}

3. The said high sheriff or collector of taxes shall give to the commissioner of the land tax in his county at least thirty days notice previous to any sale of land as aforesaid, and the said commissioner shall attend the said sale for which he shall be allowed six shillings, to be paid by the person chargeable with such land tax and if the land so offered for sale will not yield a price in the opinion of the said commissioner, equal to one half of the value thereof, taking for his guide, in estimating the value, the price at which such land is charged by the act for equalizing the land tax, and having regard to the quality of the particular part of the land so offered for sale, then the said commissioner shall bid for and purchase the said land on account of the public, and shall give to the sheriff or collector a certificate thereof, expressing therein the amount of taxes for which such land hath been sold, which certificate being by the said sheriff or collector paid to the treasurer, he shall have credit for the same in part of the land tax; and the person who was chargeable originally with the said land tax, may discharge the same and be entitled to all the estate he held in such land in as full and ample a manner as if the said sale had never been made: Provided payment be made of the said taxes, agreeable to the certificate of the commissioner, into the public treasury at any time within six months after such certificate shall be delivered to the treasurer together with twenty five per centum damages on the amount thereof; or if payment be made at any time, not less than six months, nor more than two years thereafter, the same may be discharged by payment of double the amount of the said certificate: But provided, payment shall not be made thereof within two years from the time that such certificate shall be paid to the treasurer, then and in that case the governor shall appoint such person or persons, as may to him with advice of council seem proper, to sell the said land and convey the same to the purchaser thereof, and to pay the amount of the debt due to the public, with the damages and expenses of sale in the first instance from the money arising from the sale thereof, and to pay the surplus, if any, to the person who may have been proprietor of the land at the time the commissioner of the taxes may become purchaser thereof on public account, or to the legal representative or representatives of such proprietor.

6. All sales of land for taxes, where the sheriff or collector, or any deputy sheriff or collector, or any person in trust for them or either of them, or in partnership with them or either of them, is the last bidder for such land, shall be considered as held in trust for the payment of the taxes for which such land is offered for sale, and may be redeemed by the proprietor thereof by payment of the taxes due threon, and the charges of sale, with interest thereon at the rate of six per centum per annum, and ten per centum damages.

7. Provided always, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to authorise any commissioner to purchase any land" on account of the public to a greater amount than the sum due to the public for the taxes thereof.

8. In all cases of landlord and tenant, wherein the tenant shall covenant for the payment of the taxes by law imposed upon the land by him tenanted, the property of every such tenant thereon being shall be liable to the payment thereof; and to ascertain the

the clerks of the several county courts shall, annually, before the first day of April, certify to the commissioners of the tax in his county an abstract of all deeds or leases for the tenancy of lands lying therein which shall have been recorded within twelve months last preceding, and the said commissioners shall enter the same in their return of taxable property for the guidance of the sheriff or collector.

9. So much of every act or acts of assembly as comes within the purview of this act shall be, and the same is hereby repealed.

10. And be it further enacted, That where any deed or conveyance for land lying within the district of Kentucky, hath been, or shall be recorded in the general court of this commonwealth, and the legal tax thereon shall have been paid, and the same deed or conveyance shall be transmitted with a certificate thereof to be recorded also in the said district, such deed or conveyance shall be admitted to record in any of the courts thereof, wherein the same ought by law to be recorded, without payment of any further tax thereon.

CHAP. X.

An Act for the Appointment of Electors to choose a President pursu ant to the Constitution of Government for the United States.

1

[Passed November 17th 1788.-Acts of 1788, ch. 1, pa. 1.]

