and ninety pounds; to George Bampfield, another account of maintenance A. D. 1731. of Spanish prisoners and Yamassees, two hundred and fifty-nine pounds seventeen shillings and six pence; to Colonel Alexander Parris, another account of sundries, one thousand three hundred and eighty-four pounds fourteen shillings and four pence; to Colonel Alexander Parris, Esquire, another account of sundries, one thousand seven hundred and fifty-seven pounds seven shillings and five pence; to James Rawlins, his account of ferryage to May, one thousand seven hundred and thirty-one, sixteen pounds eleven shillings and three pence; to Samuel Wragg, Esquire, for his salary as agent four years, at seven hundred pounds per annum, two thousand eight hundred pounds; to Samuel Wragg, for his disbursements on the Rice Act, as per advice, eight hundred and forty pounds; to Mrs. Gilbert, widow of Barnabas Gilbert, two hundred pounds; to the executors of John Smellie, to be laid out in a piece of plate to be given to his eldest son, one hundred pounds; to the executors of William Adams, Esquire, deceased, for an Indian slave, killed by the Creek Indians, by order of Colonel Glover, eighty pounds; to Benjamin Whitaker, Esquire, for drawing the Jury Act, fifty pounds; to the Reverend Mr. Winteley, for his equipment, one hundred and fifty pounds; to Mr. Robert Hume, for drawing a Jury Act, twenty pounds; to Mr. Whitacre, late Attorney General, for prosecuting criminals, seven hundred and fifty-two pounds; to Daniel Butler, Messenger to the Council, one hundred pounds; to Thomas Baker, for his attendance on the Commons House of Assembly, twenty pounds; the Chief Justice, a month from the twenty-fifth of February to the twenty-fifth of March, fifty-eight pounds six shillings and eight pence. II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That orders shall forthwith be printed, and pass to the amount of the said sum of one hundred and four thousand seven hundred and seventy-five pounds one shilling and three pence farthing, payable to the several persons aforesaid, or bearer thereof, to be signed by the commissioners hereinafter for that purpose appointed, and shall be divided into several denominations, from five to fifty pounds, at the direction of the commissioners hereinafter named, for the better ease in paying in the same, and shall carry interest from the passing of this Act, at the rate or sum of five pounds per centum per annum, payable out of the said dutys arising on negroes, and for and until such time as all and every the said orders are wholly paid off; and shall be current to the Publick Treasurer, for all arrears of dutys to the passing of this Act, and for negro and all other dutys arising on goods imported, which shall accrue from and after the passing of this Act, for and during the space of seven years now next ensuing; and the said Publick Treasurer and the Publick Treasurer for the time being, shall discount and allow the said interest of five per centum upon the said orders, from time to time, whensoever the same are paid in for negro and all other dutys arising on goods imported as aforesaid. III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said Publick Treasurer and the Publick Treasurer for the time being, shall file and cross all and every such orders yearly, and every year, until they amount to the sum of eight thousand five hundred pounds, received in the negro dutys, as soon as they shall come to his hands, which said eight thousand five hundred pounds shall not be reissued on any occasion whatsoever; and the same shall be cancelled yearly and every year, by a committee of His Majesty's Honourable Council and of the Assembly of this Province, from time to time, until the whole are cancelled; and the said Publick Treasurer shall keep a just and fair account of all such A. D. 1731. orders which shall be so paid in, the time when paid, and the numbers of such orders, and the amount of what orders are cancelled, for which the said Publick Treasurer shall be allowed the sum of two hundred pounds per annum, over and besides his salary as Publick Treasurer. IV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the form of the said orders shall be in the words following: This order entitles the bearer to pounds shillings pence, in the current bills of this Province, payable out of all arrears of dutys, to the twenty-fifth day of March, one thousand seven hundred and thirty-one, and out of all negro and other dutys on goods imported hereafter, to grow due for the space of seven years from the date hereof, and shall be current to the Publick Treasurer for the purposes aforesaid. V. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That Alexander Parris, Esq. Publick Treasurer, Paul Jennys and Eleazer Allen, Esqrs. be and are hereby appointed commissioners for signing the said orders, who are hereby required to pay out the same as soon as they are signed by the said commissioners, to the several persons mentioned in this Act, to whom the publick is indebted as aforesaid, or to such other persons as shall be legally entituled to receive the same, to the amount of the sums therein expressed, wherein there shall be no preference given by the said commissioners, but the same shall be paid off as soon as the same are all signed, and not before; and in case of the death or absence of any or either of the said commissioners, it shall and may be lawful for his Excellency the Governour or Commander-in-chief for the time being, to appoint a commissioner or commissioners in the room of him or them so dying or going off this Province; and the said commissioners shall give a week's notice of the time appointed for paying out the same; and the said commissioners shall be allowed