duty of three cents per ton, for the support of a harbour-master for the port of Mobile.

act was

ATTACHMENTS.-An passed in relation to attachments. BASTARDS, LEGITIMATION OF, &c. If the father of any bastard children shall file, in open court, in the county in which he resides, a declaration in writing, setting forth the names of the children, their ages, the name of their mother, that they are his natural children, that he thereby recognises them and makes them capable of inheriting his estate in the same manner as if they had been born in lawful wedlock, the declaration being signed by him, and attested and recorded by the clerk, such children shall become legiti. mate, and capable of inheriting the estate of their father.

NAMES, CHANGE OF.-If any person shall desire to change his name, he shall file in the county or circuit court a declaration in writing, setting forth his name and the name to which he desires to change it; which declaration shall be signed by him, and attested and recorded by the clerk; whereupon the latter name shall become the lawful name of such person. But such person shall, notwithstanding, be liable for five years, to be sued by his original name, unless when a contract in writing shall be made with him subsequently to his change of name, in which his latter name shall be recognised, or to which it shall be subscribed.

BILLS OF EXCHANGE.-Hereafter, upon all bills of exchange drawn by any person in this state, and paya. ble at any place within this state, or in New Orleans, which may be purchased or discounted by the bank of the state of Alabama, and which may be protested for non

acceptance or non-payment, the damages shall be five per cent.

BONDS.-Bonds and other instruments payable in bank shall be governed by the rules of the law. merchant, as to days of grace, demands and notice, in the same manner that bills of exchange and notes payable in bank now are.

An act was passed to provide for taking a census of the state in the year 1833.

CHILDREN.-Courts of chancery shall have power in all cases of separation between man and wife; and where neither party shall obtain a divorce, to give the custody and education of the children to either the father or mother, as to them may seem right and proper, having regard to the prudence and ability of the parents, and the age and sex of the child or children.

COMMISSIONERS.--The governor of this state is authorized to appoint commissioners in each of the other states of the Union, to take depositions and acknowledgments of deeds of real and personal property, lying and being in this state; such commissioners may also receive the proof of all wills and testaments, bequeathing any property within this state, which shall be executed without this state; copies of such wills and testaments are to be admitted to probate, when proof of the same shall have been duly certified by the commissioner, under his hand and seal.

CONSTABLES.-Hereafter, "whenever any property is taken by a constable, by virtue of an execution issued by a justice of the peace, and the defendant in execution or other person for him, shall give bond and security, in double the amount of the plaintiffs' demand, including all costs, for the forthcoming of said

property on the day of sale, the constable shall permit the property to remain in possession of such person until the day of sale; and in case such property is not forthcoming, agreeably to the condition of such bond, the constable shall endorse on such bond, forfeited, and return the same, together with the execution, to the justice; such bond, so endorsed, shall have the force of a judgment, and the justice shall issue execution thereon against all the obligors in said bond, and shall endorse thereon, no security of any kind is to be taken on this execution; and the constable to whom the same may be delivered shall act accordingly.

An act was passed prescribing the duties of coroners; the jury of inquest is to consist of six householders.

Whenever any sheriff, deputy sheriff, or coroners, shall execute a capias upon any person charged by indictment or presentment, with an offence against the laws of this state, and wherein bail before a justice of the peace, by law, is allowed to be taken, such sheriff, &c. shall be authorized to take the recognisance, for the appearance of such person at court.

ELECTORS. In all elections of president and vice president of the United States, where the whole number of electors shall not attend at the place appointed for giving in their votes, it shall be the duty of those in attendance, before they proceed to vote, to appoint so many additional electors as may be ab

sent.

ESTATES, SETTLEMENT OF.-In all settlements hereafter to be made by executors, administrators or guardians, with the orphans' court, in which the judges of said court may have been employed as counsel,

or may be otherwise interested in such settlement, it shall be the duty of said judge to give immediate information of the fact to one of the judges of the supreme or circuit courts, who shall thereupon issue a commission to three persons of the proper county, directing and empowering them to make said settlement. In case of the neglect or refusal of the judge of the orphans' court to give such information, then the judge of the supreme or circuit court shall, on the application of the executor, &c., or other person interested in such settlement, direct said commission in the same manner as on information of said judge of the orphans' court.

