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A. D. 1795.

Acts relating to Rivers.

lotteries for the above purpose; provided, they do not, by the said lotteries, raise more than the net sum of one thousand two hundred pounds.

In the Senate House, the twelfth 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.

ROBT. BARNWELL, Speaker of the House of Representatives.

No. 1618. AN ACT TO EMPOWER COMMISSIONERS THEREIN NAMED, TO CUT, SINK AND KEEP IN REPAIR DRAINS AND WATER PASSAGES IN CACAW SWAMP, IN ST. PAUL'S PARISH.

WHEREAS, the several laws heretofore passed for sinking drains and water passages in Cacaw Swamp, have not proved effectual for the purposes thereby intended.

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 John Wilson, Dr. James Hartley, Joseph Farr, John Boyle, Dr. Meyler, Thomas Roper, and William Washington, Esqrs., shall be, and they are hereby, appointed commissioners for, and they, or a majority of them, or of their successors, are hereby authorized and empowered, within such time as they may think most convenient, to lay out, cut, sink, maintain, and keep in repair, and to agree and contract for laying out, cutting, sinking, maintaining and keeping in repair, either in part or in the whole, such one or more free drains or canals, and in such places, courses and directions, and of such length, depth, width and extent, and in such manner, way and form, as they, or a majority of them, or of their successors, may deem most advisable and advantageous, so as to carry off the waters and be navigable from the causeway at Drayton's Cowpen, on one branch of the said swamp, and from the plantation of the Honorable General William Washington, called Bull's, on the other branch of the said swamp, into Wallace's Creek.

II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said commissioners, or a majority of them, or of their successors, shall have full power and authority to employ overseers, to inspect and superintend the making, cutting, sinking, and keeping in repair, the said drains and canals, and to do all such things as they may think will best tend to carry this Act into execution; and that the said commissioners, or a majority of them, or of their successors, shall choose three disinterested freeholders of the parish of St. Paul, who shall fix and ascertain, upon oath, the value of all the swamp lands lying in the neighborhood of the said canals, or either of them, and the ratio or proportion in which they will be benefited by the same, and also the ratio or proportion in which the negroes belonging to the owners of the said lands, and liable to work upon the said drains and canals, ought to be assessed, according as their lands may be benefited by the said drains and canals, and shall deliver to the said commissioners the valuation and ratio so made, under their hands and seals; and the said com.

Acts relating to Rivers.

missioners, or a majority of them, or of their successors, shall thereupon make an assessment on the several owners of all such lands and slaves, according to the valuation and ratio aforesaid, which may be sufficient to pay, and shall be paid to the said commissioners, or a majority of them, or of their successors, or to such person or persons as they may appoint to receive the same, for the purposes of paying the expense of making and keeping in repair the said canals and drains, and all charges incident thereto, whether the same be done by contract or otherwise.

III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any person or persons, by themselves or their servants, slaves or others, shall by any ways or means, hinder, oppose or obstruct the said commissioners, or either of them, or their successors, or either of them, or any person or persons by them employed or appointed, or any servant, workman or laborer of any person so employed or appointed, from making, cutting, sinking, clearing or keeping in repair either of the said drains or canals, or any part of either of them, or from cutting down any trees, filling up any hollows, ditches, drains or canals, or from making use of any timber, wood, earth or stone, situate near either of the said canals or drains, which may be necessary for the making or keeping in repair the said drains or canals, or shall obstruct, stop, or in any degree prevent the free passage of water through either of the said drains or canals, or any part thereof, shall forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds sterling; to be recovered by action of debt, in any court of record having sufficient jurisdiction in this State, and to be applied to the making and keeping in repair the said drains and canals.

IV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if either of the commissioners above named, or hereafter to be appointed, should leave this State, resign, or refuse or neglect to act, and when any vacancy may happen by death, the rest of the commissioners shall, within twelve weeks thereafter, elect one or more proper persons to supply the place of such one or more commissioners as may have so departed this State, resigned, died, or refused or neglected to act; and in default of such election, the Governor or Commander-in-chief for the time being shall fill up the vacancy; and the person or persons so elected by the remaining commissioners, or appointed by the Governor, shall be invested with, and he and they may lawfully use, exercise and enjoy, the same powers and authorities, and in as full and ample manner, to all intents and purposes whatsoever, as the commissioners hereby appointed, can, or lawfully may do, or of right might or ought to do.

V. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That the said commissioners shall hold their first meeting at such time and place as a majority of them may agree upon for that purpose; and that at that, and every meeting afterwards to be held, they shall adjourn to some certain time and place, by them to be then appointed, and that they shall meet twice or oftener in every year. But the chairman of the board, or any four commissioners, shall, however, have power to call extraordinary meetings. VI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any commissioner shall fail or neglect to attend any stated meeting, or any extraordinary meeting, after having had two days notice of such meeting, he shall forfeit the sum of ten pounds; and if while the laborers are actually at work, he fail or neglect to attend at any place for that purpose appointed, for every day's absence he shall forfeit the sum of two pounds; unless in either of these cases he shall offer at the next stated meeting such an excuse as a majority of the board shall determine to be good and sufficient.

A. D. 1795.

A.D. 1795.

Acts relating to Rivers.

VII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That any four of the said commissioners shall be a board or quorum to do any business arising out of this Act; and all acts, orders and resolutions, passed, carried, or done by the votes of a majority of the commissioners present at any board or meeting, shall be valid, legal and effectual, to all intents and purposes.

VIII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the said board shall have power to employ a surveyor to lay out the drains and canals aforesaid, in as ample a manner as they may judge necessary or proper, and that the expense thereof shall be paid in the same manner as other expenses incident to the said drains and canals; that they shall have authorlty to have any such banks made as they may deem necessary for the said drains and canals, and to have one or more locks made in the same, and to build, alter, renew, rebuild or enlarge any bridge or bridges that they may think proper or necessary to cross the said drains or canals; the expense thereof shall be paid as other incidental expenses are to be paid; and that they shall be empowered to cut down or use for the said drains or canals, any trees or timber or any earth that may be found on or near the course of the same. And if any person shall fail or neglect to pay any assessment authorized by this Act, within the time prescribed by the commissioners for that purpose, the same shall be recovered by warrant or execution, under the hand of either of the said commissioners, directed to any such person as he may name therein, or deliver the same to for that purpose, and that the property levied, whether real or personal, shall be publicly sold, any time after twenty-one days notice thereof shall be given by advertisement in any two gazettes in Charleston.

IX. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That every person owning or possessing any slave or slaves, residing upon the plantations, which by the commissioners to be appointed according to the second clause in this Act, may be returned as being benefited by the said drains or canals, shall, upon oath, return to the commissioners appointed hereby, and their successors, whenever by them required, the name of every such slave, male and female, from the age of sixteen to fifty years, both inclusive; and if any such person shall fail or neglect to make such return, within the time for that purpose to be prescribed by the said board, he or she shall forfeit the sum of two dollars for every slave not so returned; to be recovered, levied and raised, by warrant under the hand and seal of the chairman of the said board, or any four of the commissioners, directed to such person or persons as he or they may think fit to name for that purpose.

X. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That every slave within the description in the ninth clause of this Act mentioned, shall be liable to work upon the said drains and canals; and whenever the said commissioners shall think proper to call out the said slaves upon the work, they shall give at least two days previous notice thereof to their owners, if they then be upon the plantations, and if not, to the managers or overseers upon the said plantations, and if there should be no owner, manager nor overseer upon either of the said plantations, then to the driver belonging thereto; and after having given such notice, every such slave shall, at the time appointed by the board, repair to the place for that purpose appointed, each male carrying with him a spade and an axe, and each female, a hoe; and if any such slave shall fail or neglect to appear at the time and place so appointed, with the implements aforesaid, the owner thereof shall forfeit one dollar for every day during which such slave shall be absent, or be without those implements; to be levied, recovered and raised in the same

Acts relating to Rivers.

manner as is prescribed in the next preceding clause; unless such owners shall, at the next stated or regular meeting of the board, offer such excuse as they may think sufficient. Provided always, that the said commissioners shall not compel any slave to work upon the said drains or canals longer than twelve days in the course of any one year.

XI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That every fine and penalty recovered by virtue of this Act, shall be appropriated by the commissioners to defray such expenses as may be incurred in making and keeping in repair the said drains and canals, or erecting, altering, repairing, or renewing any bridge to cross the same.

