Vacancies how filled shall appear, that any one or more of the electors be absent from the seat of government, the legislature shall forthwith proceed to choose, by a joint ballot, a person or persons to fill up such vacancy as may have occurred by the non-attendance of one or more of the electors; and immediately after such choice shall have been made by the legislature, the name or names of the person or persons so chosen shall be transmitted to the governor, whose duty it shall be forthwtih to cause a notification of his or their election to be delivered in writing to each and every elector last chosen as aforesaid, and the said person or persons so notified, and not the person or persons in whose places he or they shall be chosen as aforesaid, shall be electors, and shall meet on the same day together with the other electors, and perform the duties enjoined on them by the constitution and laws of the United States. PHILEMON BEECHER, Speaker of the house of representatives. THOMAS KIRKER, Speaker of the senate. February 13th, 1808 Preamble CHAPTER LXXIII. An act providing for the relief and support of wo men who may be abandoned by their husbands and for other purposes. Whereas, it is represented to the general as sembly, that a sect of people in this state, called and known by the name of Shakers, inculcate and enjoin upon all who become attached to them, that they must lead a life of celibacy, ta consequence of which women have been abandoned by their husbands, robbed of their children, and left destitute of the means of support: Therefore, Sec. 1. BE it enacted by the general assem- Persons for bly of the state of Ohio, That if any man being saking their ined in the marriage relations, shail renounce families wife the marriage covenant, or refuse to live with his may file her wife in the conjugal relation, by joining him- petition self to any sect, whose rules and doctrines require a renunciation of the marriage covenant, or forbid a man and woman to dwell and cohabit together in the conjugal relation, according to the true intent and meaning of the institution of marriage, it shall and may be lawful for the wife in such case, to file her petition in the office of the clerk of the court of common pleas, or of the supreme court, at least two months before the time of the sitting of said court, and shall also serve the adverse party with a copy of said petition, within one month from the time of filing the same, which petition shall state the true cause of complaint. in case he shall not reside in her county, she shall publish such notice in some newspaper published in said county, or in the next adjasent county in which a newspaper is published. And Sec. 2. BE it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the clerk of such court, where Clerk to is the petition is filed, to issue a summons requir- sue sum ing the person complained of, to appear before mons the said court to answer the allegation of said petition; and if the party complained of shall not appear, or appearing shall deny the facts stated in the petition, the court shall proceed to hear and determine the same. Sec. 3. BE it further enacted, That if it thereon Proceedings shall appear to the said court, that the woman complaining has been lawfully married to the man of whom complaint is made, and that he hath renounced or violated the marriage covenant, by joining such sect as above described, the court shall take such measures as to them shall seem right, to ascertain the amount of the property real and personal of such husband, and shall decree such part thereof to the woman as shall appear just and equitable. Children ed Proviso Sec. 4. BE it further enacted, That if the how support said husband and wife shall have a child or children (yet being in a state of minority) the husband so violating the marriage covenant shall be considered as having renounced and divested himself of all the authority he could have otherwise exercised over his children, and the court shall decree such part (or the whole) of the remainder of his property, real and personal, as to them shall seem right, to the use and support of the child or children aforesaid; and such child or children shall be and remain under the care and direction of the mother: Provided, That the court shall have power, if they shall deem it necessary, to appoint a guardian or guardians for such child or children, agreeably to the provisions of the thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth sections of the act, entitled "an act for the proving and recording wills and codicils, defining the duties of executors and administrators, the appointment of guardians, and the distribution of insolvent estates," passed February tenth, one thousand eight hundred and ten: And provided also, That if the court shall deem it necessary, they may direct such child or children to be bound to apprenticeship, agreeably to the sixth section of the act, entitled "an act for the relief of the poor," passed February nineteenth, one thousand eight hundred and ten. their fami Sec. 5. Be it further enacted, That all gifts, Grants, &c. grants or devises of money or property, real or rate by the personal, which may be made by any man as f ther to be aforesaid, violating the marriage covenant, to void such sect as before described, or any members of such sect, which may tend to deprive his wife or children of that support to which they are entitled, according to the true intent and meaning of this act, shall be utterly void; and all money or property so given, granted or devised, may be recovered at the suit of the party Persons en injured. ticingothes Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That if to forsake any person shall, with an intent of causing any lies how married man or woman to renounce the mar- punished riage covenant, or abandon their wives, husbands or children, entice or persuade such person to join any sect or denomination of persons whatever, whose principles and practice inculcate a renunciation of the matrimonial contract, or the abandonment of wives and children, or either of them, contrary to the true intent and meaning of the marriage institution shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in any sum not exceeding five hundred dollars, at the discretion of the court having by law jurisdiction; and that all fines, incurred under this section, shall be paid into the treasury of the proper county for the use of the same: Provided, That nothing in this section contained shall be construed or understood to extend to any person for delivering any public sermon, exhortation or address. This act shall take effect and be in force from the passage thereof. EDWARD TIFFIN, Speaker of the senate. January 11, 1811. PP Half bushel ed CHAPTER LXXIV. An act for regulating measures. Sec. 1. BE it enacted by the general assembly to be provid of the state of Ohio, That the county commissioners of each county in this state, are hereby required and directed to cause to be made for each county, one half bushel measure, which shall contain one thousand, seventy-five and two-tenths solid inches, which shall be kept in the county seat, and shall be called the standard. Person ap pointed to keep it Offences a gainst this act how punished Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, That the commissioners of the respective counties shall appoint a person in each county seat to keep the standard measure, and shall procure a seal for the keepers of said standard measures, which keeper shall take an oath or affirmation for the faithful discharge of the trust reposed in him, and all persons desirous of trying their measures may resort to the aforesaid county standard for that purpose; and the person appointed to keep the said standard shall, if he find them true and exactly to correspond, seal them with his seal, and the person so appointed shall be entitled to receive, for trying and sealing each half bushel as aforesaid, the sum of twenty five cents. Sec. 3. Be it further enacted, That three months after the appointment of a person to keep the said county standard shall have been made known as aforesaid, every person who shall knowingly sell any commodity whatever, by a measure that shall be less than the said county standard, or shall keep any measure larger for the purpose of buying, shall for every such offence forfeit and pay a sum not exceeding five dollars, for the use of the township, to |