Disburssments and Receipts they give a true Account to the Vestry when by them required who are impowered by a former Branch of this Act to levy the same upon the Parish and by this to give the said Church-wardens a sufficient Discharge XVI Registers to be kept by the Ministers or Readers WHereas many Differences do frequently arise about the Age of Orphans and Inquiries are often made for persons imported into this Countrey and here deceased and no positive Certificates can be granted of the Age of one or Death of the other by reason no Registers have been kept which might by the Records there entered evidence the same Births Burials and Marriages to be recorded Be it therefore Enacted That the Minister or Reader of every Parish shall well truly and plainly Record all Births Burials or Marriages that shall happen within the precincts of that Parish in a Book to be provided by the Vestry for that purpose and if any Master of a Family or other person concerned shall omit the giving Notice to the said Minister or Reader of the day of the Birth Death The neglect to be fined or Marriage of any to him or them related the space of a Month such person for such his Neglect be Fined One hundred pounds of Tobacco and that the Ministers have for their Entry of such Birth Death or Marriage Three pounds of Tobacco and if they neglect Entering the same as aforesaid that they be Fined upon discovery made of the said Neglect Five hundred pounds of Tobacco to the use of the Parish XVII Licences for Marriage how to issue ANd whereas many times Licences are granted and the persons are married out of the Parishes which Licences have been usually granted by the Governours whose knowledg of persons cannot possibly extend over the whole Countrey Be it Enacted How Licences for Marriage are to be granted That henceforward all persons desiring Licences for Marriage shall first repair to the Clerk of the County Court and there give Bond with good Security that there is no lawful Cause to obstruct their said Marriage And that upon Receipt of such Bond the said Clerk shall write the Licence and Certify to the first in Commission for that County or such other whom it shall please the Governour to depute that he hath taken a Bond as aforesaid who by vertue thereof shall sign the said Licence and direct the same to the Ministers And to the end that the Legal Grant of the said Licence may be made evident and the Governour ascertained of his just Dues It is further Enacted That the said Clerk shall yearly in September Court return the Names of the parties Married and of the Security to the Secretarys Office there to be recorded Fees for Licences how to be levied And further That he deliver an account of the Fees due for the said Licences to the Sheriff or Collector of the County who is hereby required to collect the same with the Levies and to make payment thereof to the Governour and others to whom they are due And any Clerk making default in any of the premises to forfeit one Thousand pounds of Tobacco to the use of the Governour the Fees for the Licences to be as followeth viz. To the Governour Two hundred Pounds of Tobacco or Twenty Shillings Sterling To the Clerk for writing the Bond Licence Certificate and returning the same to the Office Fifty Pounds of Tobacco The Fees ascertained And to the Secretary for recording the same in the Office as aforesaid Forty Pounds of Tobacco and the Minister marrying with a Licence Two hundred Pounds of Tobacco or Twenty Shillings Sterling if by Banes Fifty Pounds of Tobacco or Five Shillings XVIII Provision for a Colledge WHereas the want of able and faithful Ministers in this Countrey deprives us of those great Blessings and Mercies that always attend upon the Service of God which want by reason of our great distance from our Native Countrey cannot in probability be always supplied from thence Be it Enacted That for the Advance of Learning Education of Youth Supply of the Ministry and Promotion of Piety A Colledge and Free-School there be Land taken up or purchased for a Colledge and Free School And that there be with as much speed as may be convenient Housing erected thereon for entertainment of Students and Scholars Whereas an ancient Practice of this Countrey Lands of persons Intestate hath contrary to Law and Reason ignorantly vested the Lands of persons intestate in the hands of Administrators of whom divers persons have purchased and hold their Lands by no other Titles than such Sales which can be of no validity against the Claim of the King whom no time can prescribe and to whom if an heir appear not the Land must of necessity devolve And if the King should at any time give express Order to an Escheator to make enquiry into the Titles we hold by the said Escheator cannot by vertue of his Office but find all such Lands for the King Which we Francis Morison and Thomas Ludwel who are at present Intrusted by his Majesties Treasurer to make composition of all Lands so escheated to his Majesty taking into our serious Consideration and out of our tender Care of many poor men who by the loss of Lands thus perhaps dearly purchased and honestly paid for and out of our sense of the many Inconveniences and great Damages would fall upon them by being ousted out of their Possessions by the severity of a too rigorous Escheator And that on the other side we might not seem to debar his Majesty of his just Riâ—es we have thought it convenient to propose a certain Rule for compositions of all Lands held by any pretended Right two years by which while the power is in our hands we shall proceed and if the Assembly think it a Favour we shall joyn with them making it our request to Major Norwood his Majesties Treasurer to get his Majesty to confine them that no succeeding Escheator may at his pleasure rigorously exceed these our moderate and reasonable Demands 1. We concede that any person haying been two years in possession of any Land that ought to have been vested in his Majesty by Escheat shall pay for his Composition but One Hundred Pounds of Tobacco for every fifty Acres besides the Fees for finding the Office and drawing the Conveyance 2. That every person having been so in possession two years as aforesaid shall have Eight Months time to Petition for and make their Composition But if they defer it longer and another sue for it and obtain it they can impute the Blame to nothing but their own Neglect 3. That where there is a Widow she shall enjoy the Land of her Husband during her life and be admitted in the first place to make her Composition for the Fee-simple in case she signifie her desire within the time aforesaid 4. That all Lands Escheated before the two years
