cutors, admistrators, or affigns, and every of them, whofe debts, fuits, demands, eftates, interefts, by fuch guileful and covinous devices and practices, as is aforefaid, fhall or might be in any wife disturbed, hindered, delayed or defrauded,) to be clearly and utterly void, any pretence, colour, feigned confideration, expreffing of ufe, or any other matter or thing to the contrary notwithstanding. And moreover, if a conveyance be of goods and chattels, and be not on confideration deemed valuable in law, it fhall be taken to be fraudulent within this Act, unless the fame be by will duly proved and recorded, or by deed in writing acknowledged or proved, if the fame deed include lands alfo, in such manner as conveyances of land are by law directed to be acknowledged or proved, or if it be of goods and chattels only, then acknowledged or proved by two witneffes in the General Court, or Court of the County, wherein one of the parties lives, within eight months after the execution thereof, or unless poffeffion fhall really and bona fide remain with the donee; and in like manner where any loan of goods and chattels fhall be pretended to have been made to any perfon with whom, or thofe claiming under him, poffeffion fhall have remained by the fpace of five years without demand made, and purfued by due procefs at law on the part of the pretended lender, or where any refervation or limitation fhall be pretended to have been made of a ufe or property, by way of condition, reverfion, remainder, or otherwife, in goods and chattels, the poffeffion whereof fhall have remained in another as aforefaid, the fame fhall be taken as to the creditors and purchafers of the perfons aforefaid, fo remaining in poffeffion, to be fraudulent within this Act, and that the abfolute property is with the poffeffion, unless fuch loan, refervation, or limitation of ufe or property, were declared by will or by deed, in writing proved, and recorded as aforefaid. III. THIS A&t fhall not extend to any eftate or intereft in any lands, goods, or chattels, or any rents, common, or profit out of the fame, which fhall be upon good confideration, and bona fide, lawfully conveyed or affured to any perfon or perfons, bodies politic or corporate. IV. THIS A&t fhall commence and be in force, from and after the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven. I. CHAP. XI. An Act to prevent the Circulation of private Bank Notes. [Paffed the 2d of December, 1785.+] IB perfond offer in payment, a private bank bill or note for money, paya E it enacted by the General Affembly, That it fhall not be lawful for any ble to bearer; and whofoever fhall offend herein, fhall not only forfeit to the informer ten times the value of the fum mentioned in fuch bill or note, but may be apprehended by warrant of a juftice, and, upon due proof of the fact made to him, or upon his own acknowledgment thereof, be bound to the good behaviour, or if he afterwards offend in the like manner, it shall be deemed a breach of the condition of the recognizance. II. THIS A&t fhall commence and be in force, from and after the first day of January, one thousand feven hundred and eighty-feven. When they must leave I. the state; CHAP. XII. An At concerning Aliens. [Paffed the 3d of December, 1785.1] E it enacted by the General Assembly, That in cafe that war arife betwixt the United States of America and any foreign State, the merchants and people of fuch State, their families, agents, and fervants, found in this Commonwealth, at the beginning of the war, fhall not be attached either in their body or goods because of fuch war, but fhall be warned by Proclamation from the Governor, taking thereon the advice of the Council of State, that they fhall depart the Commonwealth with their families, agents, and fervants, aforesaid, and their goods, freely within forty days after the Proclamation made and pub* Vide post, pa. 165, † 1785, chap. 70. 11785, chap. 81. lifhed. In the meantime they fhall not be impeached, nor let of their paffage, or of making their profit of the fame merchandizes, if they will fell them. And in cafe that for default of wind or of fhip, or for ficknefs, or for other evident caufe, they cannot depart the Commonwealth within fo fhort a time, then they shall have other forty days, or so much more as the neceffity of their affairs may require, and the Governor and Council may think it fafe to allow, and in the mean time may fell their merchandize as afore is faid. and how they fhall be treated in cafe of wir with the ftate of which they are citizens II. BUT if before their departure credible intelligence fhall be brought to the Governor, that the merchants or people of any of the United States be evil treated in the land making war against us, then they fhall be attached, without harm of body or goods, until the truth of the matter be certainly known unto the Governor and Council of State: And if the merchants and people of the United States be well treated there, theirs fhall be likewife with us: And if otherwife, theirs shall be treated or demeaned within the Commonwealth, in the manner, form, and condition as the merchants or people of the United States be treated or demeaned in the land making war against us. III. THIS A&t fhall commence and be in force, from and after the first day Commencement of this of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven. CHAP. XIII. An AB providing that wrongful Alienations of Lands fhall be void fo far as they be wrongful. [Paffed the 5th of December, 1795.