Petition for property. A. D. 1791. personal, and shall have arrived to the age of twenty-one years, or be married, to apply by petition to the court of equity or common pleas, (at the option of the party,) for a writ of partition, to be directed to certain distribution of commissioners, authorizing and requiring them to divide the said estate; and the court shall thereupon issue a writ of partition, in the same manner as is directed for the admeasurement of dower, by an Act entitled "An act for the more easy and expeditious obtaining the admeasurement of dower to widows, of the lands of which their deceased husbands were seized in fee at any time during their marriage;" and the commissioners so to be appointed, being first duly sworn fairly and impartially to discharge their duty, shall proceed to execute the said writ, and return the same to the court; and when the said estate cannot, in the opinion of the commissioners, be fairly and equally divided between the parties interested therein, without manifest injury to them, or some or one of them, then they shall make a special return of the whole property and the value thereof, truly appraised, and certify their opinion to the court whether it will be most for the benefit of all parties to deliver over to one or more of the parties interested therein the property which cannot be fairly divided, upon the payment of a sum of money to be assessed by the said commissioners, or to sell the same at public auction; and the court shall proceed to consider and determine the same, and if it shall appear to the court that it will be for the benefit of all parties interested in the said estate that the same should be vested in one person or more persons entitled to a portion of the same, on the payment of a sum of money, they shall determine accordingly; and the said person or persons, on the payment of the consideration money, shall be vested with the estate so adjudged to them, as fully and absolutely as the ancestor was vested. But if it shall appear to the court that it would be more for the interest of the parties that the same should be sold, then they shall direct a sale to be made, on such a credit and on such terms as to them shall seem right; and the property so sold shall stand pledged for the payment of the purchase money. Judges to VIII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the judges of the respective courts shall be, and they are hereby, authorized make rules, &c from time to time to make such rules and orders as may be necessary for the purpose of carrying the foregoing clause into effect. IX. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That this Act shall commence its operation on the first day of May next, but not sooner. In the Senate House, the nineteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one, and in the fifteenth year of the Independence of the United States of America. DAVID RAMSAY, President of the Senate. JACOB READ, Speaker of the House of Representatives. No. 1490. AN ACT to establish a Court of Equity within this State. (Passed February 19, 1791. See last volume.) A. D. 1791. AN ACT to amend the several Acts for establishing and regulating the No. 1491. Circuit Courts throughout this State. AN ACT to amend the several Acts for establishing County Courts; No. 1492. and for regulating and amending the proceedings therein; and for suspending the County Courts in the districts of Orangeburgh and Beaufort; and ascertaining the duties of justices of the peace throughout the State. (Passed February 19, 1791. See last volume.) AN ACT TO SUSPEND THE OPERATION OF THE LIMITATION ACT FOR No. 1493. THE TIME THEREIN MENTIONED. ed for a limited period. I. Be it enacted, by the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives, now met and sitting in General Assembly, and by the authority of Acts suspendthe same, That the operation of an Act entitled "An Act for settling the titles of the inhabitants of this province to their possessions in their estates within the same, and for limitation of 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, detenue, covenant, and assumpsit, until the twenty-fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three. II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That no person who, on the twenty-sixth day of March next, would be barred by or Barring the recovery of profor want of prosecution from the recovery of any lands or real estates, perty. shall be barred on that day; but that every such person shall be barred on the first day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one. In the Senate House, the nineteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one, and in the fifteenth year of the Independence of the United States of America. DAVID RAMSAY, President of the Senate. JACOB READ, Speaker of the House of Representatives. A. D. 1791. No. 1494. AN ACT FOR GRADUALLY CALLING IN AND SINKING THE PAPER MEDIUM Preamble. borrowers of the paper medim, and their securities. ISSUED BY VIRTUE OF AN ACT ENTITLED 'AN ACT TO ESTABLISH A WHEREAS, it is necessary to call in and sink the paper medium circulating in this State, as speedily as possible; : 1. Be it enacted, by the honorable the Senate and House of RepresenManner of col- tatives, in General Assembly