paid by state Murray, deceas ed, for the use of bly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That 500 dollars to be the state treasurer is hereby authorized and required to pay unto treasurer to exWilliam Murray and John Murray, executors of the last will ecutors of John and testament of John Murray, of Middle Paxton township, Dauphin county, deceased, for the use of his heirs, five hundred dollars, out of any unappropriated money in the treasury: JOHN WEBER, Speaker of the House of Representatives. P. C. LANE, Speaker of the Senate. APPROVED the first day of March, one thousand eight hun dred and eleven. his heirs. SIMON SNYDER. CHAPTER LIV. An ACT for erecting part of the counties of Berks and Northampton into a separate county. WHEREAS the inhabitants of the northern part of Berks and Northampton counties, have, by their petitions, set forth to the general assembly of this state, the great hardships they labour under from being so remote from the present seat of justice and the public offices; and Northamp SECT. I. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That all Parts of Berksthat part of Berks county lying and being within the limits of ton counties the following townships, to wit; The townships of Brunswick, erected into a Schuylkill, Manheim, Norwigian, Upper Mahantango, Lower Mahantango and Pine Grove, in Berks county, and the townships of West Penn and Rush, in Northampton county, shall be, and the same are hereby, according to their present lines, declared to be erected into a county, henceforth to be called Schuylkill. SECT. II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, Enjoy similar That the inhabitants of the said county of Schuylkill be enti- rights and privitled to, and shall at all times hereafter have, all and singular the counties. courts, jurisdictions, offices, rights and privileges, to which the inhabitants of other counties of this state are entitled by the constitution and laws of this commonwealth. leges with other to be Reiff nyder's SECT. III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, Courts, for the That from and after the third Monday of December next, the held a Abraham courts of common pleas and general quarter sessions in and for house in Brunssaid county of Schuylkill, shall be opened and held at the house wick township. now occupied by Abraham Reiffsnyder, in the township of Brunswick, in the said county of Schuylkill, until a court house shall be erected in and for the said county, as herein after directed, and shall be then held at said court house. commenced to be act. SECT. IV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, No suit already That no suit cr prosecution which has been heretofore comaffected by this menced, or which shall be commenced in the courts of the county of Berks before the third Monday of December next, shall be delayed, discontinued or affect d, by this act, but the same shall be issued and done of all such judgments by the sheriff and coroner of Berks county, as if this act had not been passed. Taxes, militia fines &c. to be collected as if SECT. V. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all taxes and arrears of taxes laid, or which have become this act had not due within the county of Schuylkill, before the passing of this act, and all sums of money due to this commonwealth for militia fines in the said county of Schuylkill, shall be collected and recovered as if this act had not been passed. passed, Sh riffs and other county officers to give sureties &c. Berks and 'ties to elect state legislature, jointly. SECT. VI. And be it further enacted by the au hority aforesaid, That the sheriff, treasurer, and prothonotary, and all such officers as have heretofore usually given surety for the faithful discharge of the duties of their respective offices who shall here after be appointed or elected in the said county of Schuylkill, before they or any of them shall enter on the execution thereof, shall give sufficient security, in the same manner and form, and for the same uses trusts and purposes, as such officers for the time being are obliged by law to do in the county of Berks. SECT. VII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the sheriff, coroner and other officers of the county of Berks and Northampton, other than the justices of the peace, shall continue to exercise the duties of their respective offices within the county of Schuylkill, until similar offices shall be appointed agreeably to law within the said county SECT. VIII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, Schuylkill coun- That the inhabitants of the county of Berks and of the county members of the of Schuylkill shall jointly elect five representatives and two senators, to serve in the legislature of this commonwealth, in the same mode, under the same regulations, and make return in the same manner, as is or shall be directed by the laws of this commonwealth for conducting and making returns of the elections of the county of Berks, any thing in this act to the contrary notwithstanding. SECT. IX. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the governor be, and he is hereby authorized and required, on or before the first day of May next ensuing, to appoint three discreet and disinterested persons, not resident in the counties of Berks or Northampton, whose duty it shall be to fix upon a proper and convenient scite for a court house, prison and county offices within the aforesaid county of Schuylkill, as near the centre as the situation thereof will admit, and the said persons, or a majority of them having viewed the relative advantages of the several situations contemplated by the people, shall, on or governor. before the first day of June next, by a written report under To make report their hands and seals or under the hands and seals of a majority in writing to the of them, certify, describe and limit the scite or lot of land which they shall have chosen for the purpose aforesaid, and shall transmit the said report to the governor of the commonwealth, and the persons so as aforesaid appointed, shall receive two dollars and fifty cents per diem for their services, out of the monies to be raised in pursuance of this act. Their compensa tion. . to take assuran SECT. X. and be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, commissioners That it shall and may be lawful for the commissioners of the ces for lands on which he public county of Schuylkill, which shall be elected at the next annual bundings are to election, to take assurance to them or their successors in office be erected; of such lot or piece of ground as shall have been approved of by the persons appointed as aforesaid, or a majority of them, for the purpose of erecting thereon a court house, jail, and offices for the safe keeping of the records, and that for defraying the expenses thereof the said county commissioners are hereby authorized to assess and levy, and collect in the manner directed by the acts for raising county rates and levies, a sufficient sum to defray the expenses thereof. bers of congress SECT. XI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, To elect memThat the said county of Schuylkill shall form a part of the dis- with Berks, trict composed of the counties of Berks, Chester, and Lancaster, for the election of members of congress. Chester and Lancaster. preme court the county which SECT. XII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, Judges of su That the judges of the supreme courts shall have the like powers, their powers in jurisdictions and authorities, within the said county of Schuyl- is connected with