same manner as the tax of ten shillings per hundred is accounted for.

to enter war

the surveyor

IV. And be it farther enacted, That the farther time Further time of eighteen months be given to all persons who may rants on preobtain certificates from the said commissioners for pre-emption ceremptions on their obtaining warrants from the regis- tificates with ter of the land office to enter the same with the surveyor of the respective counties in which their claims were adjusted: Provided that the court of commissioners for the district of the counties of Monongalia, Yohogania, and Ohio, do not use or exercise any jurisdiction respecting claims to lands within the territory in dispute between the states of Virginia and Pennsylvania north of Mason's and Dixon's line, until such dispute shall be finally adjusted and settled.

All claims

claimed by

V. And be it farther enacted, That all surveys upon entries, the execution of all warrants, and the issuing within the of patents for lands within the said territory shall also territory be suspended until the said dispute shall have been fi- Pennsylvanally adjusted and settled; but that such suspension nia, suspenshall not be construed in any manner to injure or af- ded. fect the title of any person claiming such lands. And whereas the business of the commissioners for seitling the claims to unpatented hands, will be much lessened in the counties of Monongalia, Yohogania, and Ohio: Be it therefore enacted, That the governour with the advice of council, be empowered to appoint commissioners within or without the said district as he may think reasonable: And to the end that pre-emption certificates heretofore granted by the commissioners of any district, and not returned to the register's office for want of time, or other impracticability, may not be lost to the holders thereof. Be it enacted, That where such pre-emption certificates may have been, or may hereafter be lost out of the owners possession, he pre-emption or she upon a certificate from a court of record of such certificates, loss, which shall be granted upon satisfactory proofing in case and providbeing made to such court, shall be entitled to receive of their loss. from the register a warrant thereupon, in the same. manner as he or she might have done upon the original certificate; that the farther time of twelve months after the passing of this act, shall be allowed to such persons to return the said certificates to the register's office for obtaining a warrant, and four months thereafter to enter the same with the surveyor of the coun

Furthertime

to return

Lost warrants, how renewed.

Regulations

warrants for

tion of 1763.

ty, which entries shall be good and valid as though they had been entered within the time heretofore prescribed by the said recited act.

VI. And whereas many warrants from the register, may have been, or may hereafter be casually lost: Be it enacted, That upon satisfactory proof thereof being made, before any court of record, the owner shall obtain from such court a certificate, which shall authorize the register to issue a duplicate of such warrant, which shall have the same force as the original would have had; but such original shall be void, unless a grant shall be actually issued upon such original before application for the duplicate.

VII. And whereas some doubts have arisen upon concerning the construction of the acts, directing the granting military ser- warrants for land due for military service under the vice under king of Great Britain's proclamation in the year one proclamathousand seven hundred and sixty three: It is hereby declared that no officer, his heirs, executors, adminis trators, or assigns, shall be entitled to a warrant of survey for any other or greater quantity of land than was due to him, her, or them, in virtue of the highest commission or rank in which such officer had served, nor in virtue of more than one such commission for services in different regiments or corps, nor shall any non-commissioned officer or soldier be entitled to a bounty for land under the said proclamation, for his service in more than one regiment or corps.

Further re gulations.

VIII. And it is farther declared, That the register shall not issue to any person or persons whatever, his or their heirs or assigns, a grant for land for more than one service, as above described, nor to those who have received warrants for services since October one thousand seven hundred and sixty three, notwithstanding a warrant or warrants may have been heretofore issued, and the land surveyed, unless the claimant shall within six months from the end of this present session of assembly, produce to the said register, the auditors certificate for the payment of the state price of forty pounds per hundred, for the quantity of land in such warrant or warrants; and if such money is not so paid, that then the said warrants or surveys shall be to all intents and purposes void; and that the register may be able to comply with this law, he is hereby directed to make out, and keep an alphabetical list of all mili

tary warrants issued under the former, as well as the present government; in case of any assignment making therein, the name of every assignor, and the several surveyors with whom military warrants obtained under the former government, have been lodged or located, are directed to transmit to the register in the month of November next, or before that time, a list of all such warrants.

CHAP. X.

p. 123.]

An act for calling in and redeeming [Chan. Rev. the money now in circulation, and for emitting and funding new bills of credit, according to the resolutions of Congress of the eighteenth of March last.

