POOR.

of the Poor of Washington "County, and by the same name
they, and their successors, shall and may have perpetual suc-
cession, and shall and may, at all times hereafter, be persons
able and capable in law to purchase, take and hold, to them
and their successors, in fee, or for any less estate or estates,
any lands, tenements, hereditaments, rents or annuities, within
this state, not exceeding the yearly value of sixteen hundred
dollars, by the gift, bargain, sale or devise, of any person or
persons, bodies politic or corporate, capable of making the
same, and such lands, tenements or hereditaments, to rent or
lease, in such manner as they may judge most conducive to the
interest of the said poor, and to the end and purposes contem-
plated and intended to be produced by this act, and the act to
which this is a supplement ; and also to take and receive any
sum or sums of money, and any kind of goods and chattels,
which may or shall be given, sold or bequeathed, unto them,
by any person or persons, bodies politic or corporate, capable
to make a gift, sale or bequest thereof, and to apply the same
for the use of the said poor as herein before directed ; and may
also take and receive, by way of subscription, any sum or sums
of money which shall or may be given for the use of the said
poor, and to advance the end intended by this act, and the act
to which this is a supplement.

2271

SEC. 4. And be it enacted, That the said trustees, and their
successors, (by the name aforesaid,) shall be for ever hereafter
capable in law to sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded,
answer and be answered unto, defend and be defended, in all
and any court of law or equity in this state, and before all or
any judges, officers or other persons, in all and singular
actions, matters and demands whatsoever ; and it shall and
may be lawful for them, and their successors, for ever here-
after, to have a common seal for their use, and in their affairs
and business, and the same, at the will and pleasure of them,
and their successors, to change, alter, break and make anew,
from time to time, as they shall think best.
SEC. 5. Merged in 1816, ch. 104, sec. 5.

And may
sue, &c.

SEC. 6. And be it enacted, That every person, by this act
appointed as a trustee for the poor, or that shall hereafter be
nominated and appointed as such, pursuant to the directions
thereof, and of the twenty-first section of the act to which this
is a supplement, and who shall wilfully refuse or delay to take
upon him the said office, shall forfeit and pay, for every such
refusal or delay, the sum of twenty-four dollars; Provided,
that no member of the general assembly, clergyman, attorney,
or practising physician, be obliged to accept of the office of the
trustee aforesaid, dr forfeit as aforesaid for refusing to accept
and take upon him the same; and that no judge of the general

Penalty for
refusing to
act