of this volume. Also, County Court Act of March 17, 1785, sect. 46, as to the examining a married woman. Also Act of 22 March, 1786, for the admeasurement of dower. See also Act of 1795, on acknowledgment of feme covert; 2 Faust's Laws, p. 5. A writ of dower, a writ of right, Act of 1799, 2 Faust, 315. See also Pamphlet Laws of 1824, p. 24; of 1825, p. 20; of 1827, p. 72; of 1833, p. 36; of 1834, p. 16.

See the indexes to the

Dower; to obtain measurement of; see p. 385, 742. two preceding volumes. See Act of 1791, 1 Faust, 27. Act of 1795, 2 Faust, 5. Act of 1799, 2 Faust, 315. Act of 1824, p. 24. Act of 1825, p. 20. Act of 1827, p. 72. Act of 1833, p. 36. Act of 1834, p. 16. See also 1 Equity Reports, 110, 115; 2 Equity Reports, 471; 4 Equity Reports, 638. See the collected cases relating to dower in p. 736, of vol. 2 of this work.

Coins; p. 543, their weight and value. See on this subject, pages 72, 94, 162, 179, 563, of vol. 2 of this work. Also the note 708 to 711, in the same volume. Since that note was written, the following useful statements have appeared, which will add materially to the history of Coin and Currency in this State. See Condy Raguet's Financial Register of September 5, 1838, p. 156. Memoranda from Mr. Woodbury's Report on Exchanges, of May 28, 1838. Financial Register, vol. 2, No. 10, p. 156.

The American dollar contains 371 1-4 grains of pure silver, or 416 grains of standard silver.

The Spanish dollars are not all of the same weight. Those in circulation in 1829, were said by the director of the Mint to be worth on an average, 100 cents 3 mills.

'The Mexican dollars are said to be equal to the Spanish.

The Carolus dollars are the Spanish dollars coined prior to the year 1809, in the reign of Charles III and IV. They are said not, to be superior in weight and fineness to the Mexican.

The American eagle of the old coinage, previous to July 31st, 1834, contained 247 grains of pure gold.

The American eagle of the new coinage, contains 232 grains of pure gold. The British sovereign when coined, contains 113 18-1214 grains of pure gold, worth, according to our present Mint valuation, $4 87 7-120 dollars.

The Spanish doubloon should, according to the regulations which have nominally prevailed since the year 1722, contain 376 grains of pure gold, which would be at our present Mint valuation, worth $16 20. But according to assays made at the London and Philadelphia Mints previous to the year 1829, Spanish doubloons contained only from 360 to 362 4-10 grains of pure gold; this would make their average value at our Mint valuation about $15 56 3-4.

The patriot doubloons are said to be equal in fineness and in weight to the Spanish. The difference in the price of Spanish and Patriot doubloons, and of the different species of dollars, at New York and Philadelphi, is chiefly owing to difference in demand for them in foreign markets. In the price currents $4 44 4-9 are assumed as the par of exchange on England. This practice began when the Spanish pillar dollars were in circulation, and when the market value of gold compared with silver, was less than it is at present. The true par varied as the market value of gold varied, when compared with silver. It was estimated by Mr. Gallatin's writing in 1829, at 7 per cent. above the nominal par; by others, at 8 per cent.

Since the passage of the Act of 1834, for reforming the American gold coinage, the true par of exchange with England, estimating gold against gold, is about 9 7-10 above the nominal par.

The quotations of exchange on France, are so many francs and centimes, payable in France for a dollar paid here. According to the regulations of the French Mint, the silver franc should contain 69.453 troy grains of pure silver, equivalent to 18.708 cents in silver currency of the United States. The quantity of pure silver in an American dollar is equal to that in five francs, 34.534 centimes. But as foreign coins are not a legal tender in France, and as a seignorage of about 1 1-2 per cent. is charged on silver coinage at the French Mint, American dollars are said to bring, when sold as bullion in France, on an average not more than five francs 26.250 centimes. This is by some writers assumed as the par of exchange on France. Other writers assume five francs, 34 centimes as about par.