1. WHEREAS the just and necessary war into Preamble. which the United States have been driven, obliged congress to emit bills of credit before the several states were sufficiently organized to enforce the collection of taxes, or funds could be established to support the cre- The state's dit of such bills; by which means the bills so emitted quota of consoon exceeded the sum necessary for a circulating metinental mo. dium, and consequently depreciated so as to create an state papers ney and all alarming redundancy of money, whereby it is become to be called necessary to reduce the quantity of such bills; to call in and dein and destroy the excessive mass of money now in stroyed.

circulation; and to utter other bills, on funds which shall ensure the redemption thereof. And whereas the certain consequences of not calling in and redeeming the money now in circulation in the depreciated value at which it hath been generally received would be to encrease the national debt thirty nine times greater than it really is, and consequently subject the good people of this commonwealth to many years of grievous and unnecessary taxation. And since congress

VOL.

F2

es.

by their resolution of the eighteenth of March last have called upon the several states to make proper provision for the purposes aforesaid; Be it therefore enacted by the General Assembly, That for the purpose of calling in and destroying this state's quota of the two hundred millions of dollars of continental money heretofore issued by congress; and also for calling in and destroying in like manner the money of this state now in circulation, whether emitted by the convention, or by the general assembly, either before or since the revolution, the following fund shall be appropriated, and the following taxes imposed. The product of the several The taxes taxes which are receivable in the months of August payable in August an1 and September of the present year, in virtue of the act September passed in the year one thousand seven hundred and of this year seventy seven, entitled "An act for raising a supply of applied thereto. money for the publick exigencies," and of the several subsequent acts amendatory thereof, shall be applied to the said purpose of calling in and destroying the said money as before described: And in aid thereof, Be it farther enacted, That a new tax be levied and Further tax collected by a general assessment of all and every article or articles of property directed to be valued and assessed by the act of one thousand seven hundred and seventy seven; and also on plate, according to its real value, except only that the said valuations and assessment shall be in specie, as the same or the like property would have sold in the year one thousand seven Commission- hundred and seventy four, for ready money; and that an average price may be affixed to landed property within the respective counties, the commissioners of the tax shall, on or before the first day of October next, call together their several assessors, to meet at such place as they shall appoint, and shall then and Their oath there administer to them the following oath. "I on that oc- do swear, or affirm, that I will, when called on by the commissioners of the tax for my county, truly, candidly, and without reserve, declare the worth of the several kinds of lands within my county as they would have sold for in ready money in the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy four, for specie, had the same been sold separately from other lands. So help me God." The said commissioners shall then proceed to describe the lands of their county (except lots in towns, which shall be separately valued by the asses

ers and assessors to meet and class the lands.

casion.

sors of the hundred in which such lots shall be) in so many general classes, not exceeding six, as their dif ferent natures or kinds may require; and shall call on each assessor singly to declare, under the obligation of his oath or affirmation, what he thinks each several kind of the said land would have sold for by the acre for ready money in the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy four, which several opinions they shall state in writing for each kind of land separately, and shall add together the sums at which the same kind of land is rated by the several assessors, and then divide the aggregate sum by the number of persons whose opinions were stated, and shall take the quotient or the sum nearest thereto, so as to avoid the difficulty of fractions, which may be thus approved by a majority of the said assessors, as the average price of such kind of land, and so shall proceed to deduce an average price for every other kind into which they shall have classed the land of their county as before directed but lots of land in towns, ferry landings, mines of coal or metal, mills, and all other buildings, shall not be included within any class, but shall be valued by the assessors within whose bounds they are, as the same or the like would now sell for in specie. One of the said commissioners shall then administer to the said assessors, the following oath or affirmation."] swear or affirm, that I will, to the best of my skill and General oati: judgment, value and assess the several parcels of land. within the bounds of my assessment as now classed and described; that I will faithfully, justly, and impartially value all other property to be assessed under this act, in gold or silver, as the same or the like property would have sold in the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy four, had the same been sold separately from other property of the same kind; that I will spare none for favour or affection, and none aggrieve for hatred, malice, or ill-will, but in all things do my duty of an assessor honestly, impartially, and to the best of my abilities. So help me God." And if any assessor was not present at the meeting, the said Rule if a dir last mentioned oath shall be administered to him by a opinion becommissioner or magistrate, before he shall proceed to tween them. assess. And if in the course of the said assessment the assessors shall differ in opinion, the medium between the two sums shall be taken as the true value of any kind of property.

do

of assessors.

ference in