An act was passed to prevent fraud in the sale of oil and sugar.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY.-No member of the general assembly of the state shall be elected to any office of honour, trust or profit, during the time for which he is elected, which office is filled by a joint vote of the two houses of the general assembly. No member shall become security for any person, upon any note to be offered at the bank of the state of Alabama, or any of its branches.

GOVERNOR.-The governor shall reside at or in the vicinity of the seat of government.

JAILORS.--Whenever any slave shall be committed to jail during inclement weather, or shall remain in jail until the weather shall become inclement, the jailor shall furnish such slave with two good blankets, for which he shall be paid by the owner, before the slave shall be released from custody.

MEDICINE.-The 2d and 8th sections of the act of 1823, regulating the licensing of physicians, shall not be so construed as to prevent any person from practising medicine on the botanical system of Dr. Samuel

Thompson, and recovering reasonable compensation for the same; provided, that if the said persons practising on the Thompsonian or botanical system shall bleed, apply a blister of Spanish flies, administer calomel or any of the mecurial preparations, antimony, arsenic, tartar emetic, opium or laudanum, they shall be liable to the penalties of the act aforesaid.

Pedlers and hawkers are required to pay $50 for their licenses. All notes, bonds, or promises made to any hawker or pedler for wares sold shall be void, unless the party selling the same shall have first procured a license to sell.

PROPERTY EXEMPT FROM EXECU TION.-The following articles shall be retained for the use of every family in this state, exempt from levy and sale under any execution or other legal process: two beds and furniture, two cows and calves, two spinning wheels, two axes, two hoes, five hundred weight of meat, one hundred bushels of corn, all the meal that may at any time be on hand, two ploughs, one table, one pot, one oven, two water vessels, two pair of cotton cards, all books, one churn, three chairs, one work horse, mule, or pair of work oxen, one horse or ox cart, one gun, all tools or implements of trade, and twenty head of hogs.

An act was passed to simplify scire facias in criminal cases.

SLAVES. The first eight sections, and the twentieth and twenty-first sections of the act of January, 1832, for preventing the introduction of slaves into the state, were repealed. Vide last vol. p. 268.

USURY. It shall not be lawful for the obligor or maker of any bond or note, on which suit may hereafter be brought, to establish the fact of

usury by his own oath, where the obligee or payee shall have deceased.

Where the borrower of any sum of money, or other thing alleged to be on usurious consideration, shall have died before the trial of any suit in which the plea of usury may, can, or shall be filed, the legal representative or representatives of such borrower shall be entitled to the benefit of the fourth section of the act to regulate the rate of interest, passed in December, 1819, upon making affidavit that he believes the contract sued on to be usurious; but this section shall have no effect where the lender shall have died. If any person, against whom such evidence is offered to be given, will deny, upon oath, to be administered in open court, the truth of what such witness offers to swear against him, then such evidence shall not be admitted; if any witness or party shall forswear himself, in any such matter, he shall suffer the penalties by law inflicted on persons convicted of perjury.

WILLS.-When the validity of any will shall be contested in any county court, it shall be the duty of the judge, at the request of either party, to cause jurors to be summoned for the trial of such contest.

ACADEMIES.-Four academies were incorporated.

INSURANCE COMPANIES.-Two insurances were incorporated.

MANUFACTURING COMPANY.-An act was passed to incorporate the bell factory, with a capital of $100,000.

RAIL ROAD.-An act was passed to incorporate the Daletown, Woodville and Greensborough rail road company; its capital is not to exceed $1,000,000.

NEW CONSTITUTION-1832.-A convention was held this year to amend the constitution of the state, and P. Rutilius R. Pray was ap pointed president. The amended constitution is too long for insertion in this volume. Among the amendments were the following: The town of Jackson is agreed upon as the permanent seat of government until the year 1850. The right of suffrage is extended to all free white males over twenty-one years of age, who have resided in the state twelve months preceding an election. In the senatorial branch the members of the legislature shall hereafter be thirty years of age, and shall have resided four years in the state, and twelve months in the county or district choosing them. Members of the other house are required to be twenty-two years of age-to have resided two years in the state, and twelve months in the county they are to represent. No property qualification is required for members of the legislature, nor for any other officer of the state. Great efforts were made in convention to substitute biennial for annual sessions, and a strong dislike to such a clause in the constitution was shown, not only in convention, but among the people. In the executive department, it is agreed that the governor shall be chosen every two years; and that he shall be ineligible for a longer period than four out of six years; that he shall be allowed no veto power upon the acts of the general assembly, unless those acts involve constitutional points. The president of the senate is constituted by virtue of his office, the lieutenant governor. The proposition to elect the state house officers (the secreta

