86 Assembly Proceedings, June 3-23, 1752.

Liber B. L. C.
p. 562

shall appoint Constables in each Hundred of their several and re-
spective Counties; and the said Constables so appointed shall before
they enter into that Office, take the several Oaths appointed to be
taken by all Officers, by the Acts of Assembly of this Province,
and the Oath of a Constable." And whereas it often happens, that
the Persons so appointed as aforesaid delay taking the Oaths afore-
said, by which Means the Hundred, for which such Person is ap-
pointed, remains a considerable Time without a Constable.

[Manner of
appointing
Constables.]

Be it therefore Enacted by the Right Honourable the Lord Pro-
prietary, by and with the Advice and Consent of his Lordship's
President, and the Upper and Lower Houses of Assembly, and the
Authority of the same, That from and after the End of this Session
of Assembly, the Clerk of every County Court respectively, after the
Appointment of every Constable in such County, shall signify such
Appointment under his Hand, and deliver the same to the Sheriff of
the said County within five Days after every such Appointment,
under the Penalty of Twenty Shillings, to be recovered before a
single Magistrate as in case of small Debts, to and for the Use of
the County where such Neglect of Notice shall be made: And the
Sheriff shall, within ten Days after such Delivery as aforesaid,
deliver the same to each respective Person so appointed as aforesaid,
or leave the same at his usual Place of Abode, under the Penalty of
Twenty Shillings Current Money, to be recovered in Manner afore-
said to the Use aforesaid; And every Person so appointed as

[Penalty on
Constables
not taking
the Oaths.]

aforesaid, that shall not within five Days after such Notice, qualify
himself, by taking the Oaths appointed by the said recited Act shall
incur the Penalty mentioned in the said Act, to be recovered as by
the same Act is directed, and applied to the Use therein mentioned.
And whereas there is no Provision made by the above-recited
Act for the Appointment of Constables on the Death or Removal of
any Constable, who shall die or remove before he hath served his
due Time in that Station limited by Law, or that shall refuse to qual-
ify upon any Appointment, according to the directions of this and the
above-recited Act: For Remedy whereof, Be it likewise Enacted,
That where any such Constable shall die, or remove out of the

[Duty of
Justices, in
case of the
Death or
Removal of
a Constable.]

County in which he shall be appointed, either before or after his
Qualification in Manner aforesaid, or that shall refuse or neglect to
qualify on such Appointment in Manner aforesaid; that then and in
such Case, it shall and may be lawful for any two of the next
Justices of the Peace, in the County where such Death, Removal, or
Refusal shall happen, and they are hereby required forthwith to
appoint another proper Person in the said Hundred, to be Constable,
in the Place and Stead of such Constable so dead, removed, or refus-
ing; which Person, by the Justices aforesaid so appointed, upon their
Certificate of such Appointment to him delivered, shall, within the
Time aforesaid, and according to the Directions of this and the
above-recited Act, qualify himself in the same Manner and Form,