereupon enter into such
lot and sell the same again, and apply the money for the benefit of the inhabitants of the said
town.
|
CHAP. XCII.
|
| An
| act appointing commissioners to receive such proof, as may be
adduced by certain persons with respect to the destruction of their property in the borough of
Norfolk in the year 1776.
|
|
| [Passed the 3d of January, 1788.]
|
| I. WHEREAS by an act passed by the
general assembly in May, one thousand seven hundred and seventy seven, commissioners were
appointed to ascertain the losses sustained by the late inhabitants of the borough of Norfolk, by
the destruction of their houses, which said commissioners made a report of their proceedings to
the general assembly held in October, one thousand seven hundred and seventy eight: And
whereas the general assembly did, by a resolution passed at the last mentioned session,
direct that the claims of certain persons should be postponed for further proof, and it is
expedient that persons should be appointed to receive such proof:
|
Proof of destruction of property in Norfolk, in 1776, how
ascertained.
|
| | |
|---|
| II. BE it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, That
Miles King, George Booker, Samuel Griffin, Willis Riddick, John Howel Brigs, Edwin Gray, and
James Wilkinson, gentlemen, or any three of them, shall be, and they are hereby appointed,
commissioners to receive such proof as may be adduced in support of those claims which by the
resolution above recited were postponed for further proof. The said commissioners shall severally
take an oath before a magistrate well and faithfully to discharge the trust hereby reposed in
them, and shall have power to send for any papers or records, and to summon before them any
witnesses for their information. Every witness so summoned and attending the said commissioners,
shall receive the same allowance for his attendance as is settled by law for a witness attending
a court; to be paid by the party summoning such witness. Every witness failing to attend upon
such summons, shall forfeit to the party, at whose request he was summoned, the sum of ten
pounds, to be recovered by motion in the court of the county where such witness resides; provided
the said witness has ten days notice of such motion, and cannot when such motion is made make a
reasonable excuse for such non-attendance. The commissioners hereby appointed shall make a
report of their proceedings to the executive, to be laid before the general assembly at their
next meeting.
|
| III. Provided always, That no claim of any person or
persons whatsoever, which shall have been presented to, and rejected by, the general assembly at
any time heretofore, shall be admitted or allowed by the said commissioners.
|
| | |
|---|
| CHAP. XCIII.
|
| An
| act to authorise the court of Accomack county, to levy a sum
of money for the use of Charles Bagwell and the executors of Alexander Stockley.
|
|
| [Passed the 20th of November, 1787.]
|
| I. WHEREAS it has been represented to the present general assembly,
that in the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-two, Charles Bagwell and Alexander
Stockley were church-wardens of the parish of Accomack, in the county of Accomack; and that they
did, by virtue of an order from the said vestry, contract with a certain James Twiford to build a
church in the said parish; and whereas the said vestry did afterwards refuse to permit the said
church to be built, or to pay the said James Twiford for the materials which he had provided; in
consequence whereof, the said Twiford commenced a suit against the said Charles Bagwell and
Alexander Stockley, in the court of the said county, and hath recovered a judgment against them
for the sum of one hundred and twenty-five pounds current money, and nine hundred and sixty-five
pounds of tobacco, and fifteen shillings, for his costs; and it is just and right that the amount
of the said judgment should be refunded to them:
|
Court of Accomack authorised to levy money for Charles Bagwell
and exr. of Alexander Stockley.
|
| II. Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, That
the justices of the said county of Accomack shall, at the laying of their next county levy, levy
the said sum of one hundred, and twenty-five pounds current money, and nine hundred and
sixty-five pounds of tobacco, and fifteen shillings, upon the tithable persons of the said parish
of
Accomack, deducting therefrom the said Charles Bagwell's and Alexander Stockley's proportion of
the said levy. The said money shall be collected and accounted for in like manner as the
county-levy, and shall be paid to the said Charles Bagwell and the executors of the said
Alexander Stockley, in proportion to the sums that shall respectively be paid by them in
discharge of the judgment aforesaid.
|
| | |
|---|
| CHAP. XCIV.
|
| An
| act for forming a new county of the counties of Augusta,
Hardy, and Rockingham.
|
|
| [Passed the 4th of December, 1787.]
|
| I. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That from and
after the first day of May next, all those parts of the counties of Augusta, Hardy, and
Rockingham, within the following bounds, to wit: Beginning on the line of Rockingham county, on
the North mountain, opposite to Charles Wilson's on the South Fork, thence a straight line to the
Clay Lick on the North Fork, thence to the top of the Allegana, and along the same
and the east side of the Greenbrier-waters to the south west fountain of the South Branch, and
thence between the same and the waters of James-River, along the dividing ridge to the said North
mountain, and with the top of the same to the beginning, shall form one distinct county, and be
called and known by the name of Pendleton.
|
Pendleton county formed out of Augusta, Hardy, and Rockingham.
|
| II. A court for the said county of Pendleton shall be held by the
justices thereof on the first Monday in every month, after such county shall take place, in like
manner as is provided by law for other counties, and shall be by their commissions directed. And
the court of quarterly sessions for the said county of Pendleton, shall be held in the months of
April, June, September, and December, in every year.