kill, as by law they are vested with and entitled to have and ex- district. ercise in other counties of this state; and the said county is hereby annexed to the Lancaster district of the said supreme court. the Lancaster judges to be ap the courts. SECT. XIII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, Two associate That two persons shall be commissioned judges of the courts of pointed. common pleas in and for the said county of Schuylkill, and that courts of common pleas and general quarter sessions of the peace to be holden in and for said county of Schuylkill, shall be opened on the second Monday next following the county courts Time of holding of Wayne county, which shall be held on the third Monday of December next, and then the courts shall be holden each and every succeeding term on the second Mondays following the courts of Wayne county, and the said courts of quarter sessions shall sit four days at each session, if there be occasion and no longer; and the said county of Schuylkill shall be and is hereby ty to belong to declared to belong to the third district, consisting of the counties of Berks, Northampton, and Wayne, and that the president of the courts of common pleas within the said district shall be president of the courts of common pleas of the said county of Schuylkill, and shall have power and authority, according to Schuylkill coun the third district. court of cominon pleas, his President of the the constitution and laws of this commonwealth, to hold courts of powers oyer and terminer and general jail delivery therein, for the in this county. trial of capital and other offenders, and to do and perform all other acts and duties as fully as he may or can do in any other county of the said district. JOHN WEBER, Speaker of the House of Representatives. P. C. LANE, Speaker of the Senate. APPROVED-the first day of March, one thousand eight hun dred and eleven. SIMON SNYDER. into a borough, Its boundaries. CHAPTER LV. An ACT to erect the town of Northampton, in the county of SECT. I. BE it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly Town of North. met, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That the ampton erected town of Northampton, in the county of Northampton, shall be and the same is hereby erected into a borough, which shall be called the "Borough of Northampton," and shall be comprised within the following bounds, to wit; beginning at a post on the northern bank of Little Lehigh creek; thence extending by lands of John Wagner and Abraham Worman, and running along the line dividing the town and the out lots, north, eighteen degrees west, to a stone, the northwestern corner of said town; thence along the line dividing the town and out lots, north, seventy-two degrees east, to a post on the western bank of Jordan creek; thence down the said creek, the several courses thereof, to the junction of the said Lehigh and Jordan creeks; thence up the said Lehigh creek, the several courses thereof, to the place of beginning. Qualification of electors. SECT. II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful for all persons entitled to vote for members of the legislature, who have resided in the said boWhere to hold rough twelve months previous to such election, to meet at the the first election. house of George Savitz, in the said borough, on the first MonPlace thereafter day of May, one thousand eight hundred and eleven, and afterto be appointed wards yearly and every year at the place agreed upon by the corporation, and then and there elect by ballot, between the hours of twelve and six of the same day, one reputable citizen, siding therein, who shall be styled the burgess of the borough, What officers are and five reputable citizens residing therein, to be a town council, and one reputable citizen residing therein to be high constable, and two reputable citizens residing therein to act as road by the corpora tion. Time of holding election. To be by ballot and between certain hours. to be elected. re tion to be chosen First election to constable of the quen ly by the the borough and Election officers affirmation. sult of the elec certificates and the persons elect and street commissioners; but previous to such elections the Officers of elec electors shall choose by ballot two reputable citizens to be by ballot. judges, one inspector, and two clerks of said election; which election of judges, inspector and clerks shall be held the first time by the constable of the said town of Northampton, and af- be held by the terwards by the nigh constable of the said borough, and two re- town, subseputable citizens of the said borough, whom he shall choose as high constable of assistants between the hours of ten and twelve of the day ap- two assistants. pointed for the election of the burgess, council, &c. And the said judges, inspectors and clerks before they enter upon the duties of their respective offices, shall take an oath or affirma- to be on oath or tion before any judge or justice of the peace for the said county, to perform the same with fidelity, and after the said election Publish the reshall be closed shall declare the persons having the greatest num- tion, make out ber of votes to be duly elected, and make out duplicate certifi- transmit them to cates thereof signed by the judges, one of which shall be trans- ed, &c. mitted to each of the persons elected, and the other filed among the records of the corporation, and in case of death, resignation, removal, or refusal to accept of any of the said offices, the town Town council to council shall appoint a reputable citizen to supply such vacancy. fill vacancies. SECT. III. And be it further nacted by the authority aforesa d, That from and after the first Monday of May, one thousand eight hundred and eleven, the burgess and town council duly elected as aforesaid, and their successors shall be one body politic and corporate in law by the name and style of, "The Burgess Style of the cor and Town Council of the Borough of Northampton," and shall have perpetual succession, and the said burgess and town council and their successors shall be capable in law to have, receive, purchase, hold and possess goods and chattels, lands and tenements, Jurisdictions, rents, liberties, jurisdictions, franchises and hereditaments, to franchises, &c. them and their successors in fee simple or otherwise, not exceeding the yearly value of five thousand dollars; also to give, income not to grant, sell, let and assign the same goods, chattels, lands, tene-free ments, hereditaments and rents, by the name and style aforesaid, they shall be capable in law to sue and be sued, plead and be im. Capable of suing pleaded in any of the courts of this commonwealth in all manner of actions whatsoever, and to have and use one common seal, Centered at and the same from time to time at their will, to alter as shall ap- pleasure. pear necessary. poration. Yearly value of exceed 5000 dol and being sued. Common seal to sons elected re ing to serve. How fines are to SECT. IV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, Penalty on per That if any person duly elected as burgess, members of the town fusing or neglectcouncil, high constable, or road and street commissioner as aforesaid, and having received notice thereof as aforesaid, shall be appropriated. refuse or neglect to take upon himself the execution of the office to which he shall have been elected, every person so refusing or neglecting, shall forfeit and pay the sum of ten dollars, which fine and all other fines and forfeitures incurred and made payable in pursuance of this act or the by-laws and ordinances I |