a clerk and their reasonable charges and expences in the execution of this Act. VI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the sum of five thousand pounds per annum, residue of the said thirteen thousand five nundred pounds per annum hereafter to arise out of the dutys by virtue of the said Act entituled an Act for granting to his Majesty a duty and imposition on negroes, liquors and other goods and merchandizes, for the use of the publick of this Province, be appropriated and applied for the space of seven years, to commence from the said five-and-twentieth day of March last, to the charge of surveying and laying out of townships, and towards paying of the passage, and to the purchasing of tools, provisions and other nececsarys, for any poor protestants that shall be desirous to settle in the said Province, that is to say, the sum of two thousand eight hundred pounds of the present currency, which is equivalent to four hundred pounds sterling, to John Peter Purry, when he shall bring over and land in this Province, one hundred able and effective freemen and protestants, and all such further sums of money as shall be necessary for the subsistence of them and their families, not exceeding three hundred in the whole, for one whole year, from the time of their arrival, and for the purchasing of tools and utensils; and the residue of the said sum of five thousand pounds per annum, for the said space of seven years, be appropriated and applied for the uses before recited. VII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said Act entituled an Act for granting a duty and imposition on negroes, liquors and other goods and merchandizes, for the use of the publick of this Province, be and is hereby continued for the space of seven years, to be computed from the five-and-twentieth day of March last past, and from A. D. 1731. thence to the end of the next session of Assembly, which shall happen next after the end and expiration of the said term of seven years. WILLIAM DONNING, Speaker. Charlestown, Council Chamber, August the twentieth, 1731. Assented to: ROBT. JOHNSON. I can find no public Aets for the year 1732. The Acts numbered 564, 565, in Grimke's Catalogue, as Acts of 1732, belong to 1731, and are inserted in the Acts of that year, in this collection. AN ACT FOR MAKING MORE EFFECTUAL WILLS AND TESTAMENTS, AND No. 544. WHEREAS, there are many estates in this Province held under wills and testaments; and to the iutent that the titles may not be questioned, Preamble. where such wills and testaments have been duly executed, and for the prevention of any vexatious or contentious suits, which may be brought or commenced hereafter, we humbly pray your most sacred Majesty that it may be enacted, and testaments I. And be it enacted by his Excellency Robert Johnson, Esquire, his Majesty's Captain-General, Governour, and Commander-in-chief in and over this Province, by and with the consent of his Majesty's honourable Council and the Commons House of Assembly, and by the authority of the same, That all former wills and testaments heretofore made, for, of, or concerning any lands, tenements or hereditaments, shall and are hereby All former wills declared, to all intents and purposes whatsoever, to be good, valid and to be good and effectual in law, according to the true tenor and purport of the same, as valid. fully and effectually as if the statute of the 32d of Henry the 8th, cap. 1st, and the statute of the 34th and 35th of Henry the 8th, cap. 5th, of Great Britain, was or were of force in this Province, at the time of the making the said wills and testaments, any law, custom or usage to the contrary notwithstanding. Provided, that nothing herein before contained shall extend or be construed to make the statute of Westminster the second, chap. the 1st, thirteenth of Edward the first, entituled, in gifts in tail the donor's will shall be observed, the form of a formadon, commonly called the statute of intails, or any part thereof, of force in this Province, or to make estates which were or are fee simple, conditional at the common law, estates in tail in this Province. Provided also, that nothing in this Act shall be construed to confirm or make good any wills heretofore made in this Province since a statute made in Great Britain the 29th of Car. 2, entituled an Act for prevention of frauds and perjuries, has been made of force here, if such wills are not agreeable to the said statute. Provisoes. A. D. 1733. Wills te be to the statute of II. And it is hereby further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That from and after the ratification of this Act, all and singular every person and persons having any estate or interest in fee simple, or any such estate in made according coparcenary, joint-tenancy or tenancy in common, of and in any lands, 29 Car. 2, c. 3. tenements, rents, services, or other hereditaments, in possession, reversion or remainder, shall and may have full power, free liberty and authority to give, dispose, will or devise to any person or persons (except bodies politick and corporate) by his last will and testament, in writing, and duly executed, according to an Act made in the 29th year of Car. 2d, for prevention of frauds and perjuries, as much as in him of right belongs, is or shall be, all his said lands, tenements, rents, services or other hereditaments, remainders or reversions, or any of them, at his and their own free will and pleasure; any law, statute or usage to the contrary notwithstanding. Witnesses to prove a verbal will. Widows and parsons may bequeath the crop on their lands. III. And for the effectual proving of nuncupative or verbal wills, It is hereby enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all witnesses