Acts relating to the City of Charleston. the penalty of being liable to an action, and to the payment of such damages as shall be assessed by the verdict of a jury, to any person or persons who shall have supplied materials or done any work to the said street, and who have not as yet been paid for such materials or work; which assessment shall be made on the several owners and proprietors of lands hereafter mentioned, according to the breadth of their respective lots, at the following rates, in four different classes, (viz.) First class to consist of the owners of lands from the wall of Mr. Sommer's lot, at the corner of East Bay-street, in a line to Ashley river; second class, the owners of lots on Stoll's alley, that front on the canal or Water-street leading from the flood gate, that join the canal, or are washed by the tide; third class, the owners of lots on the east side of Church-street continued, from Young's bridge to the end of Broughton's battery, including those in Lynch's lane, who do not join the canal; fourth class, the owners of lots on the west side of Church-street continued, from Mr. Young's house to the end of Broughton's battery, both inclusive; and that the rates of assessment be as follows, (viz.) the first class to pay at the rate of twenty shillings per foot; second class, at the rate of twelve shillings per foot; third class, at the rate of five shillings per foot; fourth class, at the rate of four shillings per foot; and so in proportion, more or less, as the expenses of compleating the said work may require. In the Senate House, the twenty-ninth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-eight, and in the twelfth year of the Indepen. dence of the United States of America. JOHN LLOYD, President of the Senate. JOHN J. PRINGLE, Speaker of the House of Representatives. A. D. 1789. IN AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE COMMISSIONERS FOR CONTINUING EAST No. 1442. THE SAME. 66 THIS WHEREAS, it is found necessary to alter the mode of assessment for continuing East Bay street to Ashley River. I. Be it enacted by the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives, now met and sitting in General Assembly, and by the authority VOL. VII.-14. A D. 1789. Acts relating to the City of Charleston. of the same; That East Bay street, for the present, shall be continued from the wall of Granville's Bastion to Ashley River, thirty feet wide; and that the remaining part of the land laid out for the said street be, and is hereby, vested in the corporation of the city of Charleston, for the sole purpose of completing the said street to the full width of East Bay street as it now is. II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the exExpense, how pense of making and completing of East Bay street, from the wall of to be assessed. Granville's Bastion to Ashley River, thirty feet wide, shall be borne and paid by the owners of lands adjoining and contiguous thereto; and that the commissioners formerly appointed, or such others as the city council may appoint, be, and they, or a majority of them, are hereby authorized and empowered to, assess the owners and proprietors of the lands hereafter mentioned, for the expenses aforesaid, as well those already incurred as those to be incurred, in the following manner, that is to say:-The owners and proprietors of all lands from the wall of Mr. Somers's lot, at the corner of East Bay street, in a line to Ashley River, at forty shillings per foot front; and the owners of lots on Stoll's alley, that front on the Canal leading from the Flood-gate to Young's Bridge, and all the lands within the Flood-gate, shall pay twenty-four shillings per foot; and the owners of lots on the East side of Church street continued, from Mr. Young's Bridge to where formerly stood Broughton's Battery, inclusive, shall pay at the rate of sixteen shillings per foot; and the owners of all lands on the west side of Church street continued, from Mr. Young's house, inclusive, to Ashley River, shall pay at the rate of twelve shillings per foot; Provided nevertheless, that any owner or proprietor of lands fronting on the said street, who shall, within six months after the passing of this Act, make and complete the street in front of his, her or their land respectively, of the same dimentions with other parts of the said street, and approved by the commissioners for completing the said street, shall be exempted from any assessment for any part of the expense incurred or to be incurred for making and completing East Bay street as aforesaid. exonerated. III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the comCommissioners missioners formerly appointed shall be, and they are hereby, indemnified from any prosecutions or suits for or on account of any contracts which they may have entered into by virtue of their former appointment, until six months after the present assessment shall be made and completed. Repealing clause. IV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the twenty-eighth clause of an Act of the General Assembly, passed the twenty-second