1801.

NOVEMBER. L A W S OF M A R Y L A N D.

C H A P.
CVIII.

such debtor is an object of the bankrupt law of the United States, and is liable to be made a bank-
rupt under said law, the said chancellor may thereupon, at the election of the creditor making such
allegation, either examine the said debtor on oath or affirmation, on interrogatories, touching the
said allegations, and may compel the said debtor to produce his books of accounts, or direct an
issue or issues in a summary way, without the form of an action, to determine the truth of the
same; and if upon the answer of the said interrogatories, and production of said books of ac-
counts on the trial of the said issue or issues, any such debtor shall be found to be an object of
the bankrupt law of the United States, and as such liable to be proceeded against, and to be made
a bankrupt, he shall be precluded from any benefit of this act,

J Boone, &c,
to be entitled,
&c.

XVIII. AND BE IT ENACTED, That Joseph Boone and Thomas Boone, of Prince-George's coun-
ty, Jacob Hull, of Frederick county, Wilder Bevans, of Caecil county, and James Ray, of the city of
Annapolis, shall be entitled to receive the full relief and benefit by this act granted to the petiti-
oners herein before mentioned, on their complying with all the rules and conditions of such pe-
titioners required, except that the said Joseph Boone and Thomas Boone, and James Ray, shall
not be required to produce to the chancellor any evidence of their having resided for the two pre-
ceding years within the state of Maryland, prior to the passage of this act.

Time limitted.

XIX. AND BE IT ENACTED, That none of the said debtors who do not make application as-
aforesaid on or before the first day of June next, shall have any benefit of this act.

C H A P. CIX.

Passed 31st of
Dec. 1801.

Slaves may
five evidence
&c.

An ACT respecting free negroes.

BE IT ENACTED, by the General Assembly of Maryland, That slaves shall in all cases in which a
free negro or mulatto, or other person of colour, free or freed, charged with stealing goods,
or with the receipt of stolen goods, shall be. admitted to give evidence for or against the person
accused.

CHAP. CX.

Passed 31st off
Dec. 1801,

An ACT for the relief of the heirs and representatives of Francis
Mary Delalandelle.,

Preamble,

WHEREAS Francis Mary Delalandelle, an officer in the, French army employed in America
during our late revolution, in consequence of the disturbances in_;France, came to, and
mettled in, this state, where he purchased, real property after being duly naturalized: And
whereas his only child, an infant, with her mother, also came to, and settled within, this state,
but who have since returned to France without having been naturalized, and the said Francis Ma-
ary Delalandelle having since died intestate, by which the property he purchased became subject to
escheat, and a certain Charles De Moelier, for the use and benefit of the child and widow afore-
said, having obtained an escheat warrant thereon; and the said widow and child aforesaid having
petitioned this general assembly to release the state's interest in the property aforesaid, and to
Test the same in an agent for their benefit; and the prayer thereof being reasonable, therefore,

Right vested,
&c,

II. BE IT ENACTED, by, the General Assembly of Maryland That all the right, title, interest,
claim and demand whatever, of this state, of, in and to, any lands, tenements or hereditaments,
of which the said Francis Mary Delalandelle died seized, or to which he was any way entitled
be and the same is, hereby vested in Samuel Ridout, of the city, of Annapolis, in fee simple, in
trust for the said widow and child,.

S. Ridout to-
sell,&c.

III. AND BE IT ENACTED, That it shall and may be lawful for the said Samuel Ridout to sell
and dispose of the same, or any part thereof, on such terms and conditions as he may think pro-
per; provided always, that in case the said Samuel Ridout shall not, before the first day of Au-
gust next, execute a bond to the state of Maryland, conditioned for the faithful discharge of the
trust in him reposed by this act and for the payment of the monies he may, receive in virtue of
the sales of the property aforesaid to the said widow and child, and the survivor of them, then
and in that case all the estate, right and title, vested or intended to be vested in him, shall cease
and be void