prosecuted at the Charge of the County but most by those Counties where the Offenders dwelt or the Fact was committed for avoidance of which Charge it is probable that many Lewd Livers by a too favourable Censure escape their deserved Punishments Be it therefore Enacted by the Grand Assembly and the Authority thereof That where the person committed hath Estate sufficient to defray the Charge of his Prosecution the Publick or County shall not be charged but the whole paid out of the Delinquents Estate and the Publick and County only then liable to satisfie where no Estate or not sufficient can be found and discovered XIV A Dispensation for Lower Norfolk to ship their Tobacco a private Act. XV. An Act repealing the Acts of Encouragement WHereas the Prudence and Care of the Publick Good in former Assemblies thought fit for the Advance and Promotion of Trade Manufactures and Staple Commodities in the Countrey to grant out of the Publick certain Encouragements for Building of Vessels making of Silk Cloth c. By which means divers people being induced to put the same in practice have by their success made evident demonstrations how beneficial the same will be This Assembly in hopes that all People now convinced of the Profits accruing thereby will of their own accord vigorously prosecute those apparent profitable designs Have therefore for the ease of the Publick Taxes thought fit to Enact and by this Grand Assembly and the Authority thereof All Acts of Encouragement repealed except the Act releasing the Imposition of 2 s. per Hogshead to the Inhabitants rf this Collony it is Enacted That all Acts of Encouragment of Silk Building of Vessels or any other things else henceforth be generally and totally Repealed and Void except the Act for release of the Impost of two Shillings per Hogshead to Inhabitants of this Countrey adventuring in Vessels belonging properly and solely to Virginia-Owners according to the 134th Act of Assembly And moreover That the Act for not planting Mulberry-Trees which every one intending to make Silk now voluntarily propagate be also repealed and made void XVI An Act for Millers to Grind according to Tourne WHereas divers Owners and Keepers of Publick Mills in this Country do refuse to Grind Corn according to Tourne for the Reward and Toll already set and appointed by Act Be it enacted by this Present Grand Assembly and the authority thereof that what person soever Master Owner or Lessee of any Mill shall refuse to grind as aforesaid shall be fined and amerced One Thousand Pounds of Tobacco for every such offence And if the Miller so refusing be a servant he shall be punished at the discretion of the County-Court where the offence shall be committed and complained of unless the said servant can prove that what he did was done by order of the Master which Fine shall be recovered by any person injured by Action of Debt in the Court of that County where the offence was committed XVII An Act Including Sheep in the 77th Act. WHereas the seventy seventh Act concerning the Insufficiency of Fences prohibits any injury to be done to several sorts of Beasts and Cattle amongst which Sheep are not Included It is hereby enacted Sheep Comprehended in the Act concerning insufficiency of Fences that from henceforth Sheep shall be comprehended in the said Act and dammages recovered for any injuries done to them by vertue of the Act aforesaid as for other Cattle is there provided XVIII An Act Ascertaining Dammages upon Protested Bills of Exchange WHereas it appears that many Bills of Exchange drawn upon persons in England by people resident in this Country in confidence that the Goods by them sent might produce effects sufficient to satisfy them which expectation being frustated sometimes by the miscarrying of the Ship sometimes by not sail of the Goods or pretence thereof by the Parties on whom they were drawn causes the said Bills to be protested and by the great dammage of thirty per Cent. Dammages upon protested Bills of Exchange shall not exceed 15. per Cent. given by Act against the Party that charged them is found to tend too much to the detriment and prejudice of the Inhabitants of this Country It is therefore enacted by this Present Grand Assembly and the authority thereof that from henceforth the dammage upon Bills of Exchange protested shall not exceed fifteen per Cent. and that the former Act giving thirty per Cent. be hereby repealed and made void XIX An Act declaring that no Justice shall take Fee VVHereas there is an Act intended for the Relief of poor people that Causes not exceeding the value of twenty shillings sterl or two hundred pounds of Tobacco might be determined by a Justice of the Peace without further suit and whereas Complaint hath been made that some of the Justices have contrary to the good intent of the said Act exacted Fees from the Parties coming before them for Justice to a greater value then the thing sued for amounted to It is enacted by this Grand Assembly the Authority thereof that it shall not be lawful for any Justice of the Peace to receive of any person any Fees for any Cause or Matters brought before him or determined by him XX. An Act declaring