The quotations of exchange on Holland, are so many cents a guilder; on Hamburgh, so many cents a mark banco; and on Bremen, so many cents a rix dollar. The exact value of the guilder of Holland is 39.97 cents of United States silver currency; but 40 cents is assumed as the par of exchange. The mark banco of Hamburgh, is a money of account equal to 35.144 cents United States currency. The rix dollar of Bremen is a money of account, equal to 80 cents and a very small fraction of United States currency.

Gold coin is expensive from the wear and tear arising from its usage and employment as money. It is also subject to frauds by filing and by sweating, which is the subjecting it for a short time to the action of diluted aqua regia; also to the fraud indicated in the following paragraph copied from the Philadelphia National Gazette of September 20, 1838:

"The gold coin in circulation has now become so light that nearly half the sovereigns presented at the Bank of England are rejected as deficient in weight. By some experiments made at the Mint in July, 1833, it was found that the gold coinage of 1817 had lost in weight 8s. 10d. per cent.; that the coinage of 1821 had lost 9s. 1d. per cent.; that of 1825, 6s. 8d. per cent.; and that of 1829, 3s. 5 1-2d. per cent. This was the loss upon the sovereigns. The loss upon half

sovereigns was still greater. Upon the coinage of 1817, it was 16s. 4d. per cent.; in 1821, 13s. 10d. per cent.; 1825, 13s. 6 3-4d. per cent,; and 1829, 6s. 2d. per cent. The deficiency caused by the mere wear in circulation, is supposed to be much less than that which is produced by the fraudulent practice of sweating. This is done by shaking a number of sovereigns in a bag, a process by which a quantity of gold dust is obtained without defacing the coin. Upon whom the loss will ultimately fall, we do not know; nor do we see in what way it can be avoided. It appears to be an evil necessarily connected with a gold currency."

Our gold coin at the last coinage was regarded as 16 times the value of silver, and altered accordingly, to prevent its exportation. The proportion of 15 7-8, would have been something nearer the then proportional European value of the two metals. Gold coin ought to be taken after being weighed in scales adapted to the Mint bulk of an eagle and half-eagle. Such scales are in common use in Great Britain.

The preceding note, with the antecedent notes on the same subjects, furnish a body of information on the currency of South Carolina, that may aid present and future research.

Attachment Act-amended, p. 543. See Index to vol. 3, under this title. See Act of 1799, 2 Faust, 315; Act of 1831, p. 32.

Vacant Lands; mode and conditions of surveying them; pages 590, 706, 709. See Acts of 24th March and 12th October, 1785,; of March 22, 1786, and two Acts of March, 1787; Repealing Act of 1791, 1 Faust, 61 to 63.

I have made inquiry, but I cannot find any alteration made in the following instructions.

ΤΟ

Deputy Surveyor's Instructions.

1st. You shall not survey vacant land for any person who has not first obtained a warrant from the Commissioner of Locations of the District.

2d. In all your surveys, you are to measure the whole of the lines, unless prevented by such obstructions as may endanger health; the figure of which you are to express on the plat, in the most explanatory manner, blazing the lines, and making a sufficient number of stations on each line, marked on the out+ side

and corner tree or stake, at each angle

mentioning those

made by you, new, and those you find in the field, old; and no corner or station is to be inserted by you, unless seen or made by you; except such as are expressed on the bounding line in the authentic plat of the adjacent land: and that you verily believe them to be in the field; also, you are to insert in their proper places, all runs of water, roads, or other durable marks, which the line crosses; and all swamps, ponds, clear fields, and houses, if any there be, in the body of the tract, and the names of the persons claiming such lands, fields, or houses.

