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Session
Laws
Chap. XX
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An Act providing what shall be good Evidence to prove Foreign
and other Debts, and to prevent vexatious and unnecessary Suits
at Law, pleading Discounts in Bar; and for repealing an Act of
Assembly therein mentioned.
Be it Enacted, by the Right Honourable the Lord Proprietary, by
and with the Advice and Consent of His Lordship's Governour, and
the Upper and Lower Houses of Assembly, and the Authority of
the same, That all Dcbis of Record, whether by Judgment, Recog-
nizance, Deed Enrolled, and upon Record, the Exemplification
thereof under the Seals of the Courts where the said Judgment was
given or was Recorded, shall be a sufficient Evidence to prove the
same. And that all other Debts, by Bonds, Bills, Accounts, or
otherwise, that shall from and after the Publication hereof, be sent
hither to be put in Suit against any Person whatsoever living or
residing within this Province, shall be proved by the Oaths of the
Witnesses thereto, or any of them, before some Magistrate, in the
Presence of a Notary-Publick, who shall attest that the Oath or
Oaths, was, or were so taken; and that the Person before whom It
or They shall be taken, shall then be a Magistrate, or other Officer,
lawfully authorized thereto, of the County or Place wheresoever it
shall happen the said Bonds or Bills shall be sent from; at which
Time, and before which Publick-Notary, or other Publick Officer,
shall be present the Creditors, who shall then likewise, before such
Magistrate or other Publick Officer of the Place, so authorized,
upon his corporal Oath, declare, That the said Debt, or any Part
thereof (saving what the said Creditor gives Credit for) is not
satisfied, or that there are not any other Accounts between the said
Creditor and Debtor, for which the said Creditor may be likewise
indebted to the said Debtor, to the Value of the said Debt, or any
Part thereof, for any Matter or Thing accrued since the Date of the
said Bond, Bill, or Instrument; or whether the said Creditor hath
not given the said Debtor any Release for the same; to be sent to-
gether with the Proofs from under the Hands and Seals of the said
Magistrate, and Publick-Notary, or other Publick Officer there-
unto appointed; which if the Creditor shall refuse or neglect to
perform or do, then the said Matter or Thing, by the said Publick-
Notary, or other Officer, so by them certified as aforesaid, shall not
be received as Evidence to prove the said Debt. And if the said
Creditor be dead, and his Executor, or Administrator, shall sue any
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p. 24
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Debtor upon any such Bond, Bill, or Account, the Executor or Ad-
ministrator, in like Manner, before such Magistrate to be attested
as aforesaid, or other Officer for that Purpose appointed, shall set
forth and declare, upon their Oath, whether or no they have not
heard the Creditor in his Life-time, acknowledge that Debt, or any,
and what Part thereof to be satisfied; or whether or not (upon
Sight of the Creditor's Books, Writing, or Accounts) they have
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