what is meant by Seating of Land VVHereas there is in all Pattents a provisional Clause for Planting or Seating the Land therein granted within three years but never yet by any Law declared what was meant by that Clause Building a house and keeping a stock one whole year upon Land shall be accounted sufficient seating thereof nor what should be accounted sufficient Seating or Planting This Grand Assembly for the better explanation thereof have declared and enacted and by the authority thereof do enact and declare That building a house and keeping a stock one whole year upon the Land shall be accounted Seating and that clearing Planting and Tending an Acre of ground for one year shall be accounted Planting and that either of these shall be adjudged as a sufficient performance of the condition required by the Patent and that after such Planting or Seating the Land as aforesaid and continuance of paying the Quit-Rents no Land shall be adjudged to be deserted XXI An Act concerning Imperfect Pattents VVHereas the Honourable Thomas Ludwell Esquire hath Informed the Assembly that he finds in the Records many Patents for great parcels of Land for which there appears not any Rights upon Record of them extant upon which the Assembly taking the Premises into serious consideration and also the great trouble and prejudice that may ensue to divers honest Inhabitants of this Country in asserting their Titles though in truth never so good yet by these neglects of the Clerk rendered in strictness of Law altogether invalid for Remedy whereof the Governour Council and Burgesses of this Present Grand Assembly have enacted and it is by the authority thereof Enacted and Ordained that for preservation of all Present Tytles and
of the small Estate they have without diminution of the Principal which whether great or small always to be delivered to the Orphan at the years appointed by Law That all Cattle Horses and Sheep be returned in kind by the Guardian according to the age and number when as he received them Cattle Horses and Sheep shall be returned in kind and because several had before the first making of this Act Estates of Orphans in their hands which they kept for the male increase and giving the yearly Accompt of the augmentation or diminution of the Orphans Stock which by the carelessness or wickedness of the Guardians was usually consumed before they came to age and disputes thereupon arise in the several Courts how such persons should be proceeded with and Accounts of Orphans Estates how to be given them it is hereby declared That all persons possessed of Orphans-Stocks before the first making this act shall be bound to deliver to the Orphan when he comes to age such and so many of any kind as he was possest of when he gave his account to the next Orphans Court succeeding the Publication thereof That all Plate and Money be preserved and delivered in kind according to the weight and quantity Plate and Money shall be also returned in kind other Houshold-Stuff shall be appraised and sold that other Houshould Stuff and Lumber be apprized in Money and the value thereof paid by the Guardian to the Orphan when he comes to age in the Country Commodities at the price currant as it shall be worth at the time in the place where the Orphan Estate is managed That the Court take able and sufficient security for Orphans Estates and enquire yearly of the Security and if the Court see Cause to have it changed and called in and placed as the Court shall think fit the said Court to inquire also whether Orphans be kept maintained and educated according to their Estates and if they find any notorious defect to remove the Orphans to other Gaurdians and also for those that are bound Apprentices to change their Masters if they use them rigorously or neglect to teach them their Trades That no more be allowed to Guardians for Collecting of Debts due to any Estate than Ten in the Hundred Ten per Cent allow'd to Guardians for collecting Debts due to Orphans the usual allowance of Merchants to their Factors and Attorneys That Thirty Pounds of Tobacco per day be allowed to each Apprizer for Apprizement of any Estate if they will take it and no more Allowance for Appraisement and for Funeral Charges regulated That no allowance be made by the Court of excessive Funeral expences but that a Regulation thereof be made according to the proportion of the Estate and the quality of the person LXVII Orphans Land not to be Aliened BE it also Enacted for the future benefit of all Orphans That the several County Courts do take into their serious Consideration and Care that the Lands in their County belonging to any Orphan be not aliened sold or taken up as deserted Land by any persons during the minority of the Orphan and that the Guardians or Overseers of any Orphan do not Let Set or Farm out any Land belonging to any Orphan for longer Term than until the Orphan be of age and that an especial care be had that the Tenant shall improve the Plantation by planting an Orchard and building a good House and that the Tenant be bound to maintain good Fence about the Orchard and keep the House in sufficient repair Timber upon Orphans Land not to be wasted and the Houses to be kept in repair and leave it Tenantable at his surrender and that Provision be made in the Lease for preventing all waste of Timber or imploying it to any other use then the use of the Plantation LXVIII Grants of Land BE it hereby Enacted That any person or persons claiming Land as due by Importation of Servants shall first prove their Title or just Right before the Governour and Council How persons claiming Land by importation of Servants must prove their Title or produce Certificates from the County Courts to the Secretarys Office before any Survey be made or Grant admitted it being unreasonable that others furnished with Rights should be debarred by Pretence of a survey which in it self is no Title LXIX Deserted