now met and sitting, and by the authority lecting debts of of the same, That the borrowers of the paper medium, and the purchasers of property sold by the commissioners of the loan office, who have assumed the debts of any of the borrowers, shall be obliged to pay into the hands of the commissioners of the loan office one year's interest on the first Wednesday in March next, and the same shall and may be recovered in the way and manner prescribed in the Act entitled "An Act to establish a medium of circulation by way of loan, and to secure its utility," passed the twelfth day of October, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-five. And they shall also be obliged to pay to the commissioners of the loan office one-seventh part of the principal sum borrowed, on the second Wednesday in May next, and the same shall be recovered in the manner following the commissioners, or a majority of them, shall, within two weeks immediately following the said second Wednesday in May next, (having previously advertised the names of the defaulters in the Gazettes of Charleston and Columbia, with a notice that suits will be commenced as hereby prescribed,) commence suits on the bonds, and proceed to foreclose the mortgages, of such of the borrowers and other debtors as may make default in the payment of the said proportion of their respective debts, for three-fifths of the principal sum borrowed; and such suits and proceedings shall be carried on without delay, and conducted to judgment, decree, and execution, as soon as possible; and as soon as the money is recovered, the same shall be defaced and destroyed in the manner hereinafter directed: provided, nevertheless, that upon the payment of the said one-seventh part of the principal debt by any of the said borrowers or other debtors, together with the costs of suit, at any time before judgment is actually obtained, such suits shall and may be discharged and ended with respect to such borrowers. And the borrowers and other debtors shall be obliged to pay one-fifth part of the original principal sum borrowed, and the whole of the interest then due, on the first Wednesday in March, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two, and so on annually, until the whole sum borrowed, with the interest thereon, shall be fully paid and discharged, in paper medium or gold and silver; and if default be made in the payment thereof at any of the times the same is hereby made payable, the treasurer hereinafter mentioned shall, on the Wednesday four weeks then immediately following, (having for three weeks previously thereto advertised the mortgaged property for sale in the Gazettes in Charleston and Columbia,) expose to public sale, to the highest bidder, the whole property so mortgaged or pledged by such defaulters, for ready money, in the paper medium or gold or silver coin current in this State; and the paper medium paid to or recovered by the commissioners or treasurer, in the manner herein prescribed, shall be immediately defaced by them in such manner as to prevent its future currency, and shall be then delivered to a joint committee of the Senate and House of Representa tives, to be by them burnt; except the interest which will be due and payable on the first Wednesday in March next, which stands pledged to pay so much of the foreign debt. A. D. 1791. II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That in case any property should be directed to be sold by the commissioner aforesaid Commissioners on account of the proprietor not having complied with the terms of this authorized to buy in property Act, and it shall appear clearly and evidently to the said commissioner, for the State in that the property about to be sold will be disposed of so considerably be- certain cases. low its intrinsic value as that the interest of the State will be materially injured thereby, the said commissioners is hereby authorized and empowered to purchase the property so offered for sale, for and on account of the State. to be burnt III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if at any time during the progress of calling in the said paper medium, any of Paper medium the borrowers shall choose to pay in the whole sum borrowed, together when redeemed with the interest thereon, the commissioners shall be obliged to receive the same, and shall deface and deliver the sums paid in to the joint committee of the Senate and House of Representatives, to be burnt, as in manner before directed. IV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the eleventh clause of the Act entitled "An Act to regulate the payment and Former act recovery of debts, and to prohibit the importation of negroes, for the time repealed. therein limited," passed the fourth day of November, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, giving an option to purchasers at sheriffs or other officers sale, to make payments in the paper medium, or in gold or silver, be, and the same is hereby, repealed. received by the V. