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JOHN H. STONE, Esquire, Governor.
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1796. |
An act concerning petitions for freedom, and act passed at November
session, seventeen hundred and ninety-three, entitled, A supplement
to an act
concerning petitions for freedom, and an act passed November session,
seventeen
hundred and ninety-four, entitled, A further supplement to an act to
prohibit
the bringing slaves into this state, shall be and the same are hereby
repealed; provided,
that all rights heretofore acquired under the said repealed laws, or
any of
them, shall not be affected or impaired by this act. |
CHAP.
LXVII. |
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CHAP. LXVIII.
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An ACT to erect Baltimore-town, in Baltimore county, into a
city, and to incorporate the inhabitants thereof. |
Passed December
31. |
WHEREAS it is found by experience that the good order, health,
peace and safety, of large towns and cities cannot be preserved, nor
the evils and accidents to which they are subject avoided or remedied,
without an internal power, competent to establish a police and regulation
fitted
to their particular circumstances, wants and exigencies; therefore, |
Preamble.
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II. Be it enacted,by
the General Assembly of Maryland, That Baltimore-town,
in Baltimore county, shall be and is hereby erected into a city, by
the name of
The City of Baltimore, and the inhabitants thereof constituted a body
politic
and corporate, by the name of The Mayor and City Council of Baltimore,
and
as such shall have perpetual succession, and by their corporate name
may sue and
be sued, implead and impleaded, grant, receive, and do all other acts,
as
natural persons, and may purchase and hold real, personal and mixed
property,
or dispose of the same for the benefit of the said city, and may have
and use a
city seal, which may be broken or altered at pleasure; the city of
Baltimore shall
be divided into eight wards, each ward to contain, as nearly as may
be, an equal
number of inhabitants; the first division shall be made by seven respectable
citizens,
or a majority of them, to be appointed by the governor and council;
and
the corporation of the said city thereafter, from time to time, shall
cause a correct
division of the said city to be made into eight wards, according to
the actual
number of inhabitants, which divisions shall be repeated as often as
the increase
or decrease of inhabitants in any ward or wards shall render it necessary,
in order
to a just representation, and when the inhabitants shall increase to
forty thousand,
it shall then be divided into fifteen wards, and for any additional
increase of inhabitants
one new ward only shall be added for every twenty thousand, in order
to preserve, as nearly as may be, an equal number of voters in each
ward. |
Baltimore-town
erected
into a city,
&c. |
III. And be
it enacted, That the council of the city of Baltimore shall consist
of two branches, one whereof shall be denominated The First Branch,
the
other The Second Branch; the first branch shall consist of two members,
of the
most wise, sensible and discreet of the people, from each ward, who
shall be
citizens of the United States, above twenty-one years of age, residents
of the
said town three years preceding their appointment, and assessed on
the books of
the assessor to the amount of one thousand dollars; and the voters
for the first
branch of the said city council shall have the same qualifications
as voters for
delegates to the general assembly of this state; and the said elections
shall be
made viva voce. |
Council to
consist of two
branches, &c. |
IV. And be it
enacted, That the first election for members of the first branch
of the city council shall be held on the third Monday in February,
one thousand
seven hundred and ninety-seven, and on the third Monday in February
in each
and every year thereafter, at such place in each ward as the judges
of the election,
in the first instance, and afterwards as the corporation by ordinance,
shall direct;
the election shall be held by wards, and no person shall be entitled
to vote for
any but the members of the ward of which he is a resident; three respectable
citizen, residents in each ward, or a majority of them, in the first
instance to
be appointed by the commissioners of Baltimore-town, and afterwards
by the
mayor of said city, shall be judges of the elections in their respective
wards,
and they shall have power to appoint their respective clerks. |
When the first
election is to
be held, &c. |
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