Lands BE it also Enacted No Deserted Land shall be taken up by Patent till after the term of Three Years without Order obtained of the Governour and Council That no Patent of Land shall hereafter pass upon pretence that the Land is deserted for want of planting within the time of Three years unless proof thereof be made before the Governour and Council and an Order obtained from them for the Patenting thereof neither shall the first Petitioner for any Deserted Land be denied of having the first Grant he making his Rights appear when he Petitions for the Land And whereas the former Act concerning Deserted Lands reserved to the first taker up his Rights to take up Land in an other Place It is here Enacted That in regard he hath had the benefits of his Rights held the Land in Possession might make use of the Timber without contradiction and yet neither pays the King any Rents nor suffers him to admit any new Tenant that the Rights as well as the Land shall be forfeiâ—ed and the Grantee made incapable of using any of them afterwards Provided That any Person having taken up Land deserted before the making of this Act in November 1652 shall not by Virtue of this Act be outed of Possession LXX Seating upon others Dividends WHereas divers Suits have risen about seating ignorantly upon other Mens Lands Any Person who has built upon Lands supposed his own but upon Survey prove to belong to another shall have the charge thereof allow'd by the right Owner for deciding the same Be it Enacted That if any Person whatsoever hath built or seated upon any Lands supposed his own but proving by a just Survey to belong to another the charge of such building seating or clearing shall by Twelve Men upon their Oaths be indifferently valued and the consideration by the said Twelve Men so adjudged shall be paid by the Owner of the Land to the first Seater that was at the charge but if that shall amount to more than the said Owner is willing to disburse then the said Twelve Men shall make a valuation of what the Land was worth before the Seating thereof Or else shall Purchase the Land Twelve Men upon Oath are to decide any Controversy arising thereupon which the Seator shall accordingly pay to the true Owner Provided always That no consideratien shall be allowed for building or clearing to any Person that shall obstinately persist after lawful warning given him to desist LXXI Not to shoot or range upon other Mens Lands WHereas the Rights and Interests of the Inhabitants are very
prizes shall be allowed for the Surveying of Lands if the parcel exceed Five hundred Acres but if under to be allowed One hundred pounds of Tobacco and for the same shall deliver an Exact Plot of each parcel Surveyed and Measured and if any Surveyor upon reasonable Demand shall refuse to Measure the Dividend for any person whatsoever for the Consideration and Satisfaction aforesaid such Surveyor shall be liable to the Censure of the Court in that County where he liveth and if any Surveyor shall be desired to go further from his place of Residence then he can return in one day such Surveyor shall have the Allowance of Thirty pounds of Tobacco per day for every days Absence from his Dwelling and if his passage cannot be but by Water then such persons as shall imploy him shall provide for his Transport out and home Provided no Pay to be received before the Plot delivered LXXVI Land to be plainly Marked and Bounded WHereas many contentious Suits do arise about Titles to Land occasioned much through the fraudulent and under-hand-dealing of Surveyors who frequently make sales of the Surveys by them made in the behalf of one person to another whereby often times he that had the first and justest Right is unjustly deprived of his Due for prevention whereof for the future Be it Enacted and ordained No Surveyor shall give a Plot of any Land Surveyed by him till Six Months after the drawing thereof That no Surveyor of Land shall give a Plot of any Land surveyed by him unto any person whatsoever until Six Months after such Plot is drawn according to its Survey and that all Land surveyed shall be at the surveying thereof plainly marked and Bounded for all persons to take notice of that none may by the Ignorance of the bounds intrench upon another Right and the persons offending either in giving out of Surveys contrary to this act or not sufficiently marking his Bounds to forfeit Five hundred Pounds of Tobacco for every Hundred Acres the Survey shall be given of to the use of the Country LXXVII What Fences shall be sufficient Fences shall be four foot and a half high otherwise no Damage to be allowed for trespass BE it also Enacted and Confirmed by this present Grand Assembly That every Planter shall make a sufficient Fence about his cleared ground at the least four Foot and a half high which if he shall be deficient in what trespass or damage soever he shall receive or sustain by Hogs Goats or Cattle shall be his own loss and detriment and also if it shall happen that any person shall hunt any of the said Horses Mares Hogs Goats or Cattle that shall so offend and do them harm he shall make satisfaction for any of them that shall be so hurt to the owners of them to be recovered in any Court of Justice within the Collony And it is further Enacted That where any Horses Mares Cattle or Hogs shall endamage any person for want of such Fence as aforesaid and the party damnifying do wilfully kill or otherwise hurt so as the Cattle Hogs Horses or Mares do die of such hurt whether by Dogs set upon them or otherwise in such case the owner of the ground shall not only be liable to satisfie the value of such Horses Mares Hogs or Cattle but by virtue of this Act be adjudged to satisfie double the value of such Horses Mares Hogs or Cattle so killed to the owners of them And further be it Enacted That where the Fence shall be adjudged sufficient Viz. Four foot and a half high and close down to the bottom