form of words, or in any other form to the like CHAP. effect: County, to wit: Be it remembered, that on this first Tuesday of October, is convicted before me the subscri III. 1798 in the year ber, one of the Justices of the Peace for the said County Form of record A. B. for that a Negro (or Mulatto) of conviction of of his under sections. 5 and 6, of this apprentice, servant, or slave, named Provided nevertheless, That it shall and may be law- Proviso. Justices of the peace & consta bles neglecting SECT. 8. And be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any Justice of the Peace or Constable in any County in this State, shall neglect or refuse to repair to the town or place in their Counties respectively, in which the annual election for Members of the Gene- to attend and perform ral Assembly shall be holden, on the said first Tues- their duties, day of October of every year, and there attend from ten o'clock in the forenoon to six o'clock in the afternoon of that day, and then and there do and perform the duties required of them respectively by this the penalty. law, every such Justice of the Peace shall forfeit and pay to the State Fifty Dollars; and every such Constable shall forfeit and pay to the State Twenty DolPenalty on lars; and every other citizen such sum as he may be other citizens. fined in the discretion of the Court, to be recovered by indictment in the Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace and Jail Delivery, in the county in С НА Р. w 1798 Persons sued may plead the general issue, and if, &c. shall recover double costs. which such Justice, Constable, or other citizen resides; and upon the conviction of any such Justice of the Peace, the said Court is hereby directed to certify the same to the Governor of the State. SECT. 9. And be it further enactedby the authori ty aforesaid, That if any suit or action shall be commenced, brought, or prosecuted against any Justice of the Peace, or Constable, or other person, for any act or thing by him or them done in pursuance of this act, it shall and may be lawful to and for the defendant or defendants to plead the general issue, and on trial thereof to give this act in evidence, and such record of pression or conviction as aforesaid; and if the plaintiff or plaintiffs shall become nonsuit, or forbear further prosecution, or suffer discontinuance, or if a verdict and judgment shall pass against him or them, the said defendant or defendants shall recover double costs, for which he shall have the like remedy as in cases where costs by law are given to defendants. Passed January 17, 1798. Supplement, 3d Vol. 221. sup 1798 Preamble. No person according to the CHA P. IV. An ACT to prevent aliens from voting at elections in this State, and for other purposes. WH HEREAS it is the duty of the Legislature effectually to guard the rights of the citizens entitled to vote. SECTION 1. BE it therefore enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met, That no person, who, accordeemed an alien, ding to the laws of the United States, is deemed an alilaws of the Uni- en, shall be admitted to vote at any general or special ted States, shall election, or for inspectors thereof, within this State, alvote at any elec- though he may have resided in the State two years before tion, unless pre- the election, and within that time paid a State or County tax which shall have been assessed at least six months be admitted to v.ously, naturalized, &c. before the election, unless he has been previously naturalized according to the directions of a law of the United States, entitled, An act to establish an uniform rule of naturalization, and to repeal the act heretofore passed on that subject, passed the twentyninth day of January, in the year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety-five, or shall have been otherwise naturalized previous to that time, and shall produce to the Sheriff, Coroner, or other judge of such election, a certificate under the seal of the Court wherein he has been naturalized, or if otherwise naturalized previous to that time, then such certificate, or other written evidence thereof, as from the nature of such naturalization such person was entitled to have at the time of his naturalization. SECT. 2. And be it enacted, That if any such alien, who hath not been previously naturalized as aforesaid, shall offer to vote at any such election in this State, or shall endeavour to persuade, on the day and at the place of such election, any elector, qualified to vote at any such election, to vote for or against any person or persons whatsoever, he shall, for every such offence, forfeit Fifty Dollars, one moiety thereof to be applied to the State, and the other moiety to such person or persons as will sue for the same, to be recovered with costs in any Court of Record in this State, by action of debt, bill, plaint, or information; and on the trial of every such action, it shall be incumbent on the defendant to prove his naturalization in manner aforesaid. SECT. 