|
| III. The justices to be named in the commission of the peace for
the said county of Pendleton, shall meet at the house of Zariah Stratton in the said county, upon
the first court-day after the said county shall take place, and having taken the oaths prescribed
by law, and administered the oath of 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 completed, to appoint any place for holding
|
| | |
|---|
| courts, as they shall think proper. Provided always, That the appointment of a
place for holding courts and of a clerk, shall not be made unless a majority of the justices of
the said county be present; where such majority shall have been prevented from attending by bad
weather, or their being at the time out of the county, in such case the appointment shall be
postponed until some court day when a majority shall be present.
|
| IV. 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 are by law appointed for other sheriffs.
|
| V. Provided also, and be it further enacted, That it shall
be lawful for the sheriffs of each of the said counties of Augusta, Hardy, and Rockingham, to
collect and make distress for any public dues and officers fees which shall remain unpaid by the
inhabitants thereof, at the time the said county shall take place, and shall be accountable for
the same in like manner as if this act had not been made.
|
| VI. And the courts of the said counties shall have jurisdiction of
all actions and suits which shall be depending before them at the time the said county of
Pendleton shall take place; and shall try and determine the same, and award execution thereon.
|
| VII. In all future elections of a senator, the said county of
Pendleton shall be of the same district as the county of Augusta.
|
CHAP. XCV.
An act for establishing an academy, and
incorporating the trustees thereof.
[Passed the 31st of
December 1787.]
|
| I. WHEREAS the inhabitants of the counties of Harrison, Monongalia,
Randolph, and Ohio, are, from their remote situation, deprived of the advantages arising
|
Randolph academy established and incorporated.
|
| | |
|---|
| from the establishment of the public seminaries within this state; and it is just and
reasonable that the one sixth of the fees of the surveyors of the said counties, which are now
applied towards the support of William and Mary college, should be applied to the establishment
of a public seminary within one of the said counties;
|
| II. Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, That
his excellency Edmund Randolph, Benjamin Harrison, Patrick Henry, Joseph Prentis, James Wood,
George Mason, George Nicholas, John Harvey, Thomas Matthews, William Ronald, Henry Banks, William
M'Clerry, John Evans, William John, Francis Worman, John Pearce Duvall, George Jackson, Benjamin
Wilson, Nicholas Carpenter, John Powers, Archibald Woods, Moses Chapline, Ebenezer Zane, David
Chambers, John Wilson, Jacob Westfall, junior, Robert Maxwell, and John Jackson, junior,
gentlemen, shall be, and they are hereby constituted a body politic and corporate, to be known by
the name of "The trustees of the Randolph academy," and by that name shall have perpetual
succession and a common seal.
|
| III. The said trustees shall hold their first session at
Morgan-town in Monongalia county, on the second Monday in May next; and they shall then, or as
soon after as conveniently may be, fix upon some healthy and convenient place within one of the
counties of Harrison, Monongalia, Randolph, or Ohio, for the purpose of erecting thereon the
necessary buildings for the said academy.
|
| IV. The before named trustees and their successors, by the name
aforesaid, shall be capable in law to purchase, receive, and to hold to them and their successors
forever, any lands, tenements, rents, goods, or chattels of what kind soever, which shall be
given or devised to, or purchased by them for the use of the said academy, and to sell and
dispose of the same in such manner as to them shall seem most conducive to the advantage of the
said academy; except such lands as shall be given to the said academy by this commonwealth, which
shall not be aliened without leave first obtained from the legislature.
|
| V. The trustees, by the name aforesaid, may sue and be sued, plead
and be impleaded, in any court of law or equity.
|
| | |
|---|
| VI. They shall have power from time to time to establish such
bye-laws, rules, and ordinances, not contrary to the constitution or laws of this commonwealth,
as they shall deem necessary for the government of the said academy.
|
| VII. The said trustees shall elect a president, treasurer, clerk,
and so many professors and masters as may be necessary.
|
| VIII. The president and other officers shall have fixed salaries
and continue in office during good behaviour, to be judged of by the trustees, and they shall be
ineligible as trustees so long as they continue in office. The said trustees shall hold two
stated sessions in every year at the said academy at such times as they shall think most
convenient; and in case a sufficient number do not attend to proceed to business, they may
adjourn to the next session, or to any shorter time.
|
| IX. In cases of emergency the chairman at the request of any of the
trustees shall call a meeting.
|
| X. Not less than seven of the said trustees shall constitute a
board to determine upon any matter relative to the establishment, government or support of the
said academy, or to the appointment of the officers and professors thereof, orthe
fixing their salaries; and no real estate belonging to the said academy shall be disposed of
unless eleven of the said trustees shall concur in opinion thereupon.
|
| XI. The treasurer shall receive all monies accruing to the said
academy and property delivered to his care, and pay or deliver the same to the order of the board
of trustees; and before he enters on the execution of the duties of his office shall give bond
and security for such sum as the trustees shall direct, payable to them and their successors, and
conditioned for the faithful discharge of the trust reposed in him; and that he will, when
required by the board of trustees, render to them a true account of all monies, goods, and
chattels received by him on account of, and for the use of, the said academy.
