A. D. 1836. Places and courts of equity. Acts relating to Courts. for four weeks, and first Monday after the fourth Monday in May, for six time of holding weeks, if necessary. For the second circuit: at Coosawhatchie, or the seat of justice for Beaufort district, on the first Monday in January; at Walterborough, on the second Monday in January; at Barnwell court house, on the third Monday in January; at Orangeburg, on the fourth Monday in January. For the third circuit: at Sumter court house, on the first Monday in January; at Darlington court house, on the second Monday in January; at Marion court house, on the third Monday in January: at Williamsburg court house, on the fourth Monday in January; and at Georgetown, on Wednesday after Williamsburg, to sit till the business is ended. For the fourth circuit: at Camden, on the first Monday in June; at Columbia, on the second Monday in June; at Lexington court house, the third Monday in June; and at Newberry court house, on the fourth Monday in June. For the fifth circuit: at Edgefield court house, on the first Monday in June; at Abbeville court house, on the second Monday in June; at Anderson court house, on the third Monday in June; at Pickens court house, the Thursday after Anderson; at Greenville court house, the fourth Monday in June; and at Laurens court house, on the Thursday after Greenville, to sit till the business is ended. For the sixth circuit at Spartanburg court house, on the first Monday in June; at Union court house, on the second Monday in June; at York court house, on the third Monday in June; at Chester court house, on the fourth Monday in June; at Lancaster court house, on the first Monday after the fourth Monday in June; and at Winnsborough, on the second Monday after the fourth Monday in June. That a special court of equity shall be held at Coosawhatchie, on the fourth Monday after the fourth Monday in March next. II. That all processes and recognizances heretofore made returnable to the court of any of the said districts, be legal, good, and binding, for the court next to be held in said district, according to this Act. III. That the chancellors, by consent of parties, may hear causes at Causes may be chambers, when the same are ready for hearing; and they shall be authoheard at cham-rized to hold special courts, whenever the same may be deemed necessary, in any of the districts aforesaid. bers. IV. That commissioners in equity shall be elected for the districts of ChesCommissioners terfield, Marlborough and Horry; and the said commissioners for the disin equity, and tricts of Chesterfield and Marlborough shall attend the sitting of the their duty. court of Equity at Darlington, and the said commissioner for the district of Horry shall attend the court of equity at Georgetown, with such papers and documents as may be requisite for the hearing and determining of the equity causes of their respective districts. V. That all appeals from the courts of law shall be heard and determined in a court of appeals, consisting of the law judges; and that all appeals in equity shall be heard and determined in a court of appeals, consisting of the chancellors; that the said courts shall meet at the same time, and be held as follows, that is to say: at Charleston, on the first Monday in February, and at Columbia, on the first Monday in May, and fourth Monday in November. VI. That in all questions of law as distinguished from equity, the court of chancery shall follow the decision of the court of law. VII. That upon all constitutional questions arising out of the constitu tion of this State, or the United States, an appeal shall lie to the whole of the judges assembled to hear such appeals: that an appeal shall also lic to the whole of the judges upon all questions upon which either of the Acts relating to Courts. courts of appeal shall be divided, or when any two of the judges of the court shall require that a cause be further heard by all the judges. VIII. That the judges of law and equity, when assembled as aforesaid in one chamber, shall form a court for the correction of all errors in law or equity, in the cases that may be heard before them; and that it shall be the duty of the judges to make all proper rules and regulations for the practice of the said court of errors, and for the mode of bringing causes before them. A. D. 1837. Court of errors. Power of chan. IX. That each chancellor shall have power to hear at chambers, and to confirm or refuse to confirm, reports of commissioners in equity, and to cellors. make the proper orders thereon, in all matters of account and partition; and shall likewise have power to hear at chambers, and to make the proper orders thereon, all petitions for guardians; Provided, that in case of any application to a chancellor at chambers, reasonable notice thereof shall be given to the party or parties in interest. Cases in Barn leston. X. That all appeals in law and equity from the district courts held in the district of Barnwell, shall hereafter be heard and determined in Charles- well shall be ton, instead of Columbia, as heretofore, and that the clerk of the appeal heard in Charcourt at Columbia shall transmit to the clerk of the appeal court in Charleston, all the cases from the district aforesaid, which shall remain undisposed of at the adjournment of the court of appeals now sitting at Columbia. XI. That this Act shall go into operation from and after the first day of That all Acts and parts of Acts repugnant hereto, are hereby repealed. PATRICK NOBLE, President of the Senate. D. L. WARDLAW, Speaker of the House of Representatives. AN ACT TO ALTER THE TIME OF THE SITTINGS OF THE COURTS OF No. 2732. LAW AND EQUITY IN SOME OF THE DISTRICTS OF THIS STATE. 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 the same, That the courts of law shall hereafter be held for a part of the Eastern circuit, at the times and places as follows:-at Georgetown, on the second Monday after the fourth Monday in March and October; and at Williamsburgh court house, on the third Monday after the fourth Monday in March and October. II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the courts of equity shall hereafter be held for the second circuit, at the times and places as follows; at Orangeburgh, on the first Monday in January; at Barnwell court house, on the second Monday in January; at Walterborough, on the third Monday in January; and at Coosawhatchee, or the seat of justice for Beaufort district, on the fourth Monday in January; A. D. 1837. Acts relating to Courts. Provided, that in the year eighteen hundred and thirty eight, the court of equity at Orangeburgh shall be held on the first Friday in January, for three days, and on the last Monday in April, for six days, unless the business thereof should be sooner dispatched, instead of the first Monday in January as above mentioned. III. That all writs and processes which shall have been returnable to the aforesaid courts, respectively, according to the laws