WHEREAS the United States in congress assembled, did,

on the thirteenth day of September, in the year of our lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, resolve that the first Wednesday in January next, be the day for appointing electors in the several states, which before the said day shall have ratified the new constitution of government for the United States; that the first Wednesday in February next, be the day for the electors to assemble in their respective states, and vote for a president; and that the first Wednesday in March next be the time, and the present seat of congress, the place for commencing proceedings under the said constitution: Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, That for the purpose of choosing twelve electors on behalf of this state, to vote for a president in conformity to the constitution of government for the United States, the several counties in this commonwealth shall be allotted into twelve districts, in manner following, to wit: The counties of Amelia, Powhatan, Chesterfield, Cumberland, Brunswick, Greensville, Lunenburg, and Mecklenburg, shall compose one district: The counties of Henrico, Goochland, Louisa, Charles City, James City, and New-Kent, shall compose another district: The counties of Botetourt, Washington, Montgomery, Greenbrier, Augusta, Rockingham, Rockbridge, Russell, Shenandoah, Pendleton, and the district of Kentucky, shall compose another district: The counties of King & Queen, King William, Essex, Caroline, and Hanover, shall compose another district: The counties of Prince William, Fairfax, Loudoun, and Fauquier, shall compose another district: The counties of Westmoreland, King George, Stafford, Lancaster, Richmond, and Northumberland, shall compose anther district: The counties of Hampshire, Frederick, Berkeley,

Na

Monongalia, Ohio, Hardy, Harrison, and Randolph, shall com. pose another district: The counties of Norfolk, Nansemond, Accomack, Northampton, and Princess-Anne, shall compose another district: The counties of Sussex, Isle of Wight, Surry, Prince George, Dinwiddie, and Southampton, shall compose another district: The counties of Campbell, Pittsylvania, Charlotte, Halifax, Prince Edward, Bedford, Franklin, and Henry, shall compose another district: The counties of Albemarle, Amherst, Fluvannah, Spotsylvania, Orange, Culpeper, and Buckingham, shall compose another district: And the counties of York, Gloucester, Elizabeth City, Warwick, and Middlesex, shall compose another district:

2. That the persons qualified by law to vote for members to the general assembly, in each county composing a district, shall assemble at their respective courthouses on the first Wednesday in January next, and then and there vote for some discreet and proper person, being a freeholder, and bona fide resident in such district for twelve months, as an elector for such district, to vote for a president of the United States, in conformity to the said constitution.

3. The high sheriff of each county, or in case of his sickness or inability to attend, one of the deputy sheriffs, being first duly sworn by a magistrate of the county to act impartially, and a certificate of the taking such oath under the hand of the magistrate delivered to him, shall conduct the said election, at which no determination shall be had by view, but each person qualified to vote, shall fairly and publicly poll, and the name of the voter shall be duly entered under the name of the person voted for in proper poll books to be provided by the sheriff; for which purpose the said sheriff shall appoint so many writers as he shall think fit, who shall respectively take an oath, to be administered by him, or make solemn affirmation, that they will take the poll faithfully and impartially. He shall deliver a poll book to each writer, who shall enter in distinct columns, under the name of the person voted for, the name of each voter, voting for such person. Like proclamation and proceeding shall be had for continuing and closing the poll in each county of a district as is prescribed by law, in the election of members to the general assembly and proclamation shall also be made at the courthouse door of the person having the greatest number of votes on the poll at the closing thereof.

4. Each voter shall be entitled to the same privilege from arrests, and be subject to the like penalty and forfeiture for failing to attend and vote at such election, as prescribed by law in the elec tion of members to the general assembly, such failure to attend to be discovered and proceeded on in like manner and under the same penalties as is by law prescribed against such failures in the election of members to the general assembly. Immediately after each election in a county, the clerks of the polls having first signed the same, and made oath to the truth thereof (a certificate of which oath under the hand of a magistrate of the county shall be subjoined to each poll) shall deliver the same to the sheriff who conducted the election, and such sheriff, together with the respective sheriffs who conducted the poll of the several counties in the district, except in case of the disability or sickness of such sheriff, then any

other sheriff of the county in which such sickness or disability may happen, shall within seven days assemble at the courthouse of the county first named in such district, and then and there compare the polls respectively taken at the election in their several counties, and having ascertained by faithful addition and comparison of the numbers on the respective polls, the person having the greatest. number of votes upon the whole, giving their own votes in any case of the two foremost on such poil having an equal number of votes, shall proceed to certify such elections under their hands and seals in manner and form following, to wit.