that in case any Damage or Trespass be then done or committed to any person having such Fences by either Horses Mares Goats or any other Cattle whatsoever the owners of such Horses Mares c. shall be liable to make satisfaction for their Trespass and Damage to the person injured Satisfaction in case of Trespass in case the Fence be found by two honest men appointed by the next Commissioner to be sufficient LXXVIII Bounds of Lands to be every Four years renewed by the view of the Neighbour-hood WHereas many contentious Suits are dayly incited and stirred up about the bounds of Land for which no remedy yet hath been provided The 57th Act prohibiting Re-Surveys not applying the expected Remedies for if the Survey be just yet Surveyors being for the most part careless of seeing the Trees Marked or the owners never renewing them in a short time the Chops being grown up or the Trees fallen the bounds become as uncertain as at first And upon a new Survey the least variation of a Compass alters the scituation of the whole Neighbour-hood and deprives many persons of Houses Orchards and all to their infinite loss and trouble for prevention whereof Be it Enacted That within Twelve Months after this Act all the Inhabitants of every Neck and Tract of Land adjoyning shall go in procession and see the marked Trees of every mans Land in those Precincts to be renewed and the same Course to be taken once in every Four years by which means the Inconveniency of Clandestine Surveys will be taken away and the Bounds will be so generally known and the Marks so fresh that no alteration can be made afterwards And be it further Enacted Bounds being once settled by the consent of the Proprietors shall take off all Claim to future alteration thereof That the Bounds by the consent of the present Proprietors being once thus settled shall conclude the said Proprietors and all others claiming from or under any of them from any future alteration of their Bounds be there within the said Bounds more or less Lands than they pretend to and if it shall happen any difference to be at present that cannot be by the Neighbours themselves decided Be it further Enacted That two honest and able Surveyors shall in presence of the Neighbour-hood lay out the Land in Controversie and the Bounds laid out to be the certain Bounds and ever after to be renewed and continue so but the person causing the Difference to pay the Charge of the Survey it tending much more to the preservation of Friendship among Neighbours to have a present and final Decision of their differences while Men yet live that are acquainted with the first Surveys and while Land is yet at a low Value then it will be when time hath raced out all knowledg to the Bounds and added a great Value to the Land Be it Enacted further That each County Court shall appoint and order the Vestries of each Parish to divide the Parishes into so many Precincts as they shall think necessary for the Neigbours to joyn in and see each others Mark renewed and to appoint certain days between Easter and Whitsontide to go the said Processions and put this Act into effectual Execution Days to be appointed upon which Procession shall be made and in case the Court shall omit to make such
the said Commissioners for observance of the said Articles under their Hands and Seals and the like reciprocally taken from the Commissioners of Mary Land shall bind this Countrey and every Inhabitant thereof to a full performance in the said Act. And that no scruple may remain are fully agreed That Two Instruments of one Tenor made one to the Governour of Virginia the other to the Lieutenant General of Mary Land from the Governour of Carolina That the Inhabitants of that Province will truly observe the Articles agreed upon between the Governours of Virginia and Mary Land Mary-Land to concur in the Cessation shall be accepted and reputed a sufficient Engagement for the Conformity of that Province in the observance of that Act And if there should appear to the Commissioners any emergent occasion for any thing or things in the aforesaid Treaty Concluded and Agreed upon to be added or altered they are by this Act impowered to proceed therein as they in their discretions shall find the necessity of Affairs to require And the Governours Honour is hereby requested by his Honours Commission and Instructions to confirm the full Power and Authority unto them and to the intent that Notice may be given to the Honourable Lieutenant General of mary-Mary-Land of our Intentions to renew the Treaty the Governours Honour hereby requesting to send Message to the Lieutenant General of Mary-land to certifie to him that upon the 7th day of Dectember next or as soon after as Wind and Weather will permit the Commissioners of this Countrey will meet the Commissioners appointed for that Province at St. Maryes in Mary-Land to put in Execution the aforesaid act of Assembly by which means all Obstacles and Doubts will be taken away and the aforesaid Law receive a plenary and effectual Execution And it is further Enacted That the Governours Honour be requested so soon as possible after the Conclusion of the Treaty to publish and declare by his Honours Proclamation the full intent and tenor thereof to the several Counties of this Collony II. An Act shewing how Debts are to be paid the Cessation year WHereas it is apparent to all that the Establishment of a Cessation from Planting will certainly advance the Gains of the Merchant by giving him time to vend his Commodities And for that Consideration it might be justly expected that he should make some proportionate abatement in his Debts Yet this Assembly whose care it hath ever been to preserve the Rights and Properties of every Person free from the least violation have still continued the same entire and have only for the supply of peoples Necessities and enabling them to provide for their Subsistance in the Vacant year from Planting have