SEC. 2. Be it enacted, by the right honourable the Lord Pro-
prietary, by and with the advice and consent of his said lord-
ship's Governor, and the Upper and Lower Houses of this
present General Assembly, and the authority of the same, That
if any person or persons, from and after the publication hereof,
shall desire to set up such forging-mill, and other conveniencies
for the carrying on such iron-works, upon any land not before
cultivated, next adjoining to any run of water within this pro-
vince, not being the estate of inheritance of such undertakers,
nor leased to them, to the intent thereon to set such forging-
mill, and other conveniencies for the carrying on such iron-
works, they may purchase a writ out of chancery, directed
to the sheriff of the county where such land lieth, requiring
him, by the oath of twelve men of his county, to inquire
what damage it would be to his lordship, or others, to have
such builders or undertakers invested with an absolute estate
of inheritance in one hundred acres of such land, proper
for the setting up such forging-mill, and other conveniencies
for the carrying on such iron-works as aforesaid; the form
of which writ followeth, viz: 'CHARLES, absolute lord and
proprietary of the provinces of Maryland and Avalon, lord
baron of Baltimore, &c. To the sheriff of — county, Greet-
ing. We command you, that by the oath of twelve honest and
lawful men of the county, by whom the truth of the matter
may be better known, you diligently inquire if it be to the
damage of us, or others, if we grant unto N. N. of N. county,
one hundred acres of land, lying at —, in the county afore-
said, as may be most convenient for the building and setting
up a forge mill, and other conveniencies, as shall be necessary
for the carrying on an iron-work; and if it be to the damage
and prejudice of us, or others, then to what damage and pre-
judice of us, and to what damage and prejudice of others, and
of whom, and in what manner, and how, and of what value
the same land is now, before any other improvement of the
said one hundred acres of land, and who are the present pos-
sessors of the said one hundred acres of land, and who have
the fee-simple thereof, and what lands and tenements remain to
the present possessor, over and above the said one hundred
acres of land, and if the said land remaining to the present
possessors, over and above the said one hundred acres, will
suffice to uphold their manor, viz: the sixth part of their
manor, allotted them by the conditions of plantations, for the
demesne, as before the alienation, so as the county, by the
alienation aforesaid, in default of the present possession, more
than was wont not to be charged and grieved; and the inquisi-
tion thereupon openly and distinctly made to us in our high
court of chancery, under the seal and the seals of them by
whom it was made, without delay send, &c.' Upon return of |
Writs of ad
quod dam-
num may
be taken
out, &c. |