3d. All plats made out by you, are to be just and true in the quantity contained, figure, courses, stations, marks and boundaries, to the best of your knowledge: plats of 100 acres, or under, to be laid down by a scale of ten chains per inch; all above 100 acres, by a scale of twenty chains; which scale you are to lay down or mention on the margin of the plats-you are to put down on each line the course and distance-you are to date your surveys on the day they are finished; and not to certify surveys performed by any other person.

4th. The Commissioners of Locations have a right to direct such warrants to the Deputy Surveyors as the nature of the case may require; but the Deputy Surveyor is not bound to pay any obedience to any directions therein contained, which are repugnant to these instructions; and all warrants are to bear date the day they are delivered out of the location offices. Any warrants delivered to any of the Deputy Surveyors, without a date, or any other part blank, are to be immediately returned to the owners, to have the blank filled up in the office from which it issued, and bear date on that day. Any Deputy Surveyor filling up any part of a warrant which is, or may be, left blank by the Commissioner of Locations, is hereby declared guilty of a violation of these instructions, and shall, in consequence thereof, be dismissed from the office.

5th. Lands which have been heretofore surveyed, and remain elapsable in either of the location offices, or Surveyor General's office, are not to be surveyed a second time, until a certificate is obtained from the office (in which they then are) of their being elapsable, and a warrant obtained from the office in the district where the land lies: which warrant shall expressly mention the land on which it is to be laid out, and that it has been formerly surveyed, and for whom.

6th. You are not to encompass wholly, or in part, any heretofore surveyed lands, claimed by any other person or persons than those you are surveying

for.

7th. When you are called on to re-survey granted lands, the original grant is your sufficient warrant; but if the line or lines are party lines, and are boundaries to other tracts, then you are to summon all parties to attend with their plats and grants, and to have their joint concurrence in your going on with the survey-if any dissention should arise between the parties, you must not proceed without an order from the Judge of the Court of Common Pleas or Equity, directed to you for the express purpose; and, on receiving said order, you are to attend, first, to the course and marks of the prior grant; and should they differ from the course mentioned, you are to regulate your course by the stationed trees, and other marks, and fix the prior line thereby, (allowing what variation you find,) which will be the proper bounds of both tracts; but should the two tracts run in such a manner as to form an angle between, and the marks on each appear plain, corresponding with each plat, that angle will be vacant, and each tract will be limited by its own lines, notwithstanding the subsequent mentions the prior as a boundary. In re-surveys, when lines vary from their original course, you are (where the marks are wanting) to continue the same variation throughout, in such tracts as were bounded on all sides by vacant land at the time of the original survey; but where they have been bounded on different surveys, you are to allow, on each line, the variation of the lines of the tract on which the line bounded.

8th. When you are called on to survey lands, where the lines are entirely obliterated, then you are to have recourse to the boundaries, which, when fixed, will form the lines of said lands; but if the boundaries were vacant at the time of the original survey of said lands, then you are to have recourse to such lands as bound upon it, whose courses correspond with the lines of said tract, allowing such variation as appears to have proceeded from time. When that allowance is not sufficiently made, you will find the original line on your left hand in all cases, except where a variation happens which is occasioned by a bad instrument; but when the allowance is judiciously attended to, you will find your present course and the original line to agree.

9th. In all cases whatever, you are to administer the following oath to the chain carriers: "You, A B and C D, do solemnly swear, that you will well and faithfully execute the employment of chain carriers, without favor or affection: So help you God."

10th. Should any person wish you to survey lands for the purpose of obtaining a new grant for the same, you will be particular to mention in your certificate, that the land was formerly granted, and that the survey you then made was for the purpose of obtaining a new grant.

11th. You are not to survey any lands or marsh reserved for public purposes, nor cross in any of your surveys, any navigable river or creek.

12th. You will be particular, always, in making your lines; let there be no possibility of mistake hereafter---with a view to this, you will never run more than ten chains, at the extent, without leaving a station exactly on the line, observing never to mark it with the unless it be a corner post.