3. And be it enacted, That every person who shall hereafter be guilty of any offence or offences contrary to the true intent and meaning of this act, and shall be prosecuted for the same, shall be obliged to give good and sufficient bail and security, to the officer executing the Capias against him or them, to appear in the Court out of which such Capias shall issue, at the day and return of such writ, to answer such suit or prosecution; and shall likewise, at the time of such appearance, give sufficient bail or security in the said Court, to answer and pay the for CHAP. 1798 General elec tions, at what time they shall begin, and be closed. Penalty on a judge thereof a ticket; feitures incurred for such offence or offences, in case he or they shall be convicted thereof, or to yield his or their bodies to prison. SECT. 4. And be it enacted, That the general elections in this State shall begin on the first Tuesday of October annually, between the hours of nine and eleven o'clock in the forenoon, and the poll thereof shall be carried on, without interruption or adjournment, till six o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, and no votes shall be received afterwards; and if any judge of election, inspector, or other person, after any ticket hath been delivered by a qualififor opening, &c. ed elector, and before the polling of the tickets be closed, shall presume to unfold, open, or pry into any such ticket, with design to discover the names of the persons contained in any such ticket, every person so offending, shall forfeit and pay Thirty-two Dollars to the party grieved, to be recovered with costs, by bill, plaint, or information, in any Court of Record; and if any elector offers any more than one ticket, with a fraudulent design, every such person shall forfeit and pay Thirty-two Dollars for every such offence, to be recovered with costs by any person who will sue for the same as aforesaid: Provided nevertheless, That it shall and may be lawful for any judge of election, or inspector, to examine any ticket to see whether there be two or more tickets deceitfully folded together; and if there be two or more tickets so folded together, then all and every such ticket shall be rejected. and on an elector for offering more than one. Proviso. Repeal of part of 61. a. SECT. 5. And be it enacted, That so much of the section 3. chap. third section of the act, entitled, An act for regu lating elections, and ascertaining the number of the Members of Assembly, as permits the Sheriff, or other judge of election, or inspector, to read the names contained in any paper or ticket, or to ask any elector whether these are the persons for whom he votes, shall be and is hereby repealed, made null and void. Passed January 23, 1798. The 1st. 2d. and 3d. sections repealed by chap. xxvi. vol. 5. page 50. And sec. 4 altered and supplied by sections 8 and 10 of chap. clii. in 4th vol. 427 and 429. CHA P. V. An ACT for extending the powers of the Auditor of Public Accounts to the settlement of the county, road, and poor, taxes, &c. within the State. WH HEREAS it appears to be requisite and necessary, that the respective taxes authorised to be raised by the Levy Court and Courts of Appeal within this State, for county purposes, should be further accounted for than as by the existing laws are prescribed, as well for the better information of the General Assembly and of their constituents, as for the preventing or correcting of errors or mistakes that may happen in the present mode of accounting. СНАР. V. m Preamble. Peace to furnish the Levy Court SECTION 1. Be it therefore enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met, That the Clerks of the Clerks of the Peace in the respective counties of this State, officiating duplicates of the as Clerks of the Levy Courts and Courts of Appeal proceedings of within the same, shall, and they are hereby required, to the Auditor; annually to transcribe from the minutes of the said Levy Courts and Courts of Appeal, an additional, fair, and true duplicate of all the proceedings of the same Courts, and within two months after the rising of the same Courts of Appeal, carefully transmit and cause the same to be delivered to the Auditor of Accounts for the time being, to enable him to demand and take full and complete accounts of the receipts and payments of all the monies directed to be raised, by the said Courts respectively, by way of tax, for the current year; and the said Auditor is hereby required to provide who shall enter good and sufficient books, at the expense of the State, the same, and where, he shall make entries of the said duplicates ac- all accounts,&c; cordingly, and also of the several accounts and settlements herein after directed to be made by and before him. surers shall anCounty Treanually lay a state true before the Au SECT. 2. And be it enacted, That each County Treasurer in the State shall, annually in the month of February, lay before the said Auditor the of their accounts ditor; |