which are good witnesses at trials at common law, shall be good witnesses to prove a nuncupative or verbal will, made of goods and chattels, agreeable to the forementioned statute for prevention of frauds and perjuries. IV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That from and after the ratification of this Act, any widow may bequeath by will the crop or crops standing or growing on the grounds of her dower, or on other lands planted for her use; and that a parson may, by will, bequeath the crop or crops growing or standing on his glebe land, any thing to the contrary notwithstanding. V. Provided now and at all times, and it is hereby enacted by the authorWills made by a feme covert ity aforesaid, That any will or testament made or to be made by any feme covert, ideot, or any person of non sane memory, shall not be good or valid in law; any thing herein before to the contrary notwithstanding. or idiot, not good. Former accounts to be allowed as a discount. Any variation in writs, from the original, to be amended. VI. And forasmuch as no matter of account or charge is or can be filed by way of discount on the behalf of an executor or administrator, on the account of his testator or intestate, against the suit of any creditor, or his executors, administrators or assigns, in this Province; It is therefore enacted by the authority aforesaid, That from and after the ratification of this Act, all matters of account, demand or reckoning, due to any person or persons, in his or their own right, or to the estate of any deceased person, may be filed in discount of any action or suit brought against the executor or administrator of such deceased person; and all counter charges, demands or reckonings, may hereafter be filed or pleaded in discharge or discount of any action or suit brought by any person as executor or administrator, as effectually as if the same were filed for that purpose against the original plaintiff or plaintiffs, by any former law or usage of this Province; any thing to the contrary notwithstanding. VII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all writs of error and writs of appeal, wherein there shall be any variance from the original record, or other defect, shall be amended and made agreeable to such record by the court where such writs of error and writs of appeal shall be made returnable; and where any verdict hath been or shall hereafter be given in any action or suit, in any court cf record in this Province, the judgment thereon shall not be stayed or reversed for any defect or fault either in form or substance, in any bill, writ original or judicial, or for any variance in such writs, from the declaration or other proceedings whatsoever. Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall extend to any appeal of felony or murder, or to any process on any indictment, A. D. 1733. presentment or information, of or for any offence or misdemeanour what soever. PAUL JENYS, Speaker. In the Council Chamber, 9th April, 1733. Assented to: ROBERT JOHNSON. [This Act is plainly dated in the original as of 9th April. 1733. Grimke has inserted it (p. 138, No. 597) as of 9th April, 1734. I follow the Act itself.] AN ACT TO ASCERTAIN THE FEES OF THE SURVEYOR GENERAL FOR THE No. 545. WHEREAS, in and by an Act of the General Assembly of this Province, ratified the twenty-first day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and twenty-one, entituled an Act for ascertaining Publick Officers' Fees, it is among other things enacted, that the Preamble. Surveyor General shall have for running out any quantity of land, the sum of one penny proclamation money per acre, to be paid in the current bills of this Province, at three hundred per cent. advance: And whereas, the several fees appointed and allowed to the Surveyor of this Province, by the said Act, were so appointed to him in full of all claims or demands relating thereto, as well by himself and his deputies, or any other acting by or under his appointment or authority; notwithstanding which, the practice of James St. John, Esq. Surveyor General, and his deputies in that office, has lately been to take the sum of four pence per acre, current money of this Province, for running out every tract of land, and also the deputy surveyors two pence per acre, or three pounds per diem, current money of this Province, and some more, as they could exact from the parties that employed them, for running the same tract of land, whereby the force, effect and true intent and meaning of the said Act, hath been eluded, which is a great grievance and imposition on his Majesty's subjects; for the prevention whereof for the future, and also for the prevention of any other irregularities being committed in the said Surveyor General's office, may it pleass your most sacred Majesty that it may be enacted, no I. And be it enacted by his Excellency Robert Johnson, Esq., Governour, by and with the advice and consent of his Majesty's honourable Council, Surveyors to and the Assembly of this Province, and by the authority of the same, take no more That the Surveyor General for the time being, shall not directly or indi- mentioned in rectly have, receive, take or demand any sum of money, fee or reward for this Act. any business, matter or thing done by him or his deputies, relating to his office, other than such and so much fees as are in the table of fees hereunto annexed, particularly set down, limited and appointed, upon pain that the Surveyor General for the time being, shall forfeit twelve pence current money, for every penny current money that he shall take and receive over and above what is mentioned in the said table of fees, for any business, matter or thing done by him or his deputies, relating to the said |