+] I. DE it enacted by the General Assembly, That all alienations and warranties of lands, tenements, and hereditaments, made by any, purporting to país or affure a greater right or eftate than fuch perfon may lawfully pafs or affare, fhall operate as alienations or warranties of fo much of the right and eftate in fuch lands, tenements, or hereditaments, as fuch perfon might lawfully convey; but fhall not pafs or bar the refidue of the said right or eftate purported to be conveyed or affured. II. BUT if the deed of the alienor doth mention that he and his heirs be bound to warranty, and if any heritage defcend to the demandant of the fide of the alienor, then he shall be barred for the value of the heritage that is to him defcended. And if in time after any heritage descend to him by the faid alienor, then shall the tenant recover against him of the feizin warranted, by judicial writ, that fhall iffue out of the rolls of the Juftices, before whom the plea was pleaded, to re-fummon his warranty, as before hath been done in cafes where the warrantor cometh into the Court, faying, that nothing defcended from him by whofe deed he is vouched. act. Alienations and warranties of land thall pass only what the perfon might lawfully convey; How far the heirs shall be barred, or bound to recompence the tenant where they have affets. act. III. THIS A&t hall commence and be in force, from and after the first day Commencement of this of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven. I. 1. FOR CHAP. XIV. An Act directing what Prisoners fhall be let to Bail.‡ [Paffed the 5th of December, 1785.] OR afcertaining in what cafes perfons apprehended on fufpicion of felony What prifoners fhall be bly, That thofe fhall be let to bail who are apprehended for any crime not punish- IV. THIS A&t fhall commence and be in force, from and after the first day 1785, ch. 92. and who fhall not. Penalty on Juftices for bail, or for refufing it admitting prifoners to improperly. Commencement of this act. An Act declaring that none ball be condemned without Trial, and that Juftice fhall not be fold or deferred. No freeman to be de- I. Juftice not to be fold, act. BE [Paffed the 5th of December, 1795.+] E it enacted by the General Affembly, That no freeman shall be taken or Dimprifoned, or be diffeized of his freehold, or liberties or free cuftoms, or be outlawed or exiled, or any otherwise destroyed, nor fhall the Commonwealth pafs upon him, nor condemn him, but by lawful judgment of his Peers, or by the laws of the land. Juftice or right fhall not be fold, denied, or deferred to any man. II. THIS A& fhall commence and be in force from and after the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty seven. CHAP. XVI. An Act concerning Eftrays. [Paffed the 12th of December, 1785.1] Method of taking up 1. fon, by himself or his agent, to take up any Eftray on his own land, and E it enacted by the General Affembly, That it fhall be lawful for any per. and appraising estrays, of advertising them. When the property fhall be vested in the perfon taking them up. having taken it, he, or his agent, fhall forthwith give information thereof to fome Juftice of the Peace for the faid County, who fhall thereupon iffue his warrant to three difinterested freeholders of the neighbourhood, commanding them, having been first duly fworn, to view and appraife fuch Eftray, and certify the valuation under their hands, together with a particular defcription of the kind, marks, brand, ftature, colour, and age; which certificate fhall by the Juftice be tranfmitted to the Clerk of the County Court within twenty days, and by fuch Clerk entered in a book to be kept for that purpose, for which he may demand and take ten pounds of tobacco, to be paid down by the taker up. II. THE Clerk fhall moreover caufe a copy of every fuch certificate to be publicly affixed at the door of his Court-house, on two feveral Court-days next after he receive the fame, for which, and a certificate thereof, he shall receive the like fee as for entering the fame in the book. III. IF the valuation thall be under twenty fhillings, and no owner fhall appear until notice fhall have been twice publifhed, as aforefaid, the property fhall then be vested in the owner of the land, on which fuch Eftray was taken; and if the valuation fhall exceed twenty fhillings, fuch owner fhall, within three months after the appraisement, fend to the Public Printer a copy of the certificate, to be advertised three times in the Virginia Gazette, with notice of the place where fuch Eftray is, for which the Printer may demand four shillings for each Eftray; and if no owner appears to claim fuch Eftray within a year and a Referving the right of day after the publication, the property fhall from thenceforth be vested in the the former proprietor to owner of the lands whereon it was taken. But the former owner, in either cafe, the value. may at any time, within five years afterwards, upon proving his property, demand and recover the valuation money, deducting therefrom the Clerk's and Printer's fees, and five fhillings for every horfe or head of neat cattle, and one fhilling for every other beaft. Boats or other veffels in the fame manner. Provifo in cafe