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Trustees
appointed;
&c.
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counties, according to the best of my skill and knowledge ; so
help me God ;' the which oaths are to be administered by any
of the six persons last named for the county to the person first
named, or in his absence to any one of the five persons first
named that shall be there present, the which person being
sworn as aforesaid, shall administer the oaths afore-mentioned
to all the rest, and so successively, the person first named that
shall be present shall always administer the said oaths to any
that have been absent, or that shall hereafter be elected and
chosen pursuant to the directions of this act to supply the place
of any that shall be dead, or removed out of the co unty, or of
any who shall refuse or neglect to qualify, or be rendered in-
capable of acting as a trustee, when elected and chosen pur-
suant to the directions of this act ; and the aforesaid persons, or
the majority of them, being sworn as aforesaid, shall be con-
stituted and qualified as trustees of the poor or their said county,
and as such are hereby invested with full power and authority,
as a body politic, to plead and be impleaded, to sue and be
sued, to defend and be defended, to answer and be answered,
by the name of the trustees of the poor of Dorchester and
Somerset counties, in all and every cause, complaint and
actions, real, personal or mixed, of whatever kind or nature it
shall be, in any court of judicature within this state, and by
that name they and any of them, and their successors, shall
and they are hereby enabled to take, hold, possess and enjoy,
any gift, donation or present, which shall or may hereafter be
given, devised or bequeathed, by any person or persons what-
soever, to them, or any of them, for or towards (he support and
maintenance of the poor in either the said counties ; and they,
or any of them, may receive by way of subscription, any sum
or sums of money which shall or may be given for the better
and more speedy promoting the benefit and good by this act in-
tended ; and that they have full power, authority and ability,
to purchase, take, hold, receive, enjoy and have, to them and
their successors for ever, any lands, tenements and heredita-
ments, not exceeding the yearly value of five hundred pounds
current money, and are hereby empowered and authorized to
use one common seal in their business relating to the said
corporation) and the same, if necessary, to change and alter;
and that the said persons so incorporated, or the longest livers
and successors of them, shall be the true and undoubted trus-
tees, in perpetual succession, for ever, to be continued in way
and name hereafter specified, with full and absolute power,
liberty and authority, in the making and ordaining such laws,
orders and rules, for the better relieving, regulating and setting
the poor to work, and punishing vagrants, beggars, vagabonds
and offenders, and for the good government of the said alms and
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