1808.

NOVEMBER, LAWS OF MARYLAND.

CHAP.

LXXIX.

Suits deemed
transitory, &c.

XII. AND BE IT ENACTED, That any suit, action or complaint, by the said corporation, against
any person or persons whomsoever, on account of, or grounded on, a trespass or injury done to the
said works, or any tunnels, conduits, canals, water-courses, mound, plug, cock, reservoir, dyke,
engine, machine or thing, appertaining to the same, shall in every instance be held and deemed as
transitory in its nature, and may be brought, sustained and tried, in any court in this state, having
jurisdiction in such like cases.

Penalty for pol-
luting the wa-
ter, &c.

XIII. AND BE IT ENACTED, That if any person shall wilfully pollute the said water, between the
pumping-house of the said company and the mill on Jones Falls, now owned and occupied by John
Stricker and William Patterson, by throwing any dead animals, or other impure substances, into the
same, or by swimming, bathing or wishing themselves, or by washing cloaths or the skins of any
dead animals or other impure things therein, or by erecting any necessary or other nuisance so near
the said water as to pollute the same, the person or persons so offending shall forfeit and pay to the
said company a sum not exceeding twenty dollars for every such offence, to be recovered by warrant,
before any magistrate of the county or city of Baltimore, and shall be obliged to remove the said
nuisance, or forfeit and pay the sum of ten dollars for every day the same shall continue, to the use
of Baltimore county, to be recovered by action of debt at the suit of the state.

Corporation
not to enter in-
to negotiations,
&c.

XIV. AND BE IT ENACTED, That it shall not be lawful for the said corporation to enter into
any negotiations on bills or notes, nor to deal in exchange, discount, or other commercial or banking
operation, other than to vest their capital in stocks of chartered companies, or in public securities,
or to borrow money as may be found necessary for the carrying on the works proposed; and divi-
dends of the profits of the stock shall be annually made, reserving only, at the discretion of the di-
rectors, such proportion as they, or a majority of stockholders, shall deem sufficient for maintaining
and supporting the works necessary to promote or attain the object of this incorporation; and if the
said corporation shall not carry into effect the intentions of this act, within five years from the pas-
sage thereof, in that case all the powers hereby vested in them shall cease and determine.

Acts repealed.

XV. AND BE IT ENACTED, That all acts of assembly heretofore passed on this subject, be, and
the same are hereby declared to be, repealed, null and void.

CHAP. LXXX.

Passed 24th of
Dec 1808.

An ACT to establish and confirm certain acts done by justices of the
peace in Allegany county.

Certain acts de-
clared valid,
&c.

BE IT ENACTED, by the General Assembly of Maryland, That if any justice or justices of the peace in
Allegany county, holding, or having held, any office of profit or trust under the government of
the United States since the fourth day of November, seventeen hundred and ninety-nine, hath acted,
or shall have acted, at the same time as a justice or justices of the peace in Allegany county, in
every such case all and singular the act or acts done, performed or executed, by or before such jus-
tice or justices of the peace aforesaid, by virtue of his or their official authority under this state, and
within the proper limits of his or their jurisdiction, shall be and the same are hereby declared valid
and effectual, to all intents and purposes, in the like manner as if such justice or justices of the peace
aforesaid, at the time of doing or performing such act or acts, had not held any office of profit or trust
under the government of the United States.

CHAP. LXXXI.

Passed 24th of
Dec. 1808.

A Further supplement to the ad, entitled, An a£ relating to servants
and slaves.

Testimony of
negroes, &c.
may be re-
ceived, &c.

BE IT ENACTED, by the General Assembly of Mary land, That in all criminal prosecutions against any
negro or mulatto slave, or against any mulatto descended from a white woman, or against any
negro or mulatto fret or freed, the testimony of any negro or mulatto slave, or the testimony of any
mulatto, descendant from a white woman, or the testimony of any negro or mulatto free or freed,
may be received in evidence for or against them, any law now existing to the contrary notwithstand-
ing.

CHAP. LXXXII.

Passed 24th of
Dec. 1808.
Preamble.

An ACT for the relief of Jacob Penn, of Anne-Arundel county.

WHEREAS Jacob Penn, of Anne-Arundel county, by his petition to this general assembly, hath
set forth, that he is very poor, and far advanced in old age, and from an entire loss of one of
his hands is rendered totally incapable of procuring a support for himself, wife and four children, by