Enacted and by the Governour Debts due the Cessation-year to be paid one half down Time to be allowed for the other half giving reasonable Security Council and Burgesses of this Grand Assembly and the Authority thereof Be it Enacted That for all Debts already Contracted to be paid this present year in Tobacco except publick Dues any Debtor paying one half of the said Debt in kind shall have liberty for the payment of the other half until the 10th of November 1668 giving reasonable Security if requested to pay the remaining half at the time aforesaid and in case the Creditor will not stay out that time but prosecute the Debtor for payment to be made sooner it shall be in the liberty and choice of the Debtor to make Tender of his Estate before the next Justice of Peace to legal valuation for Payment of the said Second Moiety Provided That if the said Debt be under Two Hogsheads of Tobacco it shall not be lawful for the Debtor to prejudice the Creditor by breaking a Hogshead of Tobacco and paying a Parcel thereof III. An Act for Valuation of Commodities for payment of Publick Dues BE it also further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid That all Publick Dues this year in regard of the Cessation and Cause that expectation of advancing the Value of Tobacco there be an abatement of the Sums formerly allowed And that all Publick and County Debts Ministers and Parish Dues Officers Fees Fines Quit Rents and all other Rates and Debts generally that shall be contracted and become due in the vacant year from Planting may be paid in the Countrey Commodities at the Rates here following Valuation of Commodities for payment of Publick Dues during the Cessation from Planting Viz. Wheat Garravances and English Pease per Bushell Forty pounds of Tobacco or Four Shillings Indian Corn shell'd Two Shillings or Twenty pounds of Tobacco Barley per Bushell Thirty five pounds of Tobacco or Three Shillings six pence Wound Silk per pound Two hundred pounds of Tobacco or Twenty Shillings Indian Pease of all sorts except Garravances per Bushell Thirty five pounds of Tobacco or Three Shillings six pence Oates per Bushell Thirty pounds of Tobacco or Three Shillings Provided That for prevention of Inconveniences that the Receiver is subject to if he have not Cask to carry his Grain it is further Enacted That the Debtor shall provide and pay the Grain in Cask and the Creditor to allow him Ten per Cent. as in case of Tobacco No rate is set upon Flax by reason of the uncertainty of the Quantity nor Beef not Pork because perishable but both these left to valuation according to Condition and Goodness IV. An Act for Rating of Ordinary Keepers Vide Act 3. Anno 1671 and Act 10. Anno 1676 7. V. An Act ascertaining Surveyors Fees VVHereas the Act concerning the Fees of Surveyors by reason of the low rates set therein which seems to have been first made above Twenty years since when Tobacco bore a greater value then can now be expected deters any Man of Parts Abilities or Integrity from exercising the said Functions in the faithful and well discharge whereof the peace and possession of the Inhabitants of this Countrey are so much concerned and yet for want of a Penalty therein expressed leaves a Liberty to every one to extort from the People what Sums they please Be it therefore Enacted by this present Grand Assembly and the Authority thereof That for encouragment of able Men in that Science to practice the same that the Fees limited in that Act be doubled viz. Fees formerly allowed to Surveyors doubled Forty pounds of Tobacco for measuring every Hundred Acres of Land if the whole Divident exceed not or amount to One thousand Acres but if under that Quantity then Four hundred pounds of Tobacco and for the same shall deliver an exact Plat of the Land Surveyed And if any Surveyor upon reasonable Demand Surveyors refusing to measure Land at the Rates herein appointed to be fined not being by Sickness or any other lawful Impediment hindred shall refuse to measure the Land of any Person whatsoever for the Consideration and Satisfaction aforesaid every such Surveyor shall be fined and pay for such his Refusal Four thousand
prevention of future Trouble That all Lands held by former Patents of which there is no Record extant or to which there are no Rights annexed in the Records until the date of this Present Assembly Fumer Patets shall remain firm and valid although no Record thereof be extant shall for ever be held valid and firm according to the claims of the several Patents those defects being found to have happened by the neglect of the Clerk in those times in not making present entry of the Rights delivered to them and the Casualty of of two several Fires whereby many of those Rights with other Papers were destroyed the Assembly hereby rendring Thanks to Mr. Secretary for his care of preventing future trouble All Patents shall for the future be composed with the Record be some they pass the Office and requesting him to continue it in not suffering any Patent hereafter to pass the Office before the Rights are entered and the Patent compared with the Record XXII An Act commanding Law-Books to be provided for each County VVHereas for the better Conformity of the Procedings of the Courts of this Country to the Laws of England it appears necessary that for the better direction therein all the former Statutes at large and those made since the beginning of the Raign of his most Sacred Majesty that now is and some other esteemed Books of Law be purchased It is therefore by this Grand Assembly and the authority thereof accordingly enacted that all the aforesaid Statute-Rooks and Daltons Justice of the Peace and Office of a Sheriff and Swainbournes Book of Wills and Testaments be sent for by Mr. Auditor and paid for out of the two shillings per Hogshead and the like Books to be sent for by some of the Commissioners of the County-Courts for the use of the Respective