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1845; and all subsequent elections shall be holden every second year thereafter, on the first Wednesday in April. The said elections shall be conducted in the same manner and under the like restrictions and regulations, as are or shall be provided by law in respect to the election of general officers in this

state.

SEC. 6. The votes given on such elections shall be returned to the general assembly at their next May session; and those given in each district shall be by them separately counted, and the candidate having the highest number of legal votes therein, shall be declared elected, and shall be furnished by the governor with a proper certificate thereof; provided, such candidate have a majority of the legal votes given at such election. But, if no person have such majority in each district, the general assembly shall order a new election at such time as they shall deem most expedient; and the votes given in such election shall be returned to, examined and counted by the general assembly or by the governor, at such time as the general assembly shall direct; and the candidate in each district, having a plurality of the whole number of legal votes given at such second election, shall be declared duly elected, and shall receive a certificate accordingly.

SEC. 7. Whenever a writ of election shall issue to supply any vacancy which shall happen in the representation of this state in congress, as contemplated in the second section of the first article of the constitution of the United States, the votes shall be returned and counted as is herein after provided, in case of electors of president and vice-president of the United States.

SEC. 8. The people of this state qualified by law to vote in the election of general officers, shall choose so many electors for the election of a president and vice-president of the United States as the state is or shall be entitled to; the said election of electors shall be holden in the several towns on the first Monday in November, in every fourth year next after the election of president and vice-president of the United States which was had in the year 1840, and the several candidates having a plurality of the legal votes given in at such election shall be electors; the votes so given in shall be returned to the governor within five days after such election, who shall, in the presence of the secretary, count and examine the same and give notice to the electors of their election; and if, by reason of the votes being equally divided among any of the candidates or otherwise, there shall not be an election of the number of electors to which the state may

be entitled, the governor shall forthwith convene the general assembly, in East-Greenwich, in the county of Kent, for choosing electors to fill such vacancies; in such cases the election by the general assembly shall be in grand committee and not in separate houses.

SEC. 9. Electors which may be appointed pursuant to this act, shall meet at Bristol, in the county of Bristol, there to vote for a president and vice-president of the United States, agreeably to the act of congress.

SEC. 10. If any electors, chosen as aforesaid, shall after their said election decline the said office, or be prevented by any cause from serving therein, the other electors, when met at Bristol, in pursuance of this act, shall fill such vacancies, and shall file a certificate in the secretary's office, of the person or persons by them appointed.

An Act in relation to Sheriffs, Deputy Sheriffs and Jailers.

SECTION

1. Sheriff to be annually elected for each county-be sworn-give bond.

2. Member of assembly not eligible as sheriff, &c.

3. Sheriff may appoint deputies-depu-
tation to be recorded-deputy to be
sworn and give bond-sheriff (except
Providence) may appoint jailer-jailer
to be sworn-give bond.

4. Form of oath-may revoke deputation.
5. May appoint special deputy on back
of writ-deputy to be sworn.
6. Sheriff liable for default of deputy,
&c.-party injured may sue sheriff or
deputy.

7. To attend general assembly and courts.
8. Penalty for refusing or neglecting to
serve process.

9. May command aid-penalty on person refusing to obey.

10. Deputy and jailer may act after the death of sheriff-their neglects to be a breach of sheriff's bond-sheriff may officiate until successor is qualified.

11. Sheriffs to distribute the schedules,
&c.

12. To attend, with deputies annual com-
mencement of Brown University.
13. Courts may remove deputies or jailers.
14. Execution against sheriff--how served.
15. Prisoner dying, body may be delivered
to his friends, if requested-otherwise
buried by jailer.

16. Dead body not liable to be seized by

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19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

cessors.

Jailers to enter in a book, the names,
commitments and discharge of crimi-
nals.

Jailers to report to general treasurer
annually, the names, &c., of crim-
inals also list of notes, &c.
Certain buildings declared to be the
jail for the county of Providence.
Warden of state prison to be keeper of
the jail in said county-to give bond
as keeper-sheriff to be keeper in
case, &c.

Judgment, how rendered in case of
suit on bond required in section 22.
Keeper of jail in county of Providence
to receive and safely keep all persons
committed-forms of process may be
varied, &c.

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process.

SECTION

29. To receive and keep prisoners while being transferred from one county to another.

SECTION

30. Unoccupied cells in state prison, in certain cases, to be used and deemed part of jail.

It is enacted by the General Assembly, as follows:

SECTION 1. There shall be annually appointed by the general assembly one sheriff for each county; every person who shall be elected to the office of sheriff shall, at the time of his election, be an inhabitant of the county for which he shall be elected, and shall, previous to his entering on the duties of his office, take the oath herein after prescribed, and give bond with two sufficient sureties to the general treasurer, in the sum of fifteen thousand dollars, for the due and faithful execution of his office, according to law.

SEC. 2. No member of the general assembly shall be eligible to the office of sheriff or deputy sheriff; nor shall any sheriff, deputy sheriff or jailer be eligible as a member of the general assembly.