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That until the whole of the said paper bills shall be called in and sunk by the operation of Bills to be this Act, they shall pass in payment to the treasury of this State, in discharge te until of all debts, duties, and taxes, which may grow due and payable to the called in. treasury, and also in payment of the civil list expenses, and all the contingent charges of Government. VI. And be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That should any Public faith deficiency arise from the failure of the borrowers of the paper medium, make good any pledged to that the public faith be, and the same is hereby, pledged, to make good deficiency. the said deficiency. Commissioners VII. And be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the office and salary of the commissioners of the loan office shall cease after the first day to render an of June, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one, and that the said account of their commissioners shall deliver over to the treasurer in Charleston, all the transactions to the Legislature books, papers, and paper medium, relative to the said loan office, taking the treasurer's receipt for the same, and to render an account of their transactions in the said loan office to both branches of the Legislature at their meeting in November next; and that the powers and authorities and duties vested in the commissioners of the loan office, from and after the first day of June next, be, and the same are hereby, vested in the said treasurer. In the Senate House, the nineteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-one, and in the fifteenth year of the Independence of the United States of America. DAVID RAMSAY, President of the Senate. JACOB READ, Speaker of the House of Representatives. A. D. 1791. No. 1495. AN ACT FOR ESTABLISHING THE MODE OF GRANTING THE LANDS NOW VACANT IN THIS STATE, AND FOR ALLOWING A COMMUTATION TO BE RECEIVED FOR SOME LANDS THAT HAVE BEEN GRANTED. Preamble. Parts of former acts repealed. WHEREAS, all the valuable lands in this State have already been granted, and such as are now vacant will remain so, if the sum of ten dollars, in indents, be required by the public for every hundred acres thereof, and no taxes will be paid for the same: I. Be it therefore enacted, by the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives, now met and sitting in General Assembly, and by the authority of the same, That so much of the first and second sections of an Act entitled "An Act for establishing the mode and conditions of surveying and granting the vacant lands within this State," passed the twenty-first day of March, 1784, and that so much of the first section of an Act entitled "An Act to alter and amend an Act entitled an Act for establishing the mode and conditions of surveying and granting the vacant lands within this State, and for other purposes therein mentioned," passed the 24th of March, 1785, as relate to the granting and selling such lands within this State as are now vacant, at the rate of ten dollars for every hundred acres, be, and the same is hereby, repealed; and that such vacant lands be granted to any citizens applying for the same, on paying the fees of office. II. And whereas, grants for many thousand acres of land within this Former grants. State have been obtained at the rate of ten dollars, in indents, for every hundred acres, and some of the grantees have suffered their grants to remain in the secretary's office without applying for them, and where such lands have been put up for sale by the treasurers on account of the nonpayment of the said ten dollars per hundred acres, the sums produced by such sales were very trifling; Be it therefore enacted by the authority aforesaid, That where lands have been so granted, and have not been resold by the treasurers, it shall and may be lawful for the treasurers, and they are hereby required, on receiving four shillings and eight pence, specie or paper medium, from the grantees of the said land, for every hundred acres thereof, in lieu of ten dollars in indents, to give the grantee paying such commutation a discharge for the same, and an order on the secretary of State to receive his grant on paying the fees; and the said secretary is hereby required, on receiving such order and payment, to deliver the grants to the grantees respectively who shall be so entitled to them. Commissioners to sell grants not called for within twelve months. Grants to be III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all grants of land in the secretary's office, and which shall not be taken out within twelve months from the passing of this Act, be then sold to the highest bidder by the commissioners of the treasury. IV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That where any person or persons have paid aggregate sums into the treasury as a porsold when not tion or part of the purchase money due to the State for divers tracts of specified and paid for. land, without ascertaining the particular tract or tracts which they would be understood so to have paid for, that in all such cases the commissioners of the treasury may sell such tract or tracts, or as much thereof as may be sufficient to make up the balance due to the State, as have been granted to such person, and are not paid for, as they may think proper, at public sale, under and by virtue of this Act. V. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the Governor for the time being be, and he is hereby, authorized and empowered |