A. D. 1788. AN ORDINANCE AUTHORISING HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR TO No. 1416. I. Be it ordained, by the honorable the Senate and the House of Representatives, now met and sitting in General Assembly, and by the authority Governor emof the same, That his Excellency the Governor for the time being shall powered to be, and he is hereby, fully authorised and empowered to appoint commis- appoint comsioners in the several circuit districts of this State, to contract with proper missioners. persons to undertake the repairing or rebuilding (where necessary) of the court house and gaol in each of the said districts; and he is also hereby authorized to give orders on the treasury in favour of the said commissioners for defraying the expense thereof, to be paid out of such money as has been by law appropriated for the above purpose. In the Senate, Friday, the twenty-ninth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, and in the twelfth year of the Independence of the United States of America. JOHN LLOYD, President of the Senate. JOHN J. PRINGLE, Speaker of the House of Representatives. AN ACT TO SUSPEND THE OPERATION OF THE LIMITATION ACT FOR No. 1417. THE TIME THEREIN MENTIONED, AND TO ALTER AND AMEND THE SAID Limitation Act 1. Be it enacted, by the honorable the Senate and the House of Representatives, and by the authority of the same, That the operation of an Act entitled "An Act for settling the titles of the inhabitants of this Province suspended till to their possessions in their estates within the same, and for limitation of March 28,1791. actions, and for avoiding suits at law," passed the twelfth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and twelve, shall be, and the same is hereby, suspended, so far as the same shall extend to actions of debt, covenant, assumpsit, trover, and detinue, until the twentyeighth of March, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one. age. II. And be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That persons under twenty-one years shall be allowed five years after attaining the said age to Persons under prosecute their right or title to lands, four years after attaining such age to prosecute any personal action, to which they are or may be entitled; any thing in the said Act passed the twelfth day of December, one thousand seven hundred and twelve, to the contrary hereof in any wise notwithstanding. In the Senate House, the twenty-ninth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, and in the twelfth year of the Independence of the United States of America. JOHN LLOYD, President of the Senate. JOHN J. PRINGLE, Speaker of the House of Representatives. A.D. 1788. No. 1418. AN ACT TO ESTABLISH THE BOUNDS OF THE PRISONS OR COMMON GAOLS IN THE SEVERAL DISTRICTS AND COUNTIES OF THE STATE. Preamble. Prisoners' bounds on extended. WHEREAS, humanity requires that the confinement of prisoners on civil process should be less rigorous than it has hitherto been; I. Be it enacted, by the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Assembly met, and by the authority of the same, That all prisoners on mesne process in any civil action, who are or shall be committed to the custody of any or either of the sheriffs of the counties or districts of this State, on complying with the requisitions contained in mesne process this Act, shall be entitled, in every day during his, her or their confinement, to be and remain unmolested in any part of the rules, bounds or limits of the prison where he, she or they shall be confined; which rules, limits or bounds shall extend to three hundred and fifty yards in a direct line from each side of the prison walls; and the said rules, limits or bounds shall be marked out and ascertained in some distinct manner, by the respective sheriffs of each district and county, within one month after ing this Act, that the same may be publicly and generally known. Security to be given. Prisoners on pass II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That no person committed on mesne process as aforesaid shell be entitled to the benefit of the said rules, limits or bounds, before he or she shall have given satisfactory security to the sheriff of the district or county where he or she may be confined as aforesaid, not to go or be without the said rules; and the sheriff shall be answerable for the solvency of such security. III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all prisoners in execution on any civil process, who are or shall be committed to the civil process. custody of any or either of the sheriffs of the districts or counties of this State, shall be entitled to the benefit of the said rules, bounds or limits, provided he or she shall, within forty days after being taken in execution, give satisfactory security to the sheriff of the district or county where he or she may be confined (for the solvency of which security the sheriff shall also be answerable) that he or she will not only remain within the said rules, bounds or limits, but will also, within forty days, render to the clerk of the court in the district or county where he or she shall be confined, a schedule, on oath or affirmation, (agreeable to the form of his or her religious persuasion,) of his or her whole estate, or of so much thereof as will pay and satisfy the sum due on the execution by force of which he or she shall be confined. on