day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-five, entitled "An Act for keeping in repair the several high roads and bridges throughout the State ;" and "An Act to authorize the commissioners for continuing East Bay street to Ashley River, to make a new assessment for completing the same," passed the twenty-seventh day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, be, and the same are hereby, repealed. In the Senate House, the seventh day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine, and in the thirteenth year of the Independence of the United States of America. D. DE SAUSSURE, President of the Senate. JACOB READ, Speaker of the House of Representatives. Acts relating to the City of Charleston. A. D. 1791. AN ACT TO ASCERTAIN THE JURISDICTION OF THE COURT OF WARDENS No. 1502. OF THE CITY OF CHARLESTON, IN THE CASES THEREIN MENTIONED. WHEREAS, the Intendant and Wardens of the city of Charleston have, by their memorial to the Legislature of this State, enumerated seve ral cases, wherein doubts have arisen respecting the extent of the jurisdiction of the Court of Wardens, and in their said memorial did pray that their jurisdiction might be so clearly defined that they might know the actual extent thereof: Preamble. to debt. I. Be it therefore enacted by the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives, now met and sitting in General Assembly, and by the Jurisdiction as authority of the same, That where any debt, not exceeding twenty pounds, is contracted out of the city, or any damage (not affecting the rights of freehold) is committed out of the limits thereof, and the party contracting such debt, or committing such damage, is found within the city, that the court of wardens shall be, and they are hereby, invested with power and jurisdiction to take cognizance of the same, in as ample a manner as if the debt had been contracted, or as if the damage had been done, within the limits thereof. missions to II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said court of wardens shall and may, and they are hereby authorized and im. May issue com. powered, on the application of any person or persons interested in any examine suit depending in the said court, to grant a commission, to be directed to witnesses. one or two commissioners, impowering them to examine and cross examine, on oath or solemn affirmation, the witnesses mentioned in the said commission, who reside without the limits of the city; and the testimony of the witnesses so examined shall be as valid as if the same were taken in open court; provided, that the person or persons making such application, shall give to the plaintiff or defendant, (as the case may be) six days notice of such application; and if any person mentioned as a witness in such commission shall refuse to give testimony, to the best of his or her knowledge, on oath or solemn affirmation, before the said commissioner or commissioners, on being summoned, every person so refusing, if he shall reside and be in the election district of the commissioner summoning him, at the time when summoned, shall be liable to a fine of twenty pounds, to be recovered by the party aggrieved, in any court of record within the State. eral demands III. And whereas, advantages may arise, by enforcing in a summary manner the performance of contracts on short credits, if the court of In case of sevwardens were invested with power to take cognizance, by separate processes, in the hands of of all cases where several bonds, notes, or other evidences of debt, due by one creditor. one debtor, are in or come to the hands of the same creditor, and which bonds, notes, and other evidences of debt, amount, in the whole, to more than twenty pounds, though each, seperately, is under that sum; Be it therefore enacted by the authority aforesaid, That where the same creditor is possessed of divers bonds, notes and other evidences of debt, due from the same debtor, and which said bonds, notes and other evidences of debt, amount, in the whole, to more than twenty pounds, though each separately is under that sum, it shall and may be lawful for the court of wardens, on application made by petition, to issue separate processes, and enter up separate judgments, and issue separate executions, on each of the said bonds, notes and other evidences of debt, as if each of them had been in distinct hands; provided each process, judgment and execution, shall not A. D. 1792. Acts relating to the City of Charleston. exceed twenty pounds; and provided, all the demands which the same plaintiff appear to have against the same defendant, if they do not together exceed twenty pounds, shall be blended in the same process, to prevent spliting of actions. IV. And whereas, it has been doubted whether the counsellors, attornies, Counsellors, solicitors and clerks, of the superior courts, are amenable to the court of attornies, &c. wardens, in causes within their jurisdiction; Be it therefore enacted and declared by the authority aforesaid, That as in a free republic the citizens ought to be entitled to equal liberties and equal privileges, so no set of men are exempt from the process of any court, within the limits of its jurisdiction, without such exemption is expressly granted by the constitution; any law, usage or custom, to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding. 