of the IV. IF any perfon fhall take up a boat or other veffel adrift, he shall in adrift, taken up, to be like manner make application to a Juftice of one of the adjacent Counties, for appraised and advertised his warrant, to have the fame valued and defcribed by her kind, burthen and built, and fhall proceed in all other refpects, and have the fame benefit as before death or lofs of the directed in the cafe of Eftrays. Provided always, That if after notice published eftray. as aforefaid, any Eftray fhall happen to die, or by any cafualty get out of the poffeffion of the perfon who took the fame up, without his or her default, fuch taker up fhall not be anfwerable for the fame, or for the valuation thereof, nor fhall any taker up be anfwerable for any boat or other veffel loft as aforesaid. Commencement of this La. V. THIS act fhall commence and be in force from and after the first day of January, one thoufand feven hundred and eighty-feven. CHAP. XVII. An A concerning Election of Members of General Affembly. 1. BE it enacted by the General Alfembly, That the Delegates for the feveral When to be elected, Counties, and the City of Williamsburg and Borough of Norfolk, and the fix Senators for one of the four claffes of Districts, in the room of those who will annually be difplaced, fhall be chofen, in the manner hereafter directed, in the month of April in every year, on the Court days of each refpective County When and where to or Corporation, and shall meet together, and with the remaining Senators, on meet in General Affem. the third Monday of October then next following, in General Affembly, at the bly. place the last preceding General Affembly fhall have fat in, or adjourned to, un- See acts of 1793, chap. lefs fuch place be in poffeffion of a public enemy, or infected with the plague 20. ch. 9. or small-pox, in which cafe they fhall meet at fuch other place as the Gover- Alfo, acts of 1796, nor, with the advice of the Council, fhall appoint, and notify by Procla mation. II. EVERY male Citizen (other than free Negroes or Mulattoes) of this Commonwealth, aged twenty-one years, or fuch as have refused to give affurance of fidelity to the Commonwealth, being poffeffed, or whofe tenant for years, at will, or at fufferance, is poffeffed of twenty-five acres of land, with a house, the superficial content of the foundation whereof is twelve feet square, or equal to that quantity, and a plantation thereon, or fifty acres of unimproved land, or a lot or part of a lot of land in a City or Town established by Act of General Affembly, with a house thereon, of the like fuperficial content or quan tity, having in fuch land an estate of freehold at the leaft, and, unless the title shall have come to him by defcent, devife, marriage or marriage-fettlement, having been fo poffeffed fix months, and no other perfon fhall be qualified to vote for Delegates to ferve in General Affembly, for the County, City, or Borough refpectively, in which the land lieth. If the fifty acres of land being one entire parcel, lie in feveral Counties, the holder fhall vote in that County wherein the greater part of the land lieth only; and if the twenty-five acres of land, being one entire parcel, be in feveral Counties, the holder fhall vote in that County wherein the house standeth only. In right of land holden by parceners, joint-tenants, or tenants in common, but one vote fhall be given by all the holders capable of voting, who fhall be prefent, and agree to vote for the fame Candidate or Candidates, unless the quantity of land, in cafe partition had been made thereof, be fufficient to entitle every holder prefent to vote feparately, or unless fome one or more of the holders may lawfully vote in right of another eftate or ef tates in the fame County, in which cafe the others may vote, if holding folely, they might have voted. Who qualified to vote as electors, III. EVERY perfon having fuch a freehold in the City of Williamsburg Who may vote as elecor Borough of Norfolk, as will qualify him to vote for Delegates to reprefent the tors in Williamsburg de County, and alfo every freeman, except as before excepted, aged twenty-one years, being a Citizen of the Commonwealth, and not having refused to give affurance of fidelity, who fhall be a housekeeper, and fhall have refided for fix months in the faid City or Borough, and thall be poffeffed of a vifible estate of the value of fifty pounds at leaft, or shall actually have served as an apprentice to fome trade within the faid City or Borough for the term of five years, and fhall have obtained a certificate of fuch fervice from the Court of Huftings, under the common feal of the City or Borough, and no other, fhall be qualified to vote for a Delegate to reprefent the faid City or Borough, refpectively, in Ge. neral Affembly. IV. EVERY perfon qualified as aforefaid to vote for Delegates, fhall be Who may be elected. capable of being elected a Delegate for the County, City, or Borough, or Sena tor for the District in which he refides. V. NO perfon, who fhall have ferved as a Member of the Legiflature No perfon compellible for feven years in the whole, fhall be afterwards compellable to ferve to ferve more than feven therein. years. VI. ANY Elector qualified according to this A&t, failing to attend any Penalty on electors fail annual election of Delegates or of a Senator, and, if a poll