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, and the Authority of the same, That
every
Creditor having any Sum of Money, Quantity of Tobacco, or other Goods,
due from the Estate of any deceased Person by Judgment, Statute, Recognizance,
Mortgage, Obligation, Protested Bill of Exchange, or other Writing,
before the Executor or Administrator of the Debtor pay the same, shall
be
obliged to make a solemn Oath, or Affirmation if a Quaker, before some
one
Justice of the Provincial Court, one Justice of the Peace, the Commissary-General,
or Deputy-Commissary, for the Time being, " That no Part or
" Parcel of the Money, Tobacco, or other Goods mentioned in such
Judgment,
" Statute, Recognizance, Mortgage, Obligation, Protested Bill of
Exchange, or
" other Writing, hath been paid, nor any Thing else given or delivered
towards
" Satisfaction thereof, more than is taken Notice of and mentioned
in such Oath or
" Affirmation;" and that what the Creditor shall confess
on Oath or Affirmation
to have received, shall be deducted out of the Debt, and the Residue
paid by the Executor or Administrator having Assets.
II. And be it
Enacted, That every Executor, or Administrator of a Creditor,
shall before the Receipt or Recovery of any Debt due as aforesaid,
from
any other Executor or Administrator, Swear or Affirm, " That the
Creditor
" (to the Knowledge of the Executor or Administrator, nor by any
Book, Writing,
" Account, or other Thing appearing to such Executor or Administrator,)
did not
" receive any part or Parcel of the Debt more than is mentioned
in such Oath or
" Affirmation; and likewise that he or she hath not received any
Part of the Debt,
" or any Thing else towards Satisfaction thereof, more than he or
she gives an Account
" of;" which is always to be mentioned particularly in
such Oath or
Affirmation, and deducted as aforesaid.
III. And be it also
Enacted, That where any Creditor, or Executor or Administrator
of a Creditor, shall obstinately refuse to swear or affirm according
to the Directions of this Act, and will sue and implead the Executor or
Administrator
of the Debtor that shall offer, on its being done, to pay what shall
appear to be really due, shall be Non-suit, and pay full Cost. Provided
always,
That such Non-suit shall not bar or estop the Plaintiff, to bring a new
Action, if needful, first complying with the Directions of this Law; and
that any Person that shall swear or affirm falsly in the Premises, and
be thereof
lawfully convict, shall incur the same Pains and Penalties as in case of
wilful
and corrupt Perjury.
IV. And whereas
several litigious Executors and Administrators, having enough
in their Hands to satisfy all the just Debts of the Deceased, in Violation
of their Duty, and the Trust in them reposed, have suffered themselves
to be sued, presuming that the Deceased's Estate must be burthened with
all
the unnecessary Cost they vexatiously occasion, which has too frequently
happened,
to the great Delay of many honest Creditors, the Ruin of the legal
|
Every Creditor
of any deceased
Person
by Judgment,
Recognizance,
&c. or
other Writing,
shall first
make Oath,
7c.
and the Balance
be paid
by the Executor,
&c.
Executors,
&c. of Creditors,
before
Recovery of
any Debt
from other
Executors,
&c. shall
make Oath,
&c.
Refusing to
swear as aforesaid,
shall
be Non-suit,
&c.
but not barred
of a new
Action.
False Swearing
punishable
as Perjury.
No Executor,
&c. o be allowed
Costs,
without Certificate
of the
Court. |