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. 1545. AN ACT TO GRANT A FURTHER TIME то THE OWNERS OF WHARVES IN CHARLESTON, AND OTHER PERSONS HAVING WOODEN BUILDINGS THEREON, USED AS STORES ONLY, TO PULL THE SAME DOWN. WHEREAS, it has been represented to the Legislature, by a number of owners of wharves in Charleston, that a compliance with the Act of the General Assembly of the State aforesaid, passed the twenty-seventh day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven, requiring all wooden buildings thereon erected, to be taken down within a certain time therein mentioned, would operate to the injury of individuals, and tend also to great public inconvenience, by lessening the number of stores necessary for the produce of this country: 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 all owners of wharves in Charleston, and other persons having wooden buildings thereon, and not [used] as dwelling houses, shall, for the reasons aforesaid, be allowed a further time, until the first day of August, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-six, to pull down and remove the same. II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That no owner or other person, having such building or buildings, used as stores only, and not as dwelling houses, shall be subject or liable to the penalty imposed in and by the aforesaid Act, until after the expiration of the time herein before limited; any law, usage or custom, to the contrary notwithstanding. In the Senate House, the twenty-first day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two, and in the seventeenth year of the Independence of the United States of America. DAVID RAMSAY, President of the Senate. JACOB READ, Speaker of the House of Representatives. Acts relating to the City of Charleston. A. D. 1795. AN ACT TO VEST THE CITY COUNCIL OF CHARLESTON WITH CERTAIN No. 1619. POWERS THEREIN MENTIONED. I. Be it enacted, by the Senate and House of Representatives, now sitting in General Assembly, and by the authority of the same, That the city council of Charleston shall be, and they are hereby, vested with full power and authority to take up and confine to labor, (if they are capable thereof,) all strolling beggars, found strolling and begging about the city of Charleston, and to make such rules and ordinances for the due regulation of such persons, as they shall see fit. II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the city council of Charleston shall be, and they are hereby, vested with full power and authority to elect the commissioner or commissioners of roads, for the parishes of St. Michael's and St. Philip's, in all cases of vacancies that shall hereafter happen; any law, usage or custom, to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding; and such commissioner or commissioners so elected, shall be vested with the same authority, and subject to the same duties and penalties, as commissioners of roads heretofore have been. In the Senate House, the nineteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-five, and in the twentieth year of the Independence of the United States of America. DAVID RAMSAY, President of the Senate. ROBERT BARNWELL, Speaker of the House of Representatives. AN ACT TO COMPLETE EAST BAY-STREET, IN CHARLESTON; AND FOR No. 1629. OTHER PURPOSES THEREIN MENTIONED. Preamble. WHEREAS, difficulties have arisen in completing East Bay-street, from the want of concert among the proprietors of the land to be benefitted thereby; in remedy whereof, and to enable the City Council of Charleston to compleat the said street, agreeably to the plan last adopted by them: 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 Assessors to the same, That it shall and may be lawful for the city council of Charles. be appointed. ton, and they are hereby required, to nominate and appoint three good and disinterested freeholders to act as commissioners, who shall, and they are hereby authorized to, assess on each lot or parcel of land, to be benefitted by the completion of East Bay-street, a sum of money proportionate to the benefit likely to be received by such lot or parcel of land, from the completion of the said street. collected. II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the city council shall, and they are hereby required to, collect from the proprietors Assessment, of the land likely to be benefitted by the completion of the said street, all how to be such sums of money as shall be assessed by the commissioners appointed by virtue of this Act, within six months after such assessment, in such manner, and under such penalties, as city taxes now are or hereafter may be collected; provided always nevertheless, that it shall not be lawful for the commissioners appointed by this Act to assess on the proprietors of |