A. D. 1736. to become due by virtue of this Act, on the proper estate of such attorney or trustee. XXXIV. And be it also enacted by the authority aforesaid, That in case Land, &c. of ab- any tract or tracts of land, negroes, or any other taxable property, shall be sent owners,for found by the inquirers or collectors to belong to any person or persons livwhich taxes are ing or residing out of the limits of this State, and who have no attorney or not paid in two years, declared attornies, trustee or trustees, legally constituted, in this State, or which forfeit. have not been returned to any of the inquirers, assessors or collectors appointed by this Act, then and in such case the inquirers, assessors or collectors shall be, and they are hereby, authorized and required to charge the said lands, negroes, or any other taxable property, for the payment of the tax herein imposed, and for all taxes due by virtue of any former tax Act, rateably and proportionably, according to the quantity and quality of the lands, negroes, and other taxable property, as if the same were in the actual possession of some person or persons living and residing in this State, and forthwith to publish and give notice of such their charge and assessment in the several Gazettes of this State; and in case the sum or sums of money with which such lands, negroes or any other taxable property shall be so charged as aforesaid, and the lawful interest from time to time of the assessment made, shall not be paid to the inquirers, assessors and collectors, or to the commissioners of the treasury of this State, within one year next after notice shall be given as aforesaid, that then such lands, negroes, or any other taxable property, shall be forfeited to this State, and shall be sold at public vendue by the commissioners of the treasury for the time being, for ready money; and all the money arising therefrom shall be retained in the public treasury, to be disposed of as the General Assembly shall see fit; any law, usage or custom to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding: Provided always, that nothing in this Act contained shall extend to prejudice the rights of infants or femme coverts, who shall be entitled to their lands, negroes, or other taxable property, upon claiming the same within two years after they come of age, or become discoverts, upon their paying and discharging all taxes and arrears of taxes that shall and may be due and unpaid thereon, and satisfying the lessee of such lands for all improvements made thereon. Proviso. debt. XXXV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the Appropriation commissioners of the treasury be, and they are hereby, authorised and for the foreign required to appropriate one fifth part of all monies that shall be received into the treasury, and pay the same from time to time into the hands of the agent appointed to remit the interest of the foreign debt of this State, to the respective creditors, in proportion, until such interest is fully paid and discharged. Assessors to make return of confiscated lands. XXXVI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the assessors and collectors, in the several parishes and districts of this State, are hereby required, by the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred eighty-seven, to make a return to the commissioners of forfeited estates of all lands under confiscation, situate in their respective districts and parishes. ESTIMATE Of the supplies wanted for the support of Government, for the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-six. The interest of the public debt of this State for the year 1786, this and the State of Georgia, ten thousand dollars, The commissioners to be appointed at the Federal Court, in the dispute between 1000 00 00 200 00 00 1000 00 00 1000 00 00 83184 00 00 2333 06 08 £90,917 06 08 In the Senate House, the twenty-second day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-six, and in the tenth year of the Independence of the United States of America. JOHN LLOYD, President of the Senate. JOHN FAUCHEREAUD GRIMKE, AN ACT for incorporating the Society for the Relief of the Widows and No. 1313. Orphans of the Clergy of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of South Carolina. (Passed March 22, 1786. See last volume.) A. D. 1786. No. 1314. AN ACT TO AUTHORISE Preamble. THE COMMISSIONERS OF THE TREASURY TO ASSIGN OVER THE SUM OF FOUR HUNDRED AND SIXTY-TWO POUNDS SEVENTEEN SHILLINGS AND SEVEN PENCE, OUT OF THE BONDS PAYABLE IN SPECIE, OF THE ESTATE OF Gideon DupONT, JUNIOR, SOLD BY THE COMMISSIONERS OF CONFISCATED ESTATES. WHEREAS, Josias Dupree, late of London, in the kingdom of Great Britain, did bequeath unto Jane Villepontoux a certain legacy; and whereas, it fully appears that Gideon Dupont, Jr. had the same in trust for the use of the said Jane Villepontoux, together with other moneys, amounting in the whole to four hundred and sixty-two pounds seventeen shillings and seven pence sterling; and whereas, the said Gideon Dupont having acted inimical to the liberties of the United States, the Legislature, at Jacksonburgh, did, by an Act passed the 26th February, 1782, confiscate the estate of the said Gideon Dupont, Jr., and the commissioners therein appointed have since disposed of all the estate of the said Gideon Dupont, Jr., by which the said Jane Villepontoux has no means of remedy but by the Legislature; therefore, I. Be it enacted, by the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives, now met and sitting in General Assembly, and by the authority of Commissioners the same, That the treasurers of the State are hereby authorised and to assign over directed to assign over to the said Jane Villepontoux the sum of four ey to Jane hundred and sixty-two pounds seventeen shillings and seven pence sterling, Villepontoux. out of such bonds as are payable in specie that are lodged in the treasury for the payment of the debts of said Gideon Dupont, Jr. a sum of mon In the Senate House, the twenty-second day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand JOHN LLOYD, President of the Senate. No. 1315. AN ACT for giving to the Magistrates of the County Courts the several powers and authorities of the Commissioners of the High Roads; and to repeal the seventh clause and the proviso of the eighth clause of an Act entitled "An Act for keeping in repair the several high roads and bridges within this State, and for laying out the several new roads and ferries therein mentioned," passed the twenty-second day of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-five. (Passed