Counties and paid for out of the County-Levy XXIII An Act Imposing Fines on Refractory Persons VVHereas the Officers of the Militia have Complained that divers Refractory Persons have in Contempt of authority impowering them and to the ruine of all Military Discipline refused to appear upon the days of exercise and other times when required to attend upon publick service It is enacted by this Grand Assembly Such as refus to appear on the days appointed for the exercise of the Militia fined an hundred pounds of Tobacco that every person neglecting to appear shall for every such Neglect be amerced and fined one hundred pounds of Tobacco to be disposed of by the Militia for the use of the Regiment And that the Commanders return of such Fines to the Sheriffs of the Respective Counties shall be sufficient Warrant in case of the Parties denial of payment to levy the same by distress Provided that if before the laying of the Levy the Party Amerced do shew to his Commander such cause of his absence as by the Commander shall be adjudged reasonable then the Party to be excused and the Fine not returned XXIV An Act for the better explanation of the 16th Act in the Printed Book VVHereas the sixteenth Act for Sheriffs to take Bail was misinterpreted and some words left out It is Enacted that for prevention of Mistakes in Courts of Judicature a Copy be transcribed out of the Original for Correction of mistakes of the Printed Book which followeth Be it also hereby enacted That all Sheriffs shall take sufficient Bail of all persons Arrested with this condition to bring forth the Party Arrested or perform the award of the Court and if they shall neglect to take sufficient Bail of the Party arrested or otherwise consent to be the cause of his escape then the said Sheriff shall be lyable to pay the award of the Court himself Sheriffs neglecting to take Bail or consenting to the escape of the Prisoner shall pay the award of the Court shall be fined a 1000 l. of Tobacco if his consent to the escape be proved and shall also pay in case the Consent to the escape be proved one thousand pounds of Tobacco one half the Publick the other half to the Party grieved for his delay in recovering the Debt but if Bail be taken and the Party appears not to answer then Judgment shall be awarded against the Bail always provided that the Sheriff or Bail shall if he desire it have an Attachment against the Estate of the Party arrested and not appearing and further that if the Sheriff or Bail shall at the next Court to that which the arrest was made appear and bring forth the Body of the Party so arrested to answer the suit Then the Sheriff or Bail shall be acquitted from the Judgment past against them At a Grand Assembly held at JAMES CITY September 3. Anno 1667. I. An Act for Tobacco of Mary-land growth to be free from Duties WHereas there is an Order at present in force requiring that all Tobacco though of Mary-land growth shipped in Ships riding in any Harbour of Virginia should pay the Impost of two shillings per Hogshead and whereas at present the Inhabitants of the south-side of Virginia in Potomack River are inforced for their present necessity to lay out or Ship the greatest part of their Tobacco in Ships riding in the Government of Mary-land for which as is said they are to pay the like Duties of two shillings per Hogshead as is paid for Mary-land Tobacco shipped upon Ships riding in Virginia Be it Enacted by the Governour Council and Burgesses of this Present Grand Assembly and the authority thereof That for Relief of the said Inhabitants of Virginia who are otherwise likely to pay double Duties That no Tobaccoes of the growth of Mary-land though laden in Ships riding in any Harbour in Virginia shall be lyable to pay any Virginia Duties from the date of this Act until the first of October which shall be in the year of our Lord 1668. Nor after if the next Assembly find cause to continue it How long this Act shall continue in force and upon what conditions to be repealed Provided that if the Government of mary-Mary-land do lay Impost upon Virginia-Tobacco shipped in Ships riding in their Harbour then this Act to be absolutely Void and Null and all Tobacco of Mary-land growth laden a board any Ship in Virginia to pay Duties as formerly Provided also that if any person shall fraudulently send on board any Ship in Virginia Tobacccoes of the growth of Virginia and pretend the same to be of the growth of Mary-Land intending thereby to defraud the Country of their Dues he shall forfeit the Tobacco so laden and concealed II. An Act declaring that Baptism of Slaves doth not exempt them from Bondage WHereas some doubts have arisen whether Children that are Slaves by Birth by the Charity Piety of the Owners made partakers of the Blessed Sacrament of Baptism should by vertue of their Baptism be made free It is enacted declared by this Present Grand Assembly and the authority thereof that the
be borne and allowed by the Publick and for the lessening the charge heretofore brought for transporting provisions and the better and more sure providing the same Be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that each Souldier be allowed such Proportions of Corn and Meat as is set down in the before recited Law and that Collonel William Bird as undertaker in this Present Assembly do forthwith begin and all along continue from four months to four months Persons intrusted to make Provision for the Souldiers belonging to the Garisons to provide and furnish the provision and Corn for the Garrisons and Souldiers at the head of James River and deliver the same so convenient to the Garrisons as that the same may be conveniently secured and fetcht in by the Souldiers thereof without further charge to the Country Their Allowanâ—â— For which Provisions he the said Colonel William Bird shall be paid and allowed by the publick after the rate of two Thousand pounds of Tobacco and