ARTICLES OF AMENDMENT, ADOPTED NOVEMBER, 1854. Sessions of the ARTICLE I. Ir shall not be necessary for the town or ward clerks to keep and transmit to the general assembly a list or register of all persons voting for general officers; but the general assembly shall have power to pass such laws on the subject as they may deem expedient. ARTICLE II. The governor, by and with the advice and consent of the senate, shall hereafter exclusively exercise the pardoning power, except in cases of impeachment, to the same extent as such power is now exercised by the general assembly. ARTICLE III. There shall be one session of the general assembly holden angeneral assem- nually, commencing on the last Tuesday in May, at Newport, and bly. an adjournment from the same shall be holden annually at Providence. ARTICLE OF AMENDMENT, ADOPTED AUGUST, 1864. Electors absent from the state in the military service of the United States, allowed to vote. ARTICLE IV. Electors of this state who, in time of war, are absent from the state in the actual military service of the United States, being otherwise qualified, shall have a right to vote in all elections in the state for electors of president and vice-president of the United States, representatives in congress, and general officers of the state. The general assembly shall have full power to provide by law for carrying this article into effect; and until such provision shall be made by law, every such absent elector, on the day of such elections, may deliver a written or printed ballot, with the names of the persons voted for thereon, and his christian and surname, and his voting residence in the state, written at length on the back thereof, to the officer commanding the regiment or company to which he belongs; and all such ballots, certified by such commanding officer to have been given by the elector whose name is written thereon, and returned by such commanding officer to the secretary of state within the time prescribed by law for counting the votes in such elections, shall be received and counted with the same effect as if given by such elector in open town, ward, or district meeting; and the clerk of each town or city, until otherwise provided by law, shall within five days after any such election, transmit to the secretary of state a certified list of the names of all such electors on their respective voting lists. STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS. IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-TWO. GENERAL STATUTES OF THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS. AN ACT COMPRISING THE GENERAL STATUTES OF THE STATE. It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows: — TITLE I. OF THE JURISDICTION AND CIVIL DIVISIONS OF THE STATE. CHAPTER 1. Of the jurisdiction of the state, and of land ceded to the United States. CHAPTER 2. Of the acquiring of jurisdiction of lands by the United States, within this state. CHAPTER 3. Of counties. CHAPTER 4. Of towns. Territorial limits of the state. Jurisdiction of the state. Places ceded to the United States, and subject to state process. CHAPTER 1. OF THE JURISDICTION OF THE STATE, AND OF LAND CEDED SECTION 1. Territorial limits of the state. SECTION 3. Places ceded to the United States, and subject to state process. SECTION 1. The territorial limits of this state extend one marine league from its sea-shore at high-water mark. When an inlet or arm of the sea does not exceed two marine leagues in width between its headlands, a straight line from one headland to the other is equivalent to the shore-line. The boundary of counties bordering on the sea extends to the line of the state, as above defined. SEC. 2. The jurisdiction of the state shall extend to, and embrace, all places within the boundaries thereof, except as to those places that have been ceded to the United States, or have been purchased by the United States with the consent of the state. SEC. 3. The tracts of land herein after referred to are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States, subject to the reservations and conditions contained in the acts of the general assembly ceding jurisdiction thereof, respectively: Provided, that all civil and criminal process issued under the authority of this state may be executed thereon in the same way and manner as if the jurisdiction of said lands had not been ceded, that is to say, A tract of land at Beaver Tail, in the south part of the town of Jamestown; A tract of land at Watch Hill, in the town of Westerly; A tract of land at Point Judith, in South Kingstown; A tract of land at Poplar Point, in the town of North Kingstown; A tract of land on the northwest point of Block Island, in the town of New Shoreham ; A tract of land at Nayatt Point, in the town of Barrington; A tract of land at Sandy Point, on the island of Prudence, in the town of Portsmouth; An island or place in the harbor of Newport, known as Lime Rock; A lot of land near Bristol Ferry, in the town of Bristol; An island in the outer channel of Providence River known as "Pomham Rock;" with "Fuller's Rocks,” in Providence River, and so much of the land below high-water mark as is within the circle of one hundred feet radius from the centre of the light-house, beaconlight, or range-light, at said Fuller's Rocks; and so much land below high-water mark as is included within a circle of one hundred feet radius from the centre of the light-house, beacon-light, or range-light at Sassafras Point, in said Providence River; all of which several tracts of land have been acquired by the United States, as sites for light-houses. A tract of land on Brenton's