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Acts relating to Rivers.

the waters standing and remaining thereon. Be it therefore enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the majority of each of the said two sets of commissioners, or their survivors, in their respective divisions, shall and may, upon the request or application of any person or persons whose lands shall be so situated as aforesaid, at the proper costs and charges of the party or parties so applying, lay out and cut a drain in the lowest lands, for the benefit of each body or parcel of land, not exceeding fifteen feet in breadth, for discharging of such standing water into the main drain, through all the lands and plantations so situated as aforesaid; and free ingress, egress and regress is hereby given them, in manner as is hereinbefore provided for that purpose.

V. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any person or persons shall, by himself, servants or slaves, either by felling of trees, throwing up dams, or any other means whatsoever, wilfully obstruct or interrupt any of the said free drains or passages, or the course thereof, or incumber the banks hereby directed to be cleared on each side thereof, and shall not, within three days after notice given thereof, by order of any one of the said commissioners, remove, clear and entirely take away the same, every such offender shall forfeit the sum of twenty pounds current money, to be levied as aforesaid; and the commissioners, or a majority of them, shall cause the same to be removed, cleared and taken away at the expense of the offender, which the said commissioners, or a majority of them, are hereby empowered to levy upon such offender or offenders as aforesaid; and so for every such offence, allowing three days notice between each, as aforesaid; which penalty shall be laid out in repairing, opening or clearing the said drains.

VI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said two sets of commissioners, and the major part of them and their sur vivors, shall meet at some convenient places or dwelling houses in each respective division, at least once in every year, and oftener, if the majority of them shall think fit, to settle and determine all disputes and affairs relating to the said drains and passages; public notice to be given of the time and place of such meetings, by a writing to be fixed on the doors of the said parish churches, at least ten days before such meetings.

VII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any person or persons whatsoever, by themselves, servants or slaves, shall, by any ways or means, hinder or oppose the said commissioners, themselves, servants or workmen, from cutting or sinking the said drains or passages, or clearing the banks on each side thereof, or from cutting down, falling or making use of any timber, wood, earth or stones, in or near the said drains, for mending, making or repairing the same, as aforesaid, shall, for each and every such offence, forfeit the sum of fifty pounds; to be recovered by the said commissioners, by action of debt, bill, plaint or information, in any court of record in this Province, and the money so recovered by them, to be disposed of for repairing, clearing and opening of the said drains or passages.

VIII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any of the aforesaid commissioners shall die or depart this Province, or shall refuse or neglect to act, that it shall and may be lawful for the remaining commissioners, or the major part of them, to elect others in their room, or in default of such election, the Governor or Commander-in-chief for the time being to appoint, and the person or persons so chosen or appointed, shall be invested with, and it shall and may be lawful for them, and every

A. D. 1740.

A. D. 1740.

Acts relating to Rivers.

of them, to use, exercise and enjoy, the same powers and authorities, in as full and ample manner, to all intents and purposes whatsoever, as the commissioners by this Act appointed can, or lawfully may, or ought to do.

IX. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any person or persons whatsoever shall be sued, prosecuted or molested, for any matter or thing done by virtue of this Act, such person may plead the general issue, and give this Act and the special matter in evidence; and in case the plaintiff or plaintiffs shall become nonsuit, suffer a discontinuance, or enter a non vult ulterius prosequi, or verdict pass, or judgment be given on demurrer against him or them, then the judge or judges of the court in which such action shall be commenced or prosecuted, shall tax and allow to every such defendant or defendants, his or their double costs of suit, and for which such person or persons shall have like remedy as is given by law to other defendants.

X. And whereas, the inhabitants and owners of lands whose freshes are discharged into the west branch of Stono river, have desired, by their petition, that commissioners may be appointed to lay out three passages or drains from the said west branch of Stono river, where it is at present navigable, that is to say, from the north-east corner of Mr. Capers's land, up along the channel of Cocoa Swamp, to Spoon Savannah, and from High York Causeway downwards into the said free passage or drain: Be it therefore enacted by the authority aforesaid, That Richard Wright and Alexander Hext, Esq., and Mr. Thomas Elliott, be, and they are hereby, appointed commissioners for making and finishing the said free drains and passages for conveying the freshes into the west branch of Stono river, as is above mentioned; and that the said commissioners, and their successors, to be appointed and nominated in manner aforesaid, shall have like powers, privileges and authorities, and be subject to the same directions, and shall proceed in the same way and manner for effecting the same, either by equal labor of their servants or slaves, or by assessment on the lands benefitted by the said drains or passages, as the commissioners appointed for making the drains or passages on the north branch of Stono river have, or are entitled unto, by any thing herein before contained.