oath of his estate. IV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That any Prisoner to ren- prisoner confined on mesne process shall have liberty to render, at any der a schedule time during his or her confinement on such process, a schedule, on oath or affirmation, (agreeable to the form of his or her religious persuasion,) of his or her whole estate, or of so much thereof as will pay and satisfy the sum really due on the action on which he or she may be confined; and the clerk of the court in the district or county where he or she shall be confined, within ten days after the receipt of the schedule from the prisoners confined as aforesaid on execution or mesne process, as the case may be, shall give public notice that the prisoner will be liberated and the property assigned, unless satisfactory cause is shewn to the contrary before one or more of the judges of the court where the process originates, or one or more of the commissioners appointed for taking special bail in the circuit district; and if no satisfactory cause shall be then shewn to the contrary, the judge or justice, or commissioner of special bail, before whom the prisoner shall be brought, shall order an assignment of the prisoner's estate and effects, mentioned in the schedule, to be made to the plaintiff, subject nevertheless to all prior encumbrances; whereupon the creditor may take possession, and, if necessary, sue in his or her own name for the recovery thereof, and the prisoner shall be discharged from confinement; but if the plaintiff shall show cause for disbelieving the prisoner's oath or affirmation, or shall desire further time for information, the judge, justice or commissioner of special bail, as the case may be, shall have power to remand the prisoner, and appoint another day for his or her appearance; and if, on the second day, the plaintiff shall not appear, or shall be unable to prove that the prisoner's oath or affirmation ought to be disbelieved, the judge, justice or commissioner of special bail as aforesaid, after assignment made in manner above directed, shall discharge the prisoner. A. D. 1788. be visible. V. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the property mentioned in said schedule must be visible property, if the prisoner is Property must possessed of any such, but if he or she is not, choses in action must be mentioned, with the names and places of abode of the witnesses thereto; and if the property mentioned in the schedule should prove deficient, any other property that the prisoner may have, or hereafter acquire, shall be liable for the demand for which he or she is confined. act. VI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any person confined on mesne process in any civil action, or on execution, Persons deliv(provided the person on execution has not been in actual confinement ering up their estates, to have above forty days,) be determined to deliver up all his or her estate and the benefit of effects, and to take the benefit of the Act for the more effectual relief of the insolvent insolvent debtors, passed the seventh day of April, one thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine, he or she shall have the benefit of the said Act, although he or she may have given bail to the action, or not surrendered him or herself within ten days after the arrest, or not presented a petition within forty days after confinement, or not been actually confined three months, provided he or she comply with the other requisites of the said Act, and that the justices of the court from whence the process issued against such person shall be satisfied that he or she hath rendered a just and fair account of his or her estate; and in cases where such application shall be made by persons in confinement, on process issued from the court of common pleas to the sheriffs of the circuit court districts, such persons may make such surrender of his estate and effects to the three nearest justices of the peace, who shall receive and transmit such schedule to the clerk of the court of common pleas, without delay. VII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That any prisoner committed on execution aforesaid who shall not give in such Prisoner not schedule, agreeable to the tenor of his or her bond, shall not be any word giving in schelonger entitled to the benefit of the prison rules, but his bond shall be for- not entitled to feited and assigned to the plaintiff; nor shall any prisoner be discharged bounds, &c. without fully satisfying the action or execution on which he or she is confined, if, since his or her confinement, and before he or she gave security as aforesaid, he or she has been seen without the prison walls, or if, since his or her giving security, he or she has been seen without the prison rules, without being legally authorised so to be, or shall have spent more than two shillings and six pence a day, or if he or she is confined on account of wilful maihem, or wilful and malicious trespass, or for voluntary or permissive waste or damage done to the freehold, or who shall have, within three months before his or her confinement, or at any time since, paid or assigned his estate, or any part thereof, to one creditor in preference to another, or fraudulently sold, conveyed or assigned his estate, to defraud A.D. 1788. his creditors; but wherever a prisoner shall be accused by the plaintiff or his