"We, A. B. sheriff of- -county (or deputy sheriff as the case may be,) C. D. sheriff of-county, (and so on recit"ing the name of the sheriff, and whether principal or deputy of "each county in the district) composing one entire district entitled by law to appoint an elector to vote for a president of the United "States, do hereby certify and make known, that at an election "held on————. at the courthouse of our respective counties pur"suant to law, the voters qualified to vote for an elector to choose "a president of the United States, caused to be chosen one person, to wit: G. H. to represent the said district as an elector to "vote for a president of the United States. Given under our "hands and seals, this -day of one thousand

"seven hundred and eighty

Two fair duplicates of such certificate and return shall be made by the said sheriffs under their hands and seals, in the manner before recited, one of which shall be delivered to the person elected to represent the district, and the other shall be transmitted to the governor and council within twelve days, under the penalty of one hundred pounds, upon each sheriff holding such election, in case of failure herein, to be recovered by motion in any court of record, by the solicitor general, to the use of the commonwealth. And the governor and council shall thereupon advertise, in the public gazette, the names of the persons so elected, who shall assemble in the city of Richmond on the first Wednesday in February next, and proceed pursuant to the resolution of the federal convention, of the seventeenth of September, in the year of our lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, and the provisions, in the constitution of government for the United States, to vote for a president.

5. Each elector chosen pursuant to this act, and failing to attend and vote for a president at the time and place herein directed, and moreover to send and certify the same in manner directed by the constitution of government, shall, except in cases of sickness or any other unavoidable accidents, forfeit and pay two hundred pounds, to be recovered by the solicitor general, to the use of the commonwealth, by action of debt, bill, plaint or information, in any court of record.

6. The said sheriffs shall under the penalty of fifty pounds, to be recovered on motion by the solicitor general, to the use of the commonwealth, in manner aforesaid, deliver to the clerks of their respective counties, within ten days after making their returns as aforesaid, the original poll books, to be by such clerk entered of

{No. IX.

record, under the like penalty for failure as for failing to record the poll books taken at the election of members to the general assembly, and recoverable in like manner.

7. Any sheriff or deputy sheriff refusing to take the poll, when he shall be required by a candidate or person qualified to vote for persons to the general assembly, or taking it in other manner than is herein before prescribed, or making or signing a false certificate or return of election, as herein before directed, or making any erasure or alteration in the poll books, or refusing to suffer any candidate or person qualified to vote, at his own expense to take a copy of the poll books, shall forfeit and pay one hundred pounds, which penalties may be recovered with costs in action of debt, by any person who will sue for the same; one half to his own use, and the other half to the use of the commonwealth.

8. Any candidate or other person in his behalf who shall directly or indirectly give or agree to give any voter or pretended voter, money, meat, drink, or other reward, in order to be elected or for having been elected, shall forfeit and pay five hundred pounds for each offence, to be recovered with costs by action of debt, to the use of any person who will prosecute for the same.

9. And be it further enacted, That the electors, so appointed to choose a president, shall be allowed for their travelling expenses, five pence per mile, and ferriages, and for their daily attendance ten shillings, and be entitled to the same privileges from arrests as members to the general assembly.

10. Provided always, and be it further enacted, That the fines and penalties hereby imposed upon sheriffs failing to perform any of the duties prescribed by this act, are declared not to extend to the sheriffs within the district of Kentucky; but such sheriffs shall proceed to execute the same under the best circumstances which the promulgation of this act will admit of.

CHAP. XI.

An Act for the Election of Representatives pursuant to the Constitution of Government of the United States.

[Passed November 20th, 1788.-Acts of 1788, ch. 2, pa. 4.]

1 WHEREAS the United States in congress assembled, did,

on the thirteenth day of September, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, resolve, that the first Wednesday in January next, be the day for appointing electors in the several states, which before the said day shall have ratified the new constitution of government for the United States; that the first Wednesday in February next be the day for the electors to assemble in their respective states, and vote for a president; and that the first Wednesday in March next be the time, and the present seat of congress the place, for commencing proceedings under the said constitution. And whereas, it is provided by the said constitution, that until the enumeration therein directed shall be taken, Virginia shall be entitled to ten members in the house of representatives, and that the times, places, and manner of holding elections for the same, shall be prescribed by the Legislature: Be it therefore