BE it therefore 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
an Act
of Assembly made at a Session of Assembly begun and held at the City of
Annapolis, the Twenty-third Day of September, Anno Domini Seventeen
Hundred
and Twenty-three, entitled, An Act reviving and continuing an Act, entitled,
An Act for Limitation of Officers Fees, and supplying some Defects therein,
be, and is hereby revived and continued to be and remain in Force from
and after the Twenty-sixth Day of September next, for and
until the Twenty-fifth
Day of December, which shall be in the Year of our Lord Seventeen
Hundred and Twenty-five, and no longer.
II. And for
that several Complaints have been made to this Assembly,
that several Sheriffs, meerly to increase Fees to themselves, have
executed
several Persons of Public and County Levies, and Officers Fees, and charged
Execution Fees thereon, when they might have received their Dues without
such Execution; although they have and are allowed a large Commission for
collecting the same: And for that the Power of Execution ought not
to be
used in Oppression of the People, but only to enable the Sheriff to get
in and
collect the Public Dues and Officers Fees with the greater Facility:
And for
that Persons whose Goods are taken in Execution for Officers Fees, are
not
expressly provided for by the Act to restrain the ill Practice used by
Sheriffs,
in taking Goods by Fieri facias, and selling them by Venditioni
exponas, although
within the Reason and Intent thereof; which Omission gives the Sheriffs
frequent Opportunities of Oppressing many of the poorer Sort of People:
For Prevention of which Inconveniency and Evils, Be
it Enacted and Declared,
That no Sheriff shall be allowed any Fee or Reward; for executing
for any Public or County Levies, or any other Public Dues or Officers Fees.
And if the Sheriff shall transgress this Act, he shall be liable to the
same
Pains, Penalties and Forfeitures, that Officers are liable to by the Laws
in
Force, for taking more Fees than are allowed; any usage or Custom to the
contrary notwithstanding.
III. And
be it further Enacted and Declared, That where any Sheriff shall
take any Goods in Execution for Officers Fees, such Sheriff shall proceed
in
the same Manner as the Act, entitled, An Act to restrain the ill Practice
used
by Sheriffs in taking Goods by Fieri facias, and selling them by
Venditioni exponas,
directs, in case of Goods taken by virtue of a Fieri facias; any
Law,
Usage or Custom to the contrary notwithstanding.
|
Continuance
of the Act of
1723, ch. 4.
which is since
expired.
Oppressive
Practice of
some Sheriffs
in executing
for Public
Dues.
No Sheriff to
have any Fee
for executing
for Levies of
Fees.
Sheriffs executing
Goods
for Officers
Fees, shall
proceed according
to
1716, ch. 16. |