XII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the commissioners hereinbefore named, and their successors, shall keep a regu lar journal of their proceedings, which said journal shall be open at any time for the inspection of any person or persons concerned, who may take what extracts they please from the said journals.

XIII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That an Ordinance entitled "An Ordinance to empower commissioners therein named, to cut and sink drains and water passages in Cacaw Swamp, St. Paul's Parish," passed on the twenty-sixth day of March, in the year of Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-four; and also, so much of the Ordinance passed on the seventeenth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-five, entitled "An Ordinance to amend an Ordinance entitled An Ordinance to empower commissioners therein named, to cut and sink drains and water passages in the swamp and savannahs formed by the north east branch of Stono river, passed the sixteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three; also, to amend an Ordinance entitled An Ordinance to empower commissioners therein named, to cut and sink drains and water passages in Cacaw Swamp, St. Paul's Parish, passed the twenty-sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty. four"-as relates to the drains and water passages authorized or directed to be made by the ordinance last mentioned, shall be, and the same are hereby, repealed.

In the Senate House, the twelfth 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 Uuited States of America.

DAVID RAMSAY, President of the Senate.

ROBT. BARNWELL, Speaker of the House of Representatives.

A. D. 1795.

Acts relating to Rivers.

No. 1624. AN ACT TO ALTER AND AMEND AN ACT ENTITLED

"AN ACT TO ENABLE COMMISSIONERS THEREIN APPOINTED TO CLEAR OUT AND REMOVE THE OBSTRUCTIONS IN THAT BRANCH OF ASHEPOO RIVER WHICH IS CALLED THE HORSE-SHOE CREEK, AND TO CUT OR SINK AND KEEP IN REPAIR, A DRAIN OR CANAL, FROM THE HEAD OF THE SAID CREEK, UP THE SWAMP CALLED THE ROUND O SWAMP, TO THE JUNCTION OF THE TWO BRANCHES OF THE SAID SWAMP, AT THE PLANTATION KNOWN BY THE NAME OF GILKICKER'S; FOR OPENING LOWDER'S LAKE; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES THEREIN MENTIONED;" PASSED ON THE TWEN TIETH DAY OF DECEMBER, IN THE YEAR OF OUR Lord one thOUSAND

SEVEN HUNDRED AND NINETY-FOUR.

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 Peter Smith and William Sanders, Esq'rs., be, and they are hereby appointed, commissioners, in addition to, and to act with, those commissioners who were appointed in the above recited Act, and that they shall have the same powers and authority as are vested in the commissioners appointed in the said Act, and be liable to the same penalties, fines and forfeitures, as are therein provided for the commissioners appointed in the same.

II. And whereas, it is but just and right, that in the prosecution of the work contemplated in the aforesaid Act, that each and every person who will derive benefit and advantage therefrom, shall, in proportion to the benefit and advantage derived, contribute towards the completion of the clearing out the said creek, and making and keeping in repair the said canal; Be it therefore enacted, That the commissioners appointed in the aforesaid Act, and in this Act, or a majority of them, or of their successors, shall have full power and authority to ascertain and point out, on oath, what proprietors of swamp lands and slaves, as also what proprietors of slaves employed on leased or rented swamp lands, and likewise what proprietors of swamp lands unoccupied, are benefitted and advantaged by the clearing out the said creek, and making and keeping in repair the said canal; and to lay and impose an assessment, the most equitable and impartial, on all the property of the foregoing description; which assessment, the said commissioners, or a majority of them, or their successors, are hereby authorized and empowered to receive, either in the labor of such slaves as are made liable by the aforesaid Act to work on the said creek and canal, or in money, as may be preferred by the person or persons on whose property the assessment is made.

III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any person or persons shall fail or neglect to pay any assessment authorized by this Act, within the time prescribed by the commissioners for that purpose, the same shall be recovered in money, by warrant under the hands and seals of a majority of the said commissioners, or their successors, directed to any such person as they, or a majority of them, or their successors, may appoint; and the property levied on, whether real or personal, shall be publicly sold, after twenty-one days notice thereof shall have been given, by advertisement, in any two gazettes in Charleston.