PUBLISHED PURSUANT TO AN ACT OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY VOLUME III. BY WILLIAM WALLER HENING. "The Laws of a country are necessarily connected with every thing be- longing to the people of it; so that a thorough knowledge of them, and of their progress would inform us of every thing that was most useful to be known about them; and one of the greatest imperfections of his- PHILADELPHIA: PRINTED FOR THE EDITOR, BY THOMAS DESILVER, No. 253, MARKET STREET. Am 4669 WE, Peter V. Daniel, William H. Roane, Robert G. Scott, and William Robertson, members of the executive council of Virginia, do hereby certi ty that the laws contained in the third volume of HENING's Statutes at Large have been, by us, examined and compared with a copy as corrected by the certificate of the examiners heretofore appointed, from which they were taken, by Robert G. Scott and William H. Roane, from page 1, to page 226 inclusive, by Robert G. Scott and William Robertson, from page 227 to page 481 inclusive, and by Robert G. Scott and Peter V. Daniel, from' page 482 inclusive, to the end, and we have found the pages respectively examined by us, truly and accurately printed except as to the following list of errata, to the number of thirty-two. KE 40075 (3) ERRATA. P. V. DANIEL. Page 17, line 11 from bottom, for "urniture" read "furniture" and in the same line for "fusual" read "usual" 23, line 2 from top, for "inhabitant" read "inhabitants" 30, top line, in title for "and" read “an” 35, line 10 from bottom, for "gear" read "large" "line 2 from bottom, for "beel" read "breed" 36, line 17 from bottom for "peson" read "persons" "line 13 from bottom, for "this" read "his" 56, line 15 from top, insert "by" between "tobacco" and "the" "line 11 from bottom, for "port" read "ports" 67, line 20 from top, for “aqually" read “equally” "line 8 from bottom, for "diposed" read "disposed" 70, line 9 from bottom, for "iaken" read "taken" 77, line 12 from top, for "not" read "no" 113, line 22 from top, strike out "and" between "of" and "writs" 129, line 13 from bottom, for "purposes" read "purpose" 144, line 9 from top, for "or" read "of" 155, line 12 figure from top, for “3” read “5” 180, line 22 from top, for "brought" read "bought" 184, line 8 from bottom, strike out "of" after "revisors" 186, line 17 from top, strike out "at" 187, line 21 from top, for "posts" read "ports" 188, line 18 from bottom, for "and" read "or" where it last occurs. 189, line 10 from top, strike out "to" between "proceed" and "therein PREFACE TO THE THIRD VOLUME OF THE STATUTES AT LARGE. THE second volume terminated with the acts of 1682: this comprises the laws from that period, both printed and MS, to the year 1710.-In presenting this volume to the public, the Editor feels it incumbent on him to offer some apology, for the various errata which have appeared in this, and the preceding volume.* To those who have been in the habit of reading old MSS, no apology would be necessary:-it would be found in the labour of decyphering characters, so differently formed from those in use, at the present time; in the obliteration of many of the letters, and the difficulty of determining whether a character represented one letter or another.-Most of the errata noted, are merely literals; but even these will not hereafter appear, the Editor having gone almost entirely thro' the manuscripts. In this volume, some very important laws will be found, which had hitherto existed only in MS. The act of 1705, prescribing the various modes of acquiring lands, under the colonial government, and which was in force to the period of the revolution, had been omitten in all our printed revisals. It will be found in this volume. (a) So, the first law authorising the assignment of bonds and obligations, and giving an action against the assignor, which had been omitted, is here inserted. (b) Many other laws, which are important in deducing the history of our Statutes, are comprised in this volume, which will be found in no other printed collection. WILLIAM WALLER HENING. *This remark was applicable to the first edition; in the present edition the errors have been corrected. Nicholas Spencer, Lord Howard, of Eff ingham. Nathaniel LIST OF GOVERNORS OF VIRGINIA, DURING THE PERIOD COMPRISED IN THIS [From a MS belonging to Thomas Jefferson, late President of the United States, and purchased by him from the executor of Richard Bland, decd.] (CONTINUED FROM VOL. 2, PAGE VIII.) NICHOLAS SPENCER continued President [from September, 1683,] 'till the 15th of April, 1684, on which day a commission to Francis lord Howard, dated 28th September, 35, Car. II, (1683) was read. Lord Howard was not present in the General Court, after 22d April, 1687, and then Nathaniel Bacon was president: but lord Howard did not leave the country then, for he signed patents till 20th October, 1688. Nathaniel Bacon continued president all April court Bacon, Pre- 1690: and the 16th of October, 1690, Francis Nicholson, esq. Lieut. Governor was present. sident. Francis Nich Nicholson continued Lieut. Governor till 15th Octoolson, Lieut. ber, 1692, and then he and sir Edmund Andros chief Governor, were both present, all the court. His commission dated 1st March, 4th William & Mary (1693.) Governor. Sir Edmund Sir Edmund Andros continued till 9th December, Andros. 1698, and then Francis Nicholson was chief Governor. Nicholson continued till 15th August, 1705, when Francis Ni cholson, Gov. Edward Nott, esq. came governor. Edward Nott. Edmund Jen Nott continued till August, 1706, and died; and Edmund Jennings, esq. was President. Jennings continued president, till 23d June, 1710, nings, Presi- and then Alexander Spotswood, esq. came in Lieut. dent. Governor. ATT A Generall Bssembly, BEGUN AT JAMES CITTY Lord Howard of Effingham, THE SIXTEENTH DAY OF APRILL, IN THE SIX AND governor. RAIGN LORD CHARLES THE SECOND, BY THE SIX HUNDRED EIGHTY-FOUR. ACT I. An act for altering the time of houlding Edi. 1733 and Generall Courts. 1752. FOR as much as by experience, it is found very Preamble. grievous and burthensome to the inhabitants of this country, that the two generall courts held for this country, in the months of September and November, are The preceding volume terminated with Purvis's printed collection of the laws of Virginia:-This volume commences with the laws which have been preserved in MS. and which were passed after the period embraced by Purvis.-Except Purvis, & Beverley's abridgment, the laws of Virginia existed entirely in MS. till the revisal of 1733.-Three MSS will be used in this volume, the Northumberland MS. designated Northb MS' the Charles City MS. designated Ch. Cit. MS' and the Peyton Randolph MS. designated P. Rand. MS. The first was presented to the editor by the court of Northumberland county; for the two latter, he is indebted to the kindness of Thomas Jefferson, esqr. late President of the U. States.-In referring to the revivals of 1733, 1752 and 1769, where the title only is given: these editions will be noted opposite the title in this volume, where the act at large is inserted in either of these revisals, a similar reference will be made oppo site the comment of the act. *GRAND' in Northb. MS. B |