SEC. 3. Each sheriff is hereby authorized to appoint as many deputies, being inhabitants of the county, as he shall deem necessary for his assistance in the due performance of the duties of his office. The appointment of every deputy shall be in writing, under the hand and seal of the sheriff, and shall be recorded in a book to be kept for that purpose in the office of the clerk of the court of common pleas in the county for which he is appointed or lodged, to be so recorded, previous to his entering on the duties of his office. Every deputy shall take the oath herein after prescribed, and give bond with sufficient sureties to the sheriff appointing him, in a sum not less than three thousand dollars, nor more than twelve thousand dollars, for the faithful execution of his office, according to law. Each sheriff, excepting the sheriff of the county of Providence, shall be authorized to appoint a jailer or keeper of the prison in his county, who shall take the oath herein after prescribed, and shall also give bond in the same manner and for the same sum that deputy sheriffs are by this act required to; and the appointing of said jailer shall be in like manner under the hand and seal of the sheriff, and recorded as aforesaid.

SEC. 4. The oath of office for all sheriffs, for the deputy sheriffs and jailers, shall be in form following, to wit: I

do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute all lawful processes issued under the authority of the state of Rhode-Island and Providence Plantations, and to me directed and delivered, and true returns make; and in all

things well and truly, and without malice or partiality, perform the duties of the office of sheriff of the county of

(or, deputy sheriff or jailer, as the case may be) during my continuance in said office, and take my lawful fees only; and I do further solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the constitution and laws of said state, and the constitution of the United States; so help me God-(or, this affirmation I make and give upon peril of the penalty of perjury:) and sheriffs shall have the power of revoking any deputation by them given, provided such revocation be entered in the book for recording deputations as aforesaid.

SEC. 5. Every sheriff shall be authorized to appoint a special deputy for the service of any writ or process to him directed; provided the same be done upon the back of such writ or process, and such deputy be sworn before any judge, justice of the peace or notary public, duly and faithfully to execute said writ or process, and the same be certified by said judge, justice or notary under such deputation.

SEC. 6. Every sheriff shall be responsible and accountable for any neglect or misfeasance in office of his deputies or jailer and in all cases where any person shall be entitled to an action for any neglect or misfeasance in office of any deputy sheriff or jailer, he shall have his election to bring the same either against the sheriff appointing him or against such deputy or jailer.

SEC. 7. It shall be the duty of the sheriffs to attend the general assembly, and also the supreme court and the courts of common pleas, when holden in their several counties.

SEC. 8. If any sheriff, deputy sheriff, town sergeant or constable, shall neglect or refuse to serve any process issuing from lawful authority, directed to him to serve and execute, having, in all civil causes, paid or tendered unto him his legal fees (if he demand the same) for serving and executing such process, every such sheriff, deputy sheriff, town sergeant or constable, shall forfeit and pay to the party aggrieved such damages as he may have sustained by such neglect or refusal.

SEC. 9. Every sheriff, deputy sheriff, town sergeant, constable or jailer, in the due execution of his office, is hereby empowered to command all necessary aid and assistance in the execution of his said office; and if any person when so required shall refuse or neglect to give such aid and assistance, he shall forfeit and pay as a fine to, and for the use of the state, a sum not exceeding twenty dollars, to be recovered by indictment before any court of competent jurisdiction.

SEC. 10. In case of the death of any sheriff, his deputy

or deputies and jailer shall continue in office, unless removed as herein provided, and shall execute the same in the name of the deceased, until another sheriff shall be appointed and sworn, and have given bond as before prescribed; and the neglect or misfeasance of such deputies and jailer in the mean time, as well as before, shall be a breach of the condition of the bond given as before directed by the sheriff who appointed them; and the executors or administrators of such deceased sheriff shall have the like remedy for the defaults and misfeasances in office of such deputy or deputies and jailer, during such interval as the deceased sheriff would have been entitled to if he had continued in life and in the exercise of his office until his successor was appointed and duly qualified; and every sheriff whose office shall become vacant by resignation or removal into any other county, shall have power notwithstanding to officiate as such, until his successor shall be duly qualified to act; and his deputies and jailer shall also have power to exercise their respective offices during such period.

SEC. 11. It shall be the duty of the sheriffs to furnish the general assembly, when sitting in their respective counties, with copies of the laws and other proceedings of the general assembly, which shall from time to time be transmitted to them as by law provided; and also to deliver commissions, proclamations, schedules and all other public acts, to the persons to whom directed in their respective counties: and they shall be allowed for delivering said commissions, proclamations, schedules and other public acts, the sums herein specified, annually, to wit: the sheriff of Newport, twelve dollars; the sheriff of Providence, twenty-five dollars; the sheriff of Washington, fifteen dollars; the sheriff of Bristol, six dollars; the sheriff of Kent, ten dollars.

SEC. 12. It shall be the duty of the sheriff of the county of Providence, with so many of his deputies as may be necessary, (at least four,) to attend the celebration of the annual commencement of Brown University, and to preserve peace and good order and decorum during the same.

SEC. 13. The supreme court and the court of common pleas in their respective counties on complaint, to them made, shall be authorized to remove any deputy sheriff or jailer for misdemeanor in office.

SEC. 14. When judgment shall be rendered against any person holding the office of sheriff, the execution issued thereon shall be directed to the sheriff (or his deputies) of some other county, who is hereby authorized, within the county of

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