be taken, to give, ing to attend and vote. or offer to give his vote, fhall pay one fourth of his portion of all fuch levies and taxes as fhall be affeffed and levied in his County the enfuing year: And +1785, ch. 57. See ch. 39, poft. By acts of 1798, ch. 14, elections to be held the 4th Wednesday in April. for difcovering fuch defaulters, the Sheriff or other officer taking the poll, hall within ten days after the faid election, deliver to the Clerk of the County, or Corporation Court, as the cafe may be, a copy of the poll by him taken, to be kept in his office, who fhall fuffer any candidate or elector to take a copy thereof; and the faid Clerk is hereby directed to caufe a copy of the fame to be delivered to the next Grand Jury, to be fworn for the County or Corporation, who fhall be charged by the prefiding Magiftrate, to make prefentment of all fuch perfons qualified to vote, refiding in the faid County or Corporation, who fhall have failed to have given their votes at the faid election agreeable to law. And for the better information of the faid Jury, the Sheriff of the County is hereby commanded, under the penalty of fifty pounds, to be recovered and appropriated as the penalties for other neglects of his duty, to lay before them a int or all the landholders refident therein. VII. EVERY Elector, going to, abiding at, and returning from an election, shall be privileged from arrefts one day for every twenty miles he shall neceflarily travel, exclufive of the day of election; and any process againft such Elector, executed during fuch privilege, fhall be void. VIII. UPON the election of a Senator, and alfo of a Delegate, or Delegates, when the election of fuch Delegate, or Delegates, cannot be determined by view, the Sheriff, or in his abfence, the under Sheriff of the County, or the Mayor of the City or Borough, fhall in prefence of the, candidates, or their agents, caufe the poll to be taken in the Court-houfe; or if that be in a Town infected with any contagious disease, or be in danger of an attack from a public enemy, at fome other place according to thefe directions: He fhall appoint fuch, and fo many writers as he shall think fit, who shall refpectively take an oath, to be adminiftered by him, or make folemn affirmation that they will take the poll faithfully and impartially: He fhall deliver a poll-book to each writer, who by ruling lines thereon, having made as many columns as there fhall be candidates, fhall enter the name of each candidate in a distinct column at the head thereof, and under his name in the fame column, the name of every elector, who fhall vote for that candidate; and after the names of all the electors who will give their votes (Proclamation having been made three times at the door of the Court-houfe, or other place of holding fuch election, by the officer requiring those who had not been polled, to come in and give their votes) shall have been thus entered, he fhall conclude the poll, and declare the candidates for whom the greatest number of votes fhall appear to have been given to be elected; or if the greatest number of votes for feveral candidates fhall be equal with one another, he may declare which of the candidates he will elect. If the number of votes for feveral perfons to be a Senator be equal, and the votes of the returning officers be equal alfo, it fhall be decided by a lot taken by the faid returning officers at their meeting, which fhall be within twenty days after the last day of election, at fuch place as fhall be appointed by the returning of ficer of the firft County in which fuch election fhall be, who is hereby commanded forthwith to give notice to the returning officers. No elector fhall be admitted to poll a fecond time, at one and the fame election, although at the first time he fhall have given but a fingle vote. If the electors who appear, be fo numerous that they cannot all be polled before fun-fetting; or if by rain or rife of water courfes, many of the electors may have been hindered from attending, the Sheriff, or under Sheriff, may, by request of any one, or more of the candidates, or their agents, adjourn the proceeding on the poll until the next day, and fo from day to day for four days, (Sundays excluded) if the fame cause continue, giving public notice thereof by Proclamation at the door of the Court-houfe, or other place of holding fuch elections, and fhall on the laft day of the election conclude the poll according to the directions aforefaid. IX. ON complaint to either Houfe of Affembly of an undue election, or return of any Member to their Houfe, fuch Houfe fhall forthwith appoint fome day for trying the fame, as fhortly as fhall be confiftent with fair enquiry, but not within lets than fourteen days after fuch complaint lodged, whereof notice fhall be given by the Speaker to the party against whom the complaint is, if he be abfent; which day of trial may be lengthened from time to time, on good caufe fhewn to the Houfe, and notice to the abfent party. On the day ap pointed for the trial, the Committee of Privileges and Elections fhall proceed on the faid difputed election, and report to the House of which they are Mem bers, their opinion thereon, before they proceed to any other bufinefs, and the § By acts of 1799, ch. 17, in cafe of death of fheriff, or his being a candidate, a magiftrate to act as fheriff at elections. |