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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 county, or if any shall refuse or
neglect to qualify, or be rendered incapable of acting as a trus-
tee, when elected and chosen pursuant to the direction of this
act ; and the aforesaid persons, or the majority of them, being
sworn as aforesaid, shall be constituted and qualified as trustees
of the poor of their said county, and as such are hereby in-
vested with full power and authority, as a body politic, to plead
and be impleadcd, 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 Montgomery or Harford county, as the case may be, in
all and every cause, complaint and action, real, personal or
mixed, of whatever kind or nature it may 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 whatsoever, to them, or any of them,
for or towards the support and maintenance of the poor in their
respective 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 intended ; and that they have full
power, authority and ability, to purchase, lake, hold, receive,
enjoy and have, to them and their successors for ever, any
lands, tenements and hereditaments, not exceeding the yearly
value of five hundred pounds current money, and are hereby
respectively 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 per-
sons so incorporated, and their successors, shall be the true and
undoubted trustees, in perpetual succession, for ever, to be
continued in way and manner hereafter specified, with full and
absolute power, liberty and authority, in the making and or-
daining such laws, orders and rules, for the better relieving,
regulating and setting the poor to work, and punishing va-
grants, beggars, vagabonds and offenders, and for the good go-
vernment of the said alms and work-house in their said county
respectively, as to them and their successors shall, from time to
time, think most fit and requisite, all which shall be observed
by the overseers of such alms and work-houses, and by all poor,
beggars, vagrants, vagabonds and offenders, in such alms and
work-houses, under the penalties therein contained ; Provided
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Trustees
appointed,
&C.
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