| 1777.
CHAP.
XIII. |
LAWS of MARYLAND.
before the twenty-fifth day of December in every year, to the treasurer
of the western
shore, for the use of this state; on all which sums, so to be received
and
paid, the said attorney-general, and his deputies respectively, shall be
entitled to
retain five per centum commission for their trouble on such receipts
and payments,
and shall also charge a fee on the issuing every execution as aforesaid,
in
the same manner as other fees are charged by attornies in civil actions. |
Clerks to deliver
lists of
fines yearly,
&c. |
IV. And be it
enacted, That the clerk of the general court and of each county
court, shall, on or before the fifteenth day of December yearly, make out
and
deliver unto the governor and the council for the time being, complete
lists of all
such forfeitures and fines as shall be incurred in their respective courts,
under the
penalty of two hundred pounds current money for every neglect or omission
so to
do; and the said attorney-general and his deputies, shall also make out
and deliver
unto the treasurer of the western shore, on or before the said fifteenth
day of
December yearly, complete lists of the said forfeitures and fines arising
in the
counties in which they shall respectively prosecute, under the like penalty.
Provided,
that nothing in this act contained shall extend, or be construed to extend,
to prevent the several courts, as they might heretofore lawfully do, from
committing
any person or persons for the non-payment of any fine or fines imposed,
if
they shall deem it expedient so to do. |
|
CHAP. XIV.
An ACT for quartering soldiers.
This act, as appears by the preamble
only, was to continue only during the war. It authorised the governor
to appoint quarter-masters in proper districts, who, on receiving convenient
notice from the commander
of any detachment in the service of the United States, or any of them,
were to provide quarters.
The line prescribed to these quarter-masters was first to endeavour to
hire houses. If a sufficient number
could not be so procured, they were directed to take empty houses.
If the number of these were inadequate,
the troops were then to be billeted on taverns according to their number,
ability and convenience;
and in case further quarters were wanted, billets were to be given on such
persons as had not signed the
association, or who should thereafter, by any legal authority, be adjudged
enemies or disaffected. The
last recourse was to be had to billeting on good citizens.
Where troops quartered did not receive rations, the
owners of the houses were to furnish them, at certain
rates, to be paid by the commanding officer, or expressed in a certificate,
which might be discharged
by either treasurer. Certificates were likewise to be given by the
quarter-masters of the sums due for
houses, to be ascertained either by agreement or by the valuation of a
sworn appraiser, and discharged in
the same manner. And the United States, or any of them, were to be
charged with the expence incurred
on their account.
Where there was no quarter-master, or where he neglected
his duty, a justice might act in his room.
A justice might also, on request of the owner, enter any house so hired
or taken, and have the amount of
any damage therein committed ascertained by an appraiser. If done
by a private, he was to inform the
commanding officer, but if done by, or with the connivance of, an officer,
his name was to be notified to
the commanding officer and to the commander in chief.
Any person authorised to execute this act, for billeting
wives, children or servants, without consent of
the owner, or for refusing, for the space of two hours, to provide quarters
after due requisition and notice,
or for taking, demanding or contracting, for a reward, to excuse any person
from receiving troops, was
to forfeit not more than £. 5, nor less than 40f, to be recovered
and levied under warrant either on the
person or goods, one half for the county, the other for the informer.
The same penalty was incurred by
refusing to take or provide for a soldier. |
|
CHAP. XV.
An ACT to open the courts
of justice, and for other purposes. |
| Preamble. |
WHEREAS at a convention begun and held at the city
of Annapolis, on
the twenty-sixth day of July, seventeen hundred and seventy-five, and
continued till the fourteenth day of August in the same year, it was
declared and resolved, that in all suits and actions then depending or
commenced
within this province, where there was no real dispute, the suiters and
attornies
should proceed, with all convenient speed, to settle the same by judgment,
reference,
or other amicable way; and that in all suits and actions then depending
or
commenced (where there were real disputes, and which could not be settled
in an
amicable manner, or tries with justice to the parties) ought to stand and
remain,
during these times of public calamity, in their then present state and
condition, or be
continued until otherwise ordered by act of assembly, or some future convention;
save and except only that bail might surrender their principals in their
own discharge,
and for want of other bail, that the principal might be committed; and
that thereafter proper provision ought to be made, by act of assembly,
for reinstating,
re-establishing and prosecuting the business of the courts, and for barring |
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