Cask per Annum for each Souldier at the said Fort and that Captain John Langhorn as Undertaker in this present Grand Assembly make like Provisions and delivery thereof for York River Fort and have like pay from the publick and that Robert Beverly as Undertaker in this present Grand Assembly make like Provisions and Delivery thereof for Rapahannack River Fort and have like pay from the publick and that the Rules in the former Law be observed for providing Provisions for Potomack Fort and because by Reason of the Poverty of this Countrey the number of Souldiers appointed for each Garrison at the Countreys charge is so few and that in all likelyhood there may be found emergent Occasion to Reinforce each Garrison with one or more Souldiers his Excellency is humbly Requested as he shall see cause from time to time to place in each Garrison such Number of his Majesties Foot-souldiers now in the Countrey as from time to time shall be thought fit and needful and for such Souldiers so placed their Allowance of Provisions shall be from time to time made and provided at the Countrys charges as is proportioned and allowed for the other all such Souldiers being furnished and supplyed with his Majesties Arms and Ammunition and provided with their own Bedding to be carryed to such Garrison at the charge of the countrey and to the end such Provisions as aforesaid may be always ready and at hand it is hereby Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that every Undertaker hereby and herein in this Act nominated do for the first four Months and for every other succeeding four Months provide and lay in for each Garrison five Months proportionable Allowance and also from time to time furnish such other quantities proportionable and for each such Supernumerary Souldier as shall be sent according to the time such Souldiers shall be continued there Five Months Provisions in each Garrison and as the said Undertakers shall from time to time receive Notice thereof and Direction for the same from each Respective Commander in chief for such Garrison as he hath Undertaken for and for such Provisions he shall be paid by the publick according to the Rates before mentioned Provided always and his Excellency is desired if he see cause to draw off ten of the Souldiers from each Garrison for the ease of the Country supplying the same with ten of his Majesties Souldiers at each Garrison and such ten to have the Horses Arms and Furniture of those that shall be withdrawn V. An Act for Cohabitation and Encouragement of Trade and Manufacture THis present General Assembly having taken into their serious consideration the great necessity usefulness and advantages of Cohabitation in this his Majesties Colony of Virginia and observing and foreseeing the great extremities his Majesties Subjects here must necessarily fall under by the present and continued Lowness of the price of Tobacco the only Commodity and Manufacture of this Countrey if the same be not by all prudential wayes and means prevented and considering that the building of Store-houses for the reception of all Merchandizes imported and receiving Securing and laying ready all Tobaccoes for exportation and for Sales and disposal of all Goods Merchandizes and Tobaccos imported or exported into or from this his Majesties Colony of Virginia will be one great means of advancement thereof do pray your Majesty that it may be Enacted and be it Enacted by the Kings most Excellent Majestie by and with the Consent of the General Assembly and it is hereby Enacted by the Authority aforesaid Fifty Acres of Land in each County shall be set apart to Erect Store-houses upon for the use of the said County that thereby within two Months next and imediatly after publication hereof in every respective County within this his Majesties Colony fifty Acres of Land purchased by the Feoffees of the several Counties at the rates herafter set down and measured about laid out and appointed for a Town for Store-houses c. for such County as is hereafter set down and Expressed that is to say Places in each County where the said Store-houses shall be built In Henrico County at Verina where the Court-house is In Charles-City County at Flower-de-hundred over against Swynyards In Surry County at Smiths Fort. In James-City County at James-City In Isle of Wight County at Pates-field at the parting of Pagan Creek In Nanzemund County at Collonel Dues Point alias Huffs-point In Warwick County at the mouth of Deep Creek on Mr. Mathew's Land In Elizabeth-City County on the West-side Hampton River on Mr. Thomas Jarvis his Plantation where he now lives In Lower Norfolk County on Nicholas Wise his Land on the Eastern Branch of Elizabeth River on the Entrance of the Branch In York County on Mrs. Redds Land where the Shipp Honours Store was including the Low Beach for Landing Wharfes c. and the Old field where Webber dwelt for Cohabitation In new Kent County at the Brick-house along the high Land in the old field from Marsh to Marsh In Glocester County at Tindalls Point on Tindalls Creek side on John Williams his Land In Middlesex County on the West-side of Ralph Wormleys Esquire his Creek against the Plantation where he now lives In Rappahannack County at Hobbs his hole In Stafford County at Peace point at the mouth of Aquia on the North-side In Westmorland County at Noming on the Land of Mr. William Hardridge In Accomack County at Colverts Neck on the North-west-side at the head of Anancock Creek In Northampton County at the North-side of Kings Creek beginning at the mouth and so along the Creek on the Land belonging to Mr. Secretarys Office In Lancaster County on the North-side Corotomen River against the place where the Ships ride on a point of Land belonging to Mr. Edward Carter about a quarter of a mile up the Creek which divides Mr. Thomas Chewnings and the Court-house In Northumberland County at Chickacony And Be it forther Enacted by the