March 22, 1786. See last volume.) No. 1316. AN ACT to establish a Company for the Inland Navigation from Santee to Cooper River. (Passed March 22, 1786. See last volume.) AN ACT TO SECURE THE CREDIT OF BILLS OF EXCHANGE. A. D. 1786. No. 1317. WHEREAS, it is necessary, for the advancement of commerce, to se- Preamble. cure the credit of bills of exchange: to carry inter est. I. Be it therefore enacted, by the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives, now met and sitting in General Assembly, and by the Protested bills authority of the same, That where any bill of exchange is or shall be drawn for the payment of any sum of money, for value received, and such bill shall be protested for non-acceptance or non-payment, the same shall carry interest from the time such bill shall become due and payable, after the rate of seven per cent. per annum, until the money therein drawn for, together with damages and costs, be fully satisfied and paid. prose- recovered. II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful for any person or persons having a right to demand any Suits may be sum of money upon a protested bill of exchange, to commence and brought and cute an action for principal, damages and interest, against the drawers or endorsers jointly, or against either of them separately, and judgment shall be given for such principal, damages and interest as aforesaid; and all creditors on protested bills of exchange, where the drawers or endorsers shall be dead, shall be upon an equality with bond creditors; any law, usage, or custom, to the contrary notwithstanding. III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all bills of exchange drawn upon persons resident within the United States, and Damages on out of this State, and shall be returned protested, the damages of such protested bills. protested bills shall be ten per cent. on the sum drawn for; and all bills in like manner drawn upon persons resident in any other part of North America, or within any of the West India islands, and protested, the damages shall be twelve and a half per cent.; and all bills drawn on persons resident in any other part of the world, being protested, the damages shall be fifteen per cent. on the sum mentioned in such bills respectively, and all charges incidental thereto, with lawful interest as aforesaid, until the same be paid. IV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That in any action which hath or shall be commenced for the recovery of any bill of Jury to find a verdict with exchange, or any debt due and made payable in any other country, wherein difference of the plaintiff shall recover, the jury shall have power to find a verdict with exchange. such difference of exchange as shall be just and agreeable to the true difference of exchange; any law, usage, or custom, to the contrary notwithstanding. In the Senate House, the twenty-second day of March, in the year of our Lord one thou A. D. 1786. No. 1318. AN ACT FOR THE MORE EASY AND EXPEDITIOUS OBTAINING THE ADMEA Preamble. Former act repealed. SUREMENT OF DOWER TO WIDOWS, OF THE LANDS OF WHICH THEIR DECEASED HUSBANDS WERE SEIZED IN FEE AT ANY TIME DURING THEIR MARRIAGE. WHEREAS, an Act of the General Assembly of this State entitled "An Act for the more easy and expeditious obtaining the admeasurement of dower to widows, of the lands of their deceased husbands," passed the thirteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven, hath been found by experience to be very defective in many instances: I. Be it therefore enacted, by the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives, now met and sitting in General Assembly, and by the authority of the same, That the said Act shall be, and it is hereby, repealed and made null and void, to all intents and purposes. II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That from and Mode of obtain- after the passing of this Act, it shall and may be lawful for any woman ing dower. who is entitled to dower or thirds in the lands of which her deceased husband was seized in fee at any time during their marriage, to apply by petition to the judges of the court of common pleas, setting forth fully and particularly her right or claim thereto, and praying a writ of admeasurement thereof, to be directed to certain persons, who shall be appointed for that purpose; that immediately thereupon, any one of the judges of the said court shall cause a summons to be issued and directed to the heir at law of the deceased, (if of full age,) or to his or her guardian, if he or she shall be an infant, and if there be no guardian, then to the executor or administrator of the deceased, or to any other person or persons who may be in the possession of any of the said lands, commanding him, her, or them, to appear at the next court of common pleas to be held in the district where the lands are situated, that shall be held ten days after the service of the summons abovementioned, and show cause why the prayer of the petition should not be granted; that on the return of the summons, if the heir at law or his or her guardian, (if he or she be an infant,) or any other person or persons who may be in possession of the said lands, shall appear, and shall not show sufficient cause against the petition, then the said court shall cause a writ for admeasurement of dower to be issued and directed to five persons, two of whom shall be nominated by each of thte said parties, and a fifth by the court, commanding them, or a majority of them, within one [month] thereafter, (being first duly sworn for that purpose,) fairly, justly, and impartially, according to the best of their judgment, to admeasure and mete out to the said petitioner, and put her in full and peaceable possession of, one-third part of all the lands of her deceased husband; and when they have so done, they, or a majority of them, shall immediately return a general plat of the said lands, with a certificate thereon in writing under their hands and seals, describing the manner in which they have made the admeasurement aforesaid, into the clerk's office of the said court, there to be recorded, and the same shall be final and conclusive on all parties concerned therein: provided always, that the said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall have power, and they are hereby authorized and required, in the admeasurement aforesaid, to have relation and regard to the true and real value of the lands in question; and where the same cannot, in the opinion of a majority of them, be fairly and equally divided, Proviso. |