13th. In locating lands, you will observe the established principles laid down by the decisions of the Court of Appeals of this State.

14th. You will be particularly careful always to have the best of instruments. Touch your needle with the magnet at least once a year, and oftener if necessary; your staff should be furnished with a ball and socket. There is no excuse for a surveyor going into a field with a bad instrument.

15th. Your chain must be often inspected, and preserved entire.

16th. In plotting, great attention and nicety is required to ensure accuracy— your work must always close neatly-it must never be forced, but carefully revised and corrected. Sometimes, indeed, where great attention is not paid in the first instance, it will be necessary to return to the field, where errors most frequently originate.

17th. Sobriety and steadiness must be observed as well in respect to your men as to yourself, else there can be no reliance upon your work.

18th. In all surveys made by you, by order of Court, the plat you return must be laid down by a scale of ten chains to an inch, and to designate, by dotted lines, each separate tract, if more than one grant.

19th. No plat will be entered in the office for record, without at least one station on every line.

Pilotage. Commissioners of Pilotage; p. 597, 621. See titles "Pilots" and "Pilotage," in the index of the former volumes.

Laws of the State; a digest of them; p. 659 of this volume, directing a digest of them. See vol. 2, p. 602; vol, 3, p. 158, 785.

Marriage Contracts and Deeds, to be recorded in the Secretary of State's office, p. 656. This Act is so inaccurately printed in Grimke's Public Laws, p. 357, as to be very obscure. See amendatory Act of 1792, 1 Faust, 209; Act of 1795, 2 Faust, 95; of 1823, p. 35; of 1832, p. 53. The months mentioned in the Act of 1792, are not lunar months; 2 Treadw. 604. See also 1 Nott & McCord, 444. See pages 120, 137, 161, 733, of vol. 2. See South Carolina Law Journal, p. 358. The case of Wilson v. De Burt, in the Court of Appeals, I cannot find reported.

Vendues, p. 670. See p. 348. See post, the Act of March 27, 1787, sec. 15; also the Act of Feb. 20, 1788; also Pamphlet Laws, of 1809, p. 16; of 1815, p. 37: of 1823, p. 11; of 1829, p. 1.

Executions; sales under them; p. 710. See County Court Act, 17th March, 1785, sect. 11, 34, 35, 38; Act to regulate the payment and recovery of debts, 4th Nov. 1788; 1 Bay's Rep. 213; also, Circuit Court Act of 13th March, 1789.

See also, Act of May 29, 1744, sect. 1, relating to sales of goods made by malefactors committed to gaol.

Also, Act of 1791, 1 Faust, 39 to 42. Act of 1793, 1 Faust, 291. Act of 1799, 2 Faust, 314 to 319. Pamphlet Laws, 1815, p. 32 to 40. Act of 1823, Act of 1827, p. 64. Act of 1836, p. 46.

p. 51. Act of 1824, p. 23.

Beasts of Prey; p. 726. See indexes to the preceding volumes.

Confiscated Estates. As to tender made in 1780, see 1 Bay's Rep. 115, 176. When confiscation does not affect the widow, 1 Bay's Rep. 73; or the heir, 2 Bay, 20, 536.

As to sect. 12 of the Confiscation Act, (p. 520 of this vol.) declaring deeds to be fraudulent and void-it may be observed that the English statutes declaring deeds to be fraudulent and void, extend only to those persons who were intended to be protected by such deeds; 2 Bacon's Ab. 602.

The Acts in this volume relating to this subject, are the first Confiscation Act, March 28, 1778, p. 425; Feb. 26, 1782, page 516. Act of Feb. 26, 1782, p. 523. Act of March 16, 1783, p. 553; Act of March 16, 1783, p. 553; Act of March 17, 1783, p. 568. Act of March 26, 1784, p. 620. Act of March 26, 1784, p.