heretofore in force, shall be legal and valid, to all intents and purposes; and the persons bound thereby shall attend on the days prescribed by this Act for the sitting of the aforesaid courts, respectively. IV. That all jurors and witnesses already summoned to attend the said courts, respectively, according to the laws heretofore in force, shall be required to attend at the times herein fixed for the sitting of the said courts, respectively; and that all persons now bound, or who shall hereafter be bound, in recognizance to appear in the said courts, respectively, according to the laws heretofore in force, shall be required to appear at the times herein fixed for the sitting of the said courts, respectively. V. That all Acts and parts of Acts repugnant hereto, or inconsistent herewith, are hereby repealed. In the Senate House, the twentieth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven, and in the sixty-second year of the Sovereignty and Independence of the United States of America. PATRICK NOBLE, President of the Senate. D. L. WARDLAW, Speaker of the House of Representatives. ACTS RELATING TO SLAVES. AN ACT FOR THE BETTER ORDERING OF SLAVES. I. Be it enacted, by his Excellency, William, Earle of Craven, Palatine, and the rest of the true and absolute Lords and Proprietors of this Province, by and with the advice and consent of the Commons in this present Parlia ment assembled, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That no person whatsoever shall send or give leave to any negro or Indian slave, under his or their care, charge or ownership, to go out of their plantations, unless such as usually wait on their persons, without a ticket, or one more white men in their company; in which ticket shall be expressed their names and numbers, and also, from and to what place they are intended for, and time, on penalty of forty shillings, and paying for taking up such slave as a runaway; and whosoever shall not endeavor to apprehend any negro or Indian slave, coming into their plantations aforesaid, or where they have care or charge, (except such as have tickets before excepted as aforesaid,) and apprehending any, shall not punish them by moderate whipping, shall forfeit forty shillings; and if any negro or Indian slave shall offer any violence, by striking or the like, to any white person, he shall for the first offence be severely whipped by the constable, by order of any justice of peace; and for the second offence, by like order, shall be severely whipped, his or her nose slit, and face burnt in some place; and for the third offence, to be left to two justices and three sufficient freeholders, to inflict death, or any other punishment, according to their discretion; Provided, such striking or conflict be not by command of or in lawful defence of their owner's persons. II. And it is further enacted, That all slaves shall have convenient clothes, once every year; and that no slave shall be free by becoming a christian, but as to payment of debts, shall be deemed and taken as all other goods and chattels, and when other goods and chattels are not sufficiet to No. 57. A. D. 1890. Acts relating to Slaves. satisfy the said debts, then so many slaves only as are necessary, as well proportionately out of the slaves assigned for dowry, as those that belong to the heirs and executors, shall be sold for payment of debt; and all negroes and slaves shall be accounted as freehold in all other cases whatsoever, and descend accordingly. III. And it is further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That no person whatsoever, except the sheriff or gaoler, shall keep any runaway slave or slaves above four days, nor shall sheriff or gaoler, or any other whatsoever, employ any of them, or suffer him, her or them in custody, to want convenient food and water, on penalty of forty pounds for every such offence; and if any person shall suffer any slave to die in their custody for want of food or water, or dry and convenient lodgings, the sheriff, gaoler, or any other person in whose custody the negro was, shall pay the owner forty pounds, to be recovered by action of debt, in any court of record within this Province, or be liable to an action of debt for the same. IV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That whosoever shall take up any runaway slave or slaves, that such person or persons shall bring the said runaways to his or their proper owners, if they know them, and receive for their pains, eight pence per mile for the first five miles, and six pence per mile for every mile more; Provided, it exceed not seventy shillings in the whole; but if they do not know the owners, then to the sheriff or gaoler, upon pain or forfeiture, for every day he or she shall keep such slave or slaves beyond the said four days, and whereof be convicted by confession or verdict, the sum of twenty pounds, to be levied by the sheriff or gaoler, or his lawful deputy, upon the goods and chattels of the persons so neglecting to bring the said runaways; and no person shall receive payment for their taking up any slave or slaves, till he gives an account to the sheriff or gaoler of his own name and place of abode, with the time and place when and where taken up, with an account of the marks most distinguishing, and name, which account of all such slave or slaves coming into his custody, the sheriff or gaoler shall cause to be fairly written and fixed upon a public place in the goal, on the penalty of fifty pounds; and the said sheriff or gaoler shall enter the said account into a book, and also to take a receipt from the person to whom he delivers any runaways, with the name and place of abode of the person to whom delivered; and in case the sheriff or gaoler refuse to make payment for the taking up any runaway slave or slaves, and whereof oath be made before any justice of the peace, the said justice is hereby authorized to direct his warrant to any constable, to cause the value thereof to be immediately levied upon the goods of the said sheriff or gaoler, and the goods to be sold by public outcry, and satisfaction to be made to the complainant, returning the overplus to the said sheriff or gaoler; and that it shall and may be lawful for the sheriff or gaoler to detain and keep in custody the bodies of all such runaways, till the owners of them, or their assigns, shall pay unto him the full sum of what he so pays for them, with two shillings in the pound for laying out the money, and so proportionable for a greater or lesser sum; and also, six pence for every twenty-four hours the said slave hath been in his custody and if the said sheriff or gaoler shall willingly or negligently suffer any slave or slaves to escape or be employed, or by any ways or means to be out of their custody, before he be duly delivered to the owner or his assigns, then the said sheriff or gaoler shall forfeit to the owners thirty pounds for every slave or slaves so escaping, employed or being out of their custody as aforesaid. |