ry of state, auditor and treasurer) by the people, was lost. The sheriffs are to remain in office so long as the people choose to continue them. By a vote of 26 to 19, the convention determined that judges of the supreme court shall be chosen by the people. A session of the legislature was authorized under the new constitution for the winter of 1833, and the general elections will hereafter take place on the first Monday of May.

LEGISLATION.At the sixteenth session of the legislature of this state, begun on January 7, 1833, at Jackson, one hundred acts and eighteen resolutions were passed.

ACADEMIES.-Four were incorporated.

academies

ATTORNEY GENERAL.-An act was passed prescribing the duties of the attorney general and district attorney. The attorney general is to be chosen by the qualified electors of the state, for the term of four years; his salary is to be $1,000; that of the district attorney is to be $600.

BANKS.-An act was passed to establish the Agricultural Bank of Mississippi; its capital stock is not to exceed $2,000,000. By another act, authority was given to the Planters' Bank to increase its capital stock $1,000,000.

CENSUS.-An act was passed providing for the enumeration of the free white inhabitants of the state.

CHURCHES.-Acts were passed incorporating three churches.

COURTS, &c.-An act was passed to establish circuit courts, and to define their powers and jurisdiction in law and equity; the judges are to be elected by the qualified electors of their respective districts; the 14th

section provides, that for the better preservation of the sanctity of the right of trial by jury, pure and uninfluenced, no judge before whom any issue of fact may hereafter be tried by a jury, shall sum up or comment upon the evidence; nor shall said judge charge the jury on points or principles of law applicable to the case before them, unless the parties to such issue or their counsel differ in opinion as to the same, or one of the parties or counsel shall ask the charge of said judge to be given upon some point in controversy in said issue, which shall be distinctly specified in writing by the party asking such charge; and the judge shall charge to no other point than that to which his opinion is required.

An act was also passed to establish a separate superior court of chancery, and to define the powers and jurisdiction thereof; the chan cellor is to be elected by the qualified voters of the state; salary $2,000.

Provision is made for the establishment of a board of police, consisting of five members, in each county of the state; these boards, in addition to the jurisdiction vested in them by the constitution, are to exercise all such jurisdiction as is at present vested in the county courts, provided they shall have no jurisdiction over matters given to courts of probate; they are to divide the public roads into districts, apportion the labour on such roads, appoint overseers of roads, &c.

An act to establish a court of errors and appeals, and to define the powers and jurisdiction thereof; the court are required, in every case they may decide or decree, to deliver their opinions in writing, which are to be recorded by the clerk;

and if any judge of this court neg. lect to comply with this prevision, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor in office, and shall be liable to removal.

An act was passed to carry into effect the article in the constitution, providing for the establishment of courts of probate in the several counties of the state.

CONSTITUTION.-By this act it is proposed to amend the second section of the seventh article of the constitution, so that it may read as follows: The legislature of this state shall have, and are hereby vested with power to pass, from time to time, such laws regulating or prohibiting the introduction of slaves into this state, as may be deemed proper and expedient.

DIVORCES.--Eight

resolutions

were passed (two thirds of both branches of the legislature concurring therein) to confirm decrees of the court of chancery, granting di vorces.

ELECTIONS.-An act was passed to regulate elections in this state.

INFANTS. This act empowers certain minors to take charge of, manage, and administer their estates, and to enter into all civil contracts, which may be made and entered into by persons who have attained the age of twenty-one years.

GOVERNOR.This is an act to define certain duties of the governor, and to establish his salary; it prescribes the duty of the governor in relation to the removal from office of state and county officers, &c.; salary, $2,500.

JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.-Jus. tices of the peace are to be elected for the term of two years.

LITERARY FUND.-An act was passed for the distribution of the literary fund, now amounting to