Preamble.
No Person
shall cut
down any
Boundary
Tree of his
own or other
Person's
Land.
Penalty.
Persons
Bounding
any Tree
without lawful
Authority, &c.
Penalty.
The Prosecutor's
Duty. |
WHEREAS it appears to this present
General Assembly, That many
Abuses and Prejudices have happened to many of the Inhabitants
within this Province, occasioned by private persons taking upon
themselves in a private manner, the Bounding, or Re-bounding of Trees,
whereon the Bounds wither of their own Lands, or any other adjacent Lands,
may have any Dependance; and also by the Bounding of Trees at Random in
the Woods, the Multiplicity of which renders the true Boundaries of Lands
very precarious and uncertain; and likewise by the cutting down or destroying
of Bounded Trees, either of or upon their own Lands, or any others;
For the Remedy of which Evils for the future;
II.
Be it Enacted, by the Right
Honourable the Lord Proprietor, by and
with the Advice and Consent of his Lordship's Governor, and the Upper and
Lower
Houses of Assembly of this Province, and the Authority of the same, That
from
and after the End of this present Session of Assembly, it shall not be
lawful
for any Person or Persons whatsoever, within this Province, under any Pretence
whatsoever, to cut down, or otherwise destroy, any Boundary, or Bounded
Trees, either of his own Lands, or of the Lands of any other Person
whatsoever, even although such Boundary or Bounded Trees should stand
within the person's own Land so cutting down and destroying the same, under
the Penalty of Five Hundred Pounds of Tobacco for every Offence; the
one Half to the Informer, or to him or them that shall sue for the same,
the
other Half to the Use of Free-Schools in the County where the Offence is
committed.
III. And be it
also further Enacted, That if any Person or Persons whatsoever,
shall, without lawful Authority, either at Random, or for their own
Pleasure, presume to Bound any Tree or Trees in the Woods, or upon
their
own Lands, or that shall Bound any Tree or Trees, or set up other Boundaries
for their own or others Land, in lieu and in place of any original Boundary
or Bounded Tree that is any way decayed or destroyed, without first giving
Notice to all persons concerned in such Boundaries, of the Time and Place
proposed for setting up or making such new Boundary, or that upon the Failure
of the Persons concerned in such Lands (upon Notice, or when Notice
cannot be given) being present at the Time and place appointed, shall not
take with him Four substantial Freeholders of his Neighbourhood at the
least,
that may be present at the Bounding such Tree or Trees, or setting up such
other Boundary, shall forfeit for every Time he, she or they shall be convicted
thereof, the Sum of Five Thousand Pounds of Tobacco; the one Half
to the Informer, or to him or them that shall sue for the same, the other
Half
to the Use of Free-Schools in the County where the Offence is committed:
All which Fines aforesaid, to be recovered in his Lordship's Name, in
any Court of Record within this Province, by Action of Debt, Bill, Plaint
or Information, wherein no Essoin, Protection or Wager of Law shall be
allowed.
IV. And be it
further Enacted, That in all Prosecutions against any of
the
Offenders aforesaid, the Attorney-General, or Clerk of Indictments, in
their
Indictments or other Proceedings, shall be as particular as possible in
describing
the Place upon, or to whose Lands the Boundaries relate, which have been
made, so set up, or destroyed, contrary to the true Intent of this Act.
Examined and Compared with the Original Act, REVERDY GHISELIN,
THOMAS BACON. |
