CHAP.
XVI.
in one Year,
&c. A Grant
may be made
thereof;
not to exceed
8o Years, under
the yearly
Rent returned
by the Jury.
The Grantee
to give Security
for building
the Mill.
The like
Writs and
Grants thereon,
may be
had by Person
who had
erected Mills
before this
Act.
Two Years to
be allowed
such Grantees
for new erecting,
&c. any
Water-Mill,
which shall
be casually
broke, &c.
Or in Default
thereof, the
Owner of the
Land may re-enter. |
from that Day to be computed and reckoned, and give Security the same
Building to prosecute and finish within Two Years after the said Beginning,
or laying the Foundation as aforesaid, for the public Good of the Province,
it shall and may be lawful for her said Majesty, her Heirs, or Successors,
or
for their Chief Governor here, for the Time being, from Time to TIme, to
grant any such Twenty Acres of Land fit to build a Water-Mill upon as aforesaid,
together with free Egress and Regress to the said Water-Mill, either
by Land, through any Man's Land next adjoining, or else by Water; together
with Liberty to fall any Timber for building the said Water-Mill, other
than
Board-Timber fit to split or cleave into Clap-board, for any Time or Term,
not exceeding Eighty Years then next to come, under the yearly Rent of
the
Land then, by the Oath of Twelve Men, by virtue of the Writ aforesaid,
returned
to be paid to the Owner of the said Land so found and returned as aforesaid.
Which said Grant from her said Majesty, her Heirs and Successors, or
from the Governor here, for the Time being as aforesaid, shall be good
and available
in Law to the Grantee as aforesaid, for any Term of Years, not exceeding
Eighty Years as aforesaid, against all Persons whatsoever; and Law,
Custom, or Usage, heretofore had, made, or used within this Province, to
the
contrary notwithstanding.
III. Provided
always, That before any Person or Persons whatsoever,
shall have such Grant to build a Water-Mill as aforesaid, he, or they,
shall
enter into Bond to her said Majesty, with Two sufficient Sureties, in the
Sum
of Fifty Thousand Pounds of Tobacco, with Condition to begin to build the
said Water-Mill within One Year then next to come, and the Building to
prosecute and finish within Two Years after such Beginning.
IV. And for
the great Advantage that is already found to the Province in
general by the Mills already built, some of which do stand upon Lands whereof
the Title is doubtful, for Want of due Form of the Conveyance, or of
the Last Wills and Testaments by which the lands have been conveyed or
devised
to the Builders of such Mills, Be it
therefore Enacted by the Authority
aforesaid, That all and every such person or Persons as aforesaid,
who have
built Mills, shall or may have such Writ or Writs as aforesaid, to inquire
of the
true yearly Value of the Land where such Mill doth stand, and of Ten Acres
of Land on each Side of the said Run as aforesaid; and upon Return of such
Writ as aforesaid, shall have a Grant from her Majesty's Chief Governor
here
as aforesaid, for any Term, not exceeding Eighty Years, and yearly Rent
return
as aforesaid, to be paid to the right Owner of the said land as aforesaid,
any Law, or Usage, to the contrary hereof in any wise notwithstanding.
V. And
be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That from and after
the
Publication hereof, no Person or Persons whatsoever, having, or that shall
hereafter have obtained any Grant for any Lands, whereof such person or
Persons
are no the real Owners of Possessor thereof, and whereupon he, she, or
they, have already built, or shall hereafter build a Water-Mill, as this
Law
hath before directed, shall have any Right, Title or Claim, to any land
granted for any Time or Term whatsoever, after such Mill by him or them
already built as aforesaid, or that shall hereafter be built, shall be
casually
broke, or gone to Decay as aforesaid, other than Two Years for the new
erecting,
building, finishing and repairing of such Mill as aforesaid, but that
in all and every case where any Person or Persons that have already built,
or
that shall hereafter build any Water-Mills, which are, or that hereafter
shall
be broke, or gone to Decay as aforesaid, and shall not within Two Years
after
the Publication hereof, or within Two Years after such Mill shall become
broke, or gone to Decay as aforesaid, cause the same to be new builded,
repaired,
and finished as aforesaid, it shall and may be lawful for the real owner
or Owners of such land, to such Person or Persons so granted as aforesaid,
to re-enter upon the same; and in case such Person or Persons shall refuse
or
deny to give the Owner or Owners of such land as aforesaid, peaceable and |
