ROBERT BOWIE, ESQUIRE, GOVERNOR. NOVEMBER.

1805.

tion herein after directed to be made shall have taken place, shall be recorded by the clerk of Balti-
more county court, and shall for ever, be deemed and taken to be a public highway, and be kept in
repair as other public roads in said county.

III. AND BE IT ENACTED, That the said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall ascertain
and value what damages may be sustained by any person or persons through whose land the said
road shall pass, taking into consideration the advantages and disadvantages, if any, and the same
when so assessed, shall be paid, or secured to be paid, by the person or persons who may apply to

have the said road laid out, streightened and amended as aforesaid, to the person or persons entitled
to receive the same, before he or they shall proceed to open the said road,

IV, AND BE IT ENACTED, That if any person or persons through whose lands the said road shall
pass, or his, her or their guardian or trustee, shall conceive himself, herself or themselves aggrieved
by such valuation and assessment of damages by the said commissioners respectively, it shall and may
be lawful for any justice of the peace, on his, her or their application, to issue his warrant, under
his hand and seal, directed to the sheriff of the county, commanding him to summon twelve disinte-
rested men, qualified by law to serve as jurors in the county court, to meet upon the premises on a

certain day, of which six days notice at least shall be given to the party or parties interested, and
the said jurors, when so met, and having each first taken an oath before some justice of the peace,
that he will, without favour, affection, prejudice or partiality, assess the damages sustained by the
person or persons at whose request such inquisition shall be taken, by reason of opening the afore-
said road through his, her or their land, shall thereupon proceed to assess and value the damages
accordingly, taking into consideration the advantages and disadvantages, if any, and such inquisition
and valuation shall be final and conclusive between the parties respectively; provided, that the said
road shall not be opened through the buildings, gardens, yards or orchards, of any person, without
his or her consent.

CHAP.
LV.

CHAP. LVI.
An ACT for the benefit of Robert Williams, a free black man, and
of his wife and children,

WHEREAS it is represented to this general assembly, by the petition of Sue, or Susannah,
Williams, that she is the wife of Robert Williams, of Anne-Arundel county, a free black
man, by whom she had the following children, to wit: Susan, George, Dinah, Caesar, Rachel and
William, that her husband, the said Robert Williams, previous to the birth of the said children,
and with an intention of freeing her, purchased her from John Galloway, who executed a bill of sale
to the said Robert Williams, in lieu of making a deed of manumission, by which, instead of her be-
ing free, she became his slave, and therefore his children also are now his slaves: And whereas it
is further represented, that the said Robert Williams has been deprived of his understanding, and
found, under process from the chancery court, to be a lunatic, and of course incapable of executing
a deed of manumission; and, for as much as. in the event of his death, without being restored to
his senses, his wife and children might be sold as slaves for the benefit of others, they have prayed
a law may. pass directing the mode by which they may he freed; and the facts appearing true, and
the prayer reasonable, therefore,

II. BE IT ENACTED, by the General Assembly of Maryland, That it shall and may be lawful for the
chancellor of this state to execute a deed for the emancipation and freeing the said Sue, or Susan-
nah, Williams, and the children aforesaid, and such other children as the said Robert Williams may
have, and which shall appear to the chancellor, in point of law, to be his slaves, such deed of eman-
cipation to take effect at the time prescribed therein, and in every other respect to have the same
effect and operation, to every intent and purpose, as a deed of emancipation would have had if re-
gularly executed, acknowledged and recorded, by the said Robert Williams, while compos mentis, the
deed so to be executed by the chancellor shall be recorded amongst the land records of Anne-Arun-
del county, within six months from its date, any law to the contrary notwithstanding.

Passed 25th of
January, 1806.

CHAP, LVII.

A Supplement to the act, entitled. An act to lay out and make a
public road from the Black House, in Harford county, to intersect
the Pennsylvania line.

WHEREAS Thomas Poteet, of Harford county, by his petition to this legislature hath set
forth, that the road in the said original act mentioned was laid out through a well timbered

Passed 25th of
January, 1806.