|
| XII. The trustees, the president, professors, and other officers
shall, before they enter on the execution of the duties of their office, take the oath of
fidelity to the commonwealth, and an oath that they will faithfully discharge the trust reposed
in them. The said
|
| | |
|---|
| oaths shall be administered to the said trustees in the courts of the counties
respectively in which they reside, and to the president, professors, and other officers, by the
chairman of the board of trustees.
|
| XIII. Upon the death, resignation or other legal disability of any
of the said trustees, or of the president or other officers of the said academy; or in case any
of the said officers shall be removed from office for any misconduct, the trustees shall, at
their next or any succeeding session, supply the vacancy occasioned thereby.
|
| XIV. The surveyors of the said counties of Monongalia, Harrison,
Randolph, and Ohio, shall not be accountable to the president and masters of William and Mary
College, for any part of the fees which shall accrue to them after the first day of January, in
the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight: And the bonds given by them for the yearly
payment of one-sixth part of their fees to the president and masters of the said college, shall
be, and are hereby declared to be null and void, so far as relates to the fees which shall become
due to them after the said first day of January, in the year last mentioned.
|
| XV. Each of the surveyors of the said counties shall, within one
month after he shall be required by the board of trustees, give bond with sufficient security in
a reasonable sum, for the yearly payment of one-sixth part of the fees which shall become due to
him after the said first day of January, to the said trustees; and in case any one of the said
surveyors shall fail or refuse to give such bond and security, he shall forfeit and pay to the
said trustees the sum of one hundred pounds, to be recovered by motion in the court of the county
of such surveyor, upon giving him ten days previous notice of such motion: And each of the said
surveyors shall annually forfeit and pay the like sum to the said trustees, to be recovered in
the same manner, until he shall give such bond and security.
|
| | |
|---|
| CHAP. XCVI.
|
| An
| act appropriating one sixth of the surveyors fees in the
Kentucky district, to the use of the Transylvania Seminary.
|
|
| [Passed December 13th, 1787.]
|
| I. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That the
one-sixth of the surveyors fees hereafter arising, within that part of this commonwealth, called
and known by the name of the Kentucky district, instead of being paid to the professors of
William and Mary College, shall be paid by the surveyors thereof, to the trustees of the
Transylvania Seminary, to be by them applied to the use of the said seminary, to be accounted for
by the surveyors within the said district, and recovered by the said trustees in like manner as
they were accounted for and recovered by the said professors: Any law, usage or custom to the
contrary thereof, notwithstanding.
|
One sixth of surveyors fees in Kentucky payable to Transylvania
seminary.
|
CHAP. XCVII.
|
| An
| act for regulating the rights of cities, towns, and boroughs,
and the jurisdiction of corporation courts.
|
|
| [Passed January 8th, 1788.]
|
| I. WHEREAS the accumulating, different and distinct offices of
power and authority in the same persons, has a tendency to introduce abuses, and to create an
improper and dangerous influence in a few individuals, contrary to the spirit and genius of
republican government, and naturally productive of oppression, and subversive of liberty: Be
it therefore enacted
|
Officers of corporation incapable of acting as justice, in the
county.
|
| | |
|---|
| by the General Assembly, That from and after the first day of March next, no
person being a member of any corporation court, court of hustings, or common-council of any city,
town or borough within this commonwealth, shall while a member of such corporation court, court
of hustings or common-council be capable of acting as a justice of any county court.
|
| II. And be it further enacted, That from and after the
said first day of March next, the respective corporation courts, or courts of hustings, of any
city, town or borough, shall have jurisdiction only in suits or controversies instituted between
the respective inhabitants or citizens of such city, town or borough, and between one or more of
the inhabitants or citizens of such city, town or borough, and any person or persons not an
inhabitant or inhabitants of this commonwealth, and in either case, only where the contract hath
been made, or the cause of action hath accrued within such city, town or borough; and in all such
suits and controversies, their respective jurisdictions shall not be limited to any particular
sum, but shall be co-extensive with the jurisdiction of the county courts.
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Jurisdiction of corporation courts limited.
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| III. Provided nevertheless, That nothing in this act
contained, shall be construed to prejudice or in any manner affect, any suit now pending, or
which may be instituted in any such corporation court, or court of hustings, before the said
first day of March next, nor to prejudice, or in any manner affect the charters of the city of
Williamsburg, and borough of Norfolk, or either of them.
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Proviso.
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| IV. And whereas it is contrary to the true principles of
representation, that a freehold estate in any particular place should enable the possessor to
vote in the elections of different and distinct places. Be it enacted, that in any
city, town or borough, which at any time hereafter, shall obtain and enjoy the privilege of
sending, in its own right, a representative to the house of delegates of this commonwealth, the
freeholders thereof shall be, and they are hereby declared incapable of voting in the election of
delegates for any county, in virtue or right of their respective estates within any such city,
town or borough.
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Right of suffrage in corporations.
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| V. And be it further enacted, That so much of any and
every law as is contrary to this act shall be, and is hereby repealed.
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Pages 644-674