XI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That this present Act, and every matter and thing therein contained, shall be and continue in force to the full end and term of seven years, to commence from the time of making the above assessment, and from thence unto the end of the next session of the General Assembly, and no longer.

CHAS. PINCKNEY, Speaker.

In the Council Chamber, the 10th day of May, 1740.

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Acts relating to Rivers.

A. D. 1742.

AN ACT TO AMEND AND TO SUPPLY CERTAIN DEFECTS IN THE LAWs No. 694.
NOW IN BEING, FOR CUTTING, CLEARING, CLEANSING AND MAKING NA-
VIGABLE THE SEVERAL CREEKS, CUT-OFFS AND WATER PASSAGES IN
THIS PROVINCE.

WHEREAS, the laws of this Province, already made, for cutting, cleansing, clearing and making navigable the several creeks, cut-offs and waterpassages in this Province, have, by experience, been found to prove ineffectual, the cutting and clearing thereof having been thereby directed to be done by the personal work, labor and service of the inhabitants and their slaves, and commissioners confined and enjoined to cut no deeper than five feet, measuring the same at high water on common neap tides. Το the end, therefore, that such good and necessary works may not prove abortive, but that the same may be carried on with effect, and completed, so as to answer the ends proposed in and by the several laws already made for the purposes aforesaid, we humbly pray his most sacred Majesty that it be enacted;

I. And be it enacted, by the Honorable William Bull, Esq., LieutenantGovernor and Commander-in-Chief, by and with the advice and consent of his Majesty's Honorable Council and the Commons House of Assembly of this Province, and by the authority of the same, That from and after the passing of this Act, the commissioners appointed by the several Acts of the General Assembly of this Province, now in being, for cutting, cleansing, clearing or making navigable the several creeks, cuts and water-passages in this Province, or the major part of them, in their several districts, respectively, may have power, and they are hereby impowered, at their discretion, either to cause the same to be cut, cleansed, cleared and made navigable, in such manner as they are directed by the several Acts for those purposes, already made, or at the joint and equal charge and expense of the inhabitants and owners of lands and slaves and others, already made liable to work on the several cuts, creeks and water-passages, respectively.

II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said commissioners, or the commissioners for the time being, or the majori ty of any of them, within their several and respective districts, shall have power, and they are hereby impowered, to contract or agree with any person or persons who will undertake to cut, cleanse, clear or make navigable the cuts, creeks or water-passages aforesaid, respectively; and that the sum they shall contract or agree to pay for, and other charges of and attending the work, shall be raised by a tax or assessment, to be by them made, on the several persons made liable to contribute towards doing the work; and shall and may levy the several sums of money, so to be imposed and assessed, (in case of refusal of payment,) by warrant of distress, under their hands and seals, or under the hands and seals of the major part of them, and sale of the defaulter's goods, returning the overplus,as usual in such cases.

III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful to and for the said commissioners, or the majority of them, within their several and respective districts, to cause such creeks, cut-offs and water-passages to be cut, of such depth as to make the same of a level with the rivers, at low-water mark, on spring tides. The several

VOL. VII.-63.

A. D. 1742.

Acts relating to Rivers.

laws already made, and now in force in this Province, for cutting, cleansing, clearing and making navigable the several creeks, cut-offs and water passages, or any other Act or Acts of the General Assembly of this Province, to the contrary notwithstanding.

IV. And whereas, the commissioners appointed by law for New Cut, or the majority of them, may find it necessary to cut and open a creek through the firm marsh, on a straight line, and not to cleanse the present common creek; and that the commissioners of said New Cut and Watt's Cut may the better know who are liable to work on, or be assessed for, said cuts; Be it therefore further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the commissioners for New Cut, or the majority of them, shall and may, and they are hereby impowered, at their discretion, to cut and open a creek through the firm marsh, on a straight line, or to cleanse and keep open the common present creek. And it is hereby declared that the inhabitants residing to the southward and westward of New Cut, to Gibbons's, alias Bennet's Point, and the inhabitants between Ashepoo and Pon Pon rivers, inclusive, making use of any landing leading through said New Cut, except those who are liable and appointed by law to cut the creek between Ashepoo and Pon Pon rivers, at the head of the Goose Marsh, or by any Act of General Assembly, appointed to cut or be assessed for any other creek, shall be subject and liable to the expence, charge or labor in cutting, clearing and keeping open the said New Cut and Watt's Cut; any law, usage or custom to the contrary notwithstanding.