agent of fraud, or his having given an undue preference to one creditor, to the prejudice of the plaintiff, or of having made a false return, or of having gone without the prison walls, or prison rules, as the case may be, it shall be lawful for the judge or justice before whom the prisoner is brought to direct a jury to be impannelled and sworn to determine the fact. mitted to go out sheriff, deemed an escape. VIII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any Prisoners per-, sheriff or his deputy shall permit any prisoner committed to his custody as of bounds by aforesaid, to go or be without the prison walls, if such prisoner has not given the security required by this Act-and if such security has been given, if any sheriff or his deputy shall suffer such prisoner to go or be at large out of the rules of the prison, (except by some writ of habeas corpus or rule of court, which rule shall not be granted but by motion in open court)-every such going and being out of the prison and rules, as the case may be, shall be adjudged and deemed, and is hereby declared to be, an escape. IX. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any Sheriff refusing sheriff or his deputy shall, after one day's notice in writing given for that to show prisoner, adjudged an purpose, refuse to shew any prisoner committed to his charge to the plaintiff at whose suit such prisoner was committed, or to his attorney, such refusal shall be adjudged to be an escape. escape. Penalty for false schedules. Upon an escape plaintiff may proceed against defen dant, &c. X. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That any person who shall deliver in a false schedule of his effects shall suffer the penalties of wilful perjury, shall be liable to be arrested again for the action or execution on which he was discharged, and shall forever be disabled to take any benefit from this Act, and from the Act for the more effectual relief of insolvent debtors, passed the seventh day of April, one thousand seven hundred and fifty-nine. XI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That upon an escape the plaintiff may either proceed against the defendant to retake him, or against his security, or, in case the security should prove deficient, against the sheriff, who shall be ultimately answerable in damages for such escape;, and the court of common pleas is hereby authorised and required to make all necessary rules and orders for the effectual carrying into execution this Act, according to the true intent and meaning of the same. XII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said Act entitled "An Act for the more effectual relief of insolvent debtors," passed the seventh day of April, one thousand seven hundred and fiftynine, shall be deemed to be of full force in all matters wherein it is not repugnant to this Act; and that an Act entitled "An Act to alter and amend an Act for the more effectual relief of insolvent debtors," passed the eleventh day of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-six, be, and the same is hereby, repealed; In the Senate, Friday, the twenty-ninth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, and in the twelfth year of the Independence of the United States of America. JOHN LLOYD, President of the Senate. JOHN J. PRINGLE, Speaker of the House of Representatives. A. D. 1788. AN ACT to establish a Company for opening the Navigation of Broad No. 1419. and Pacolet Rivers. (Passed February 29, 1788. See last volume.) AN ORDINANCE TO EMPOWER THE HEIRS OF ISAAC MAZYCK TO PAY TO No. 1420. AS SHALL BE AGREED ON BY THEM, IN LIEU OF A LEGACY BEQUEATHED WHEREAS, Isaac Mazyck did, by his last will and testament, bequeath to the French Protestant church of the city of Charleston the interest annually arising out of one hundred pounds, to be paid by his heirs and assigns: and whereas, the collecting the said annual interest from the numerous heirs of the said Isaac Mazyck, is attended with considerable trouble and inconvenience; Preamble. a sum of money I. Be it therefore ordained, by the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives, now met and sitting in General Assembly, and by the authority of the same, That the heirs of the said Isaac Mazyck be, and Heirs of Isaac they are hereby, authorized and empowered to pay to the elders of Mazyck to pay the said French church such sum of money as shall be agreed on by the to the French heirs of the said Isaac Mazyck and the said elders, in lieu of the annual Church. interest arising as aforesaid out of the said sum of one hundred pounds; such sum, when received, to be applied by the said elders to the improvement of the revenues of the said French church. In the Senate House, the twenty-ninth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, and in the twelfth year of the Independence of the United States of America. JOHN LLOYD, President of the Senate. JOHN J. PRINGLE, Speaker of the House of Representatives. AN ORDINANCE FOR REPEALING SO MUCH OF THE ORDINANCES PASSED No. 1421. Part of two ances repealed. I. Be it ordained, by the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives, now met in General Assembly, and by the authority of the same, former OrdinThat so much of the Ordinances passed on the sixteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, and the seventeenth day of March, one thousand seven hundred and eightyVOL. V.-11. |