Neck, in Newport, being the site of Fort Adams; Goat Island in the harbor of Newport, being the site of Fort Walcott and a light house; Dutch Island, between Jamestown and South Kingstown, purchased for the purpose of a light-house, and the location of a fort; An island called Castle Island, at the entrance of Bristol harbor; An island between Newport and Jamestown, known as Rose Island, ceded for a fort; A lot of land on the east side of Weybosset Street, in the city of Providence, purchased for a custom-house, post-office, and United States court room; A lot of land on the west side of South Main Street, in the city of Providence, purchased as a site for a custom-house; A lot of land on the east side of Thames Street, in the city of Newport, purchased for a custom-house; A lot of land in the town of Bristol, purchased for a post-office and custom-house. CHAPTER 2. OF THE ACQUIRING OF JURISDICTION OF LANDS BY THE SECTION 1. The consent of the state of Rhode Island is given to the purchase by the government of the United States, or under the authority of the same, of any tract, piece or parcel of land, from any person within the limits of the state, for the purpose of erecting thereon light-houses, beacon-lights, range-lights, life saving stations, and light-keeper's dwellings and other needful public buildings connected therewith; and all deeds, conveyances, or title papers for the same shall be recorded, as in other cases, upon the land records of the town in which the land so conveyed may lie. The consent herein given being in accordance with the seventeenth clause of the eighth section of the first article of the constitution of the United States, and with the acts of congress is such cases made and provided. SEC. 2. The lots, parcels, or tracts of land so selected, together with the tenements and appurtenances for the purposes before mentioned, shall be held exempt from taxation by the state of Rhode Island. SEC. 3. All civil and criminal process issued under the authority of this state, or any officer thereof, may be executed on said lands, and in the buildings that may be erected thereon, in the same manner as if jurisdiction had not been ceded as aforesaid. SEC. 4. Whenever it shall be made to appear to the supreme court of this state, or to any justice thereof, upon the application of any authorized agent of the United States, that said United States are desirous of purchasing any tract of land, and the right of way thereto, within the limits of this state, for the erection of a light-house, beacon-light, range-light, life saving station, or light-keeper's dwelling, and that the owner of said land is unknown, non-resident or a minor, Disposition of purchase money. or from any other cause is incapable of making a perfect title to said lands, or in case the said owners, being residents and capable of conveying, shall, from disagreement in price, or from any other cause, refuse to convey said lands to the United States, the said court, or justice, shall order notice upon said application to be published in the newspaper published nearest where the land lies; also, a notice in a newspaper published in Newport, and a like notice to be published in a newspaper in Providence, once in each week for the space of four months, which notice shall contain an accurate description of the said lands, together with the names of the owners, or supposed owners, and shall require all persons interested in said lands to come forward on a day and at a place, to be specified in said notice, and to make their objections, if any they have, to having the lands condemned to the United States for the use aforesaid. Whereupon, the said court or justice shall proceed to empanel a jury, as in other cases, to appraise the value of said lands, at their fair market value, and all damages sustained by the owners thereof by the appropriation thereof by the United States for the purpose aforesaid; which award, when so assessed, with the entire costs of said proceedings, shall be paid into the general treasury of the state, and thereupon the sheriff of the county in which such land lies, upon the production of the certificate of the general treasurer that the said amount has been paid, shall execute to the United States, and deliver to their authorized agent, a deed of the said lands, reciting the proceedings in said cause, which said deed shall convey to the United States a good and absolute title to the said lands, for the purposes aforesaid, against all persons whatsoever. SEC. 5. The money so paid into the general treasury shall there remain until it is ordered to be paid out to the person who is entitled to receive the same, by the order of the said court. Newport. Providence. Washington. SECTION 1. Newport. 2. Providence. 3. Washington. CHAPTER 3. OF COUNTIES. SECTION 5. Kent. 6. Counties separated by or bordering on public waters. - Narragansett Bay, in what county. SECTION 1. The city of Newport, and the towns of Portsmouth, New Shoreham, Jamestown, Middletown, Little Compton, and Tiverton, shall constitute the county of Newport; and Newport shall be the county town. SEC. 2. The city of Providence, and the towns of Smithfield, Scituate, Gloucester, Cumberland, Cranston, Johnston, North Providence, Foster, Burrillville, East Providence, Pawtucket, Woonsocket, North Smithfield, and Lincoln, shall constitute the county of Providence; and Providence shall be the county town. SEC. 3. The towns of South Kingstown, North Kingstown, Westerly, Charlestown, Exeter, Richmond, and Hopkinton shall constitute the county of Washington; and South Kingstown shall be the county town. |