V. And that the cuts and creeks in this Province may be cut, cleansed and kept open, at the equal expense of all and every the persons concerned, and that no person or persons may escape or evade paying his or their proportionable part; Be it therefore further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all the inhabitants of the several districts and divisions, appointed to cut, cleanse and keep open any creek or water-passage, shall, within thirty days after public notice given, by two or more advertisements, signed by the commissioners, respectively, or the majority of them, the same being fixed up at the most notable and public places in each district, and inserted in the gazette, if any gazette shall be published, render an account, in writing, upon oath, to the said commissioners, or any one of them, for the district where he, she they do reside, of the number of all their male whites, as well as slaves, from sixteen to sixty years of age, within the said district. And in case he, she or they do refuse or neglect so to do, each person so offending shall forfeit treble the sum such person was assessed in the last preceding year's Provincial tax within the said district or division, according to the best information or intelligence thereof, that the said commissioners shall be able to obtain ; the same to be recovered by warrant of distress on the goods and chattels of the offender, under hand and seal of the majority of the several and respective commissioners, to be directed to the constable, and to be applied to the use of the creek in that district to which he or she belongs.

VI. And whereas, the time limited for cutting, clearing and cleansing the several cuts and creeks, by an Act entitled "An additional and explanatory Act to an Act entitled An Act to empower the several commissioners of the high roads, &c.," passed the third day of July, one thousand seven hundred and forty-one, is two short for that purpose: Be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the commissioners appointed by the said Act, for cutting, clearing and cleansing the several cuts and creeks in this Province, shall have eighteen months from the time of passing this

Acts relating to Rivers.

Act, for doing the same; any thing in the said Act contained, to the contrary thereof, in aay wise notwithstanding.

VII. And whereas, by an Act entitled "An Act for clearing and opening the several creeks, cut-offs and water-passages therein mentioned," passed the twenty-fifth day of March, one thousand seven hundred and thirtyeight, it is, among other things, enacted, that the several commissioners appointed for cutting, clearing and keeping open, or in repair, the creeks, cuts or passages commonly called Watt's Cut, New Cut, and Wappoo, shall cause the said creeks or water passages, namely, Watt's Cut, New Cut and Wappoo, to be cut, cleared and opened to the breadth of twenty feet and whereas, it has since been found, by experience, that the said breadth of twenty-feet is not sufficient for Wappoo Creek, by reason of the same being to be cut through high loose land: Be it therefore further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the commissioners appointed, or to be appointed, for the said Wappoo Creek, be empowered, and they are hereby empowered, to cut the said creek to the breadth of twenty-five feet; the said in part recited Act, or any other Act, to the contrary notwithstanding.

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VIII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the commissioners appointed, or to be appointed, for cutting, cleansing or making navigable the water-passage commonly called Watt's Cut, or the major part of them, shall be, and they are hereby, authorized, impowered and required, (at the expense and labor of the several inhabitants and persons that are liable to cut, cleanse or make navigable Watt's Cut,) to cut and make navigable a water-passage through the neck of marsh about two miles distance from Pon Pon river, joining on Seabrook's Island, in the great creek leading from Bennet's Point into Pon Pon river, of the same width and depth with Watt's Cut, and to cleanse and keep open and navi. gable the same, from time to time, after the same is made. And the said commissioners, or the major part of them, shall have all the same powers and authorities, and be subject to the same penalties, restrictions and limitations, for carrying this clause of this Act into execution, as the said commissioners have for cutting, cleansing and making navigable Watt's Cut, to all intents and purposes whatsoever.

IX. And whereas, many of the plantations and settlements lying in the southern parts of this Province, on Elliott's Savannah, and the Horse-Shoe Savannah, in the parish of St. Bartholomew, in Colleton county aforesaid, labor under great inconveniencies for want of proper water passages, which would, in great measure, be remedied, if the eastermost branch of Ashepoo river, commonly called the Horse-Shoe Creek, was made navigable unto the bridge over the said creek, commonly called the Horse-Shoe Bridge: Be it therefore enacted by the authority aforesaid, That Culcheth Golightly, Esq., Mr. Thomas Elliott, and Mr. James Ferguson, and the survivor and survivors of them, are hereby nominated, constituted and appointed commissioners for clearing, cleansing and making navigable, (for boats and pettyaugers which do not draw upwards of five feet water, when loaded,) the said Horse-Shoe Creek, from the plantation of Reginald Jackson, otherwise called Original Jackson, on the said creek, inclusive, upwards to the said Horse-Shoe Bridge, and from time to time keep the same open and navigable. And the said commissioners, or a majority of them, are hereby authorized and empowered to do and perform the same, at the equal expense or labor of all the male inhabitants from the age of

A. D. 1742.

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