AT A GENERAL ASSEMBLY, BEGUN AND HELD Thomas Jef governor. At the Capitol in the City of Williamsburg, on Monday the fourth day of ferson, esq. October, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy nine, and in the fourth year of the commonwealth. CHAP. I.* [Chan: Rev An act for providing a great seal for I. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That Great seal to the governour, with the advice of the council, be em- be provided powered, and he is hereby required, to provide, at the by execu tive; device publick charge, a great seal for the commonwealth, and motto of and to procure the same to be engraved, either in America or Europe, with the same device as was directed by the resolution of convention, in the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy six; save only that the motto on the reverse be changed to the word PERSEVERANDO, *In the original none of the acts of this session are numbered by chapters, nor are they separated by sections.-Such only as were published in the Chan, Rev, will be so noted in this edition. II. And be it farther enacted, That the seal which Lesser seal, hath been already provided by virtue of the said resoto what acts lution of convention, be henceforward called the lesser affixed. seal of the commonwealth, and that the said lesser seal be affixed to all grants for lands, and to all commissions, civil and military, signed by the governour: Provided nevertheless, That all such commissions heretofore signed and issued, without affixing the seal, shall be good and valid. Officers and soldiers, in service, allowed fur.. ther time to prove their claims for settlement rights, and improve ments on lands. CHAP. II. An act for giving farther time to officers and soldiers to ascertain their claims to lands. WHEREAS many officers and soldiers of the Virginia line, now in the continental army, may have claims to lands on the western waters, from settlements or improvements made thereon, and have it not in their power to attend the commissioners appointed to adjust and ascertain such claims within the time limited for that purpose; for remedy whereof, Be it enacted, That all officers and soldiers of the Virginia line, now in the continental army, shall be allowed twelve months from the time they resign, or are discharged from the service, to ascertain their respective claims to lands by settlements or improvements before the court of the county, wherein the lands they claim may be; and such court is hereby empowered and required to hear and determine such claims in like manner as is prescribed for the commissioners of the several dis-. tricts on the western waters. CHAP. III. p. 108.] An act for discouraging extensive [Chan. Rev. credits, and repealing the act prescribing the method of proving book debts. I. WHEREAS the method of proving book debts, Act of 1748 and the long and extensive credits formerly given by (Vol. 6, p. merchants and traders, hath been found by experi- 53) repealed ence injurious to the people of this commonwealth: Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That from and after the first day of May next, the act entitled “ An act prescribing the method of proving book debts, shall be, and the same is hereby repealed; except only so far as relates to goods, wares, and merchandize, sold and delivered, or debts contracted before the said first day of May. Limitation of actions, on store ac. II. And be it farther enacted, That all actions or suits founded upon account for goods, wares, and merchandize, sold and delivered, or for any articles charg- counts. ed in any store account, after the said first day of May, shall be commenced and sued within six months next, after the cause of such action or suit, or the delivery of such goods, wares and merchandize, and not after; except that in case of the death of the creditors or debtors, before the expiration of the said term of six months, the further time of twelve months from the death of such creditor or debtor, shall be allowed for the commencement of any such action or suit. And to prevent imposition or deception herein, the respec- Delivery of tive time or date of the delivery of the several articles charged in any such account, or of any receipt taken for the delivery of them, shall be particularly specified. And if any merchant or trader shall wilfully post-date, any article or articles in such account, Penalty for or the receipt taken for the delivery of them, he shall post-dating. forfeit and pay tenfold the amount of the article or articles, or of the receipt taken for the delivery of them, so post-dated, to be recovered with costs in any court of record, by petition where the penalty incurred shall be under five pounds, or amounts to that sum only, and by action of debt or information, where the pen articles to be dated. 1 tation to commence. . alty shall be more than five pounds, to the informer, where the informer prosecutes, or to the commonwealth, where the prosecution shall be first instituted When limi- on the publick behalf. And to prevent any doubt in the construction hereof, it is hereby declared, that the before mentioned limitation of six months, shall take place and be computed from the respective dates or times of delivery of the several articles entered or charged in any such account, and that all such articles as shall have been of more than six months standing when the action or suit was commenced, shall be disallowed and rejected, and verdict shall be given or judgment rendered for no more than the amount of such articles as appear to have been actually charged or delivered, within six months next before the commencement of the suit, as aforesaid. Courts and cia to take notice of this act. III. And be it farther enacted, That every court and juries ex off- jury, by or before whom, any such action or suit shall be tried, shall, and they are hereby required, ex officio, to take notice of this act, and determine accordingly, although the defendant shall not have pleaded it, in the same manner as if the same had been specially pleaded; any law, custom, or usage to the contrary notwithstanding. Town of Boonsbo rough, in Kentucky county established. CHAP. IV. An act for establishing the town of WHEREAS it hath been represented to this present general assembly, that the inhabitants of the township called Boonsborough, lying on Kentuckey river, in the county of Kentuckey, have laid off twenty acres of land into lots and streets, and have petitioned this assembly that the said lots and streets, together with fifty acres of land adjoining thereto may be laid off into lots and streets, and established a town for the reception of traders; and that six hundred and forty ! acres of land allowed by law to every such township for a common may also be laid off adjoining thereto: Be it therefore enacted, That the said fifty acres of land adjoining the said forty lots already laid off, shall be, and the same is hereby vested in Richard Callaway, Charles Minn Thruston, Levin Powell, Edmund Taylor, James Estre, Edward Bradley, John Kennedy, David Gist, Pemberton Rollings, and Daniel Boon, gentlemen, trustees, to be by them, or any six of them, laid out into lots of half an acre each, with convenient streets, which, together with the lots and streets so laid off in the said township shall be, and the same is hereby established a town, by the name of Boonsborough. And be it farther enacted, That so soon as the said fifty acres of land shall be so laid out into lots and streets, the said trustees shall cause a plan thereof, together with a plan of the said township as.the same is already laid off, to be returned to the court of the said county of Kentuckey, there to be recorded; and the said trustees, or any six of them, are hereby empowered to convey the said lots to the persons first making application, to hold the said lots respectively subject to the condition of building on each of the said lots a dwelling-house, sixteen feet square at least, with a brick, stone, or dirt chimney, to be finished fit for habitation, within three years from the date of their respective deeds; and the said trustees are moreover empowered and directed to convey the lots now held by any person in the said township, to hold to such person for the like estates, and subject to the like conditions with those holding lots laid out of the said fifty acres of land. That so soon as they shall have built upon and saved the said lots according to the condition of their respective deeds of conveyance, the said inhabitants shall then be entitled to and have and enjoy all the rights, privileges, and immunities which the freeholders and inhabitants of other towns in this state, not incorporated by charter, hold and enjoy. If any person taking a conveyance of a lot in the said town shall fair fold thereon within the time before limited, the said stees, or the major part of them, may there upon ento such lot and sell the same, and apply the monewards repairing the streets, or in any ot er way fo benefit of the said town. The said |