Jurisdiction Norfolk enlarged. sons guilty of a breach of the peace, whereof the said court of Hustings hath not at present a competent jurisdiction. IV. May it therefore please your most excellent maof Court of jesty that it may be enacted, And be it enacted, by the Hustings of Lieutenant-Governour, Council, and Burgesses, of this present General Assembly, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That from and after the passing of this act the said court of Hustings shall have jurisdiction, and hold plea of all suits in chancery, and of all actions personal and mixed, and attachments, whereof any county court within this colony by law have or can take cognizance; and shall and may hear and determine all complaints of masters, servants, and apprentices, and for breaches of the peace, within the said borough, in the same manner as the court of the said county of Norfolk now doth; and that the mayor, recorder, and aldermen, of the said borough, shall respectively have, use, and exercise, all the powers, jurisdictions, and authorities, out of court, which any justice or justices of the peace of a county now have, or can or may use or exercise, any act heretofore made to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding. V. Provided always, That the execution of this act shall be, and the same is hereby suspended, until his majesty's approbation thereof shall be obtained. Donation of CHAP. XXXVIII. An Act for making an equal division of a donation of one Matthew Godfrey between the several parishes of the county of Norfolk, for the benefit of their poor. I. WHEREAS Matthew Godfrey, formerly of the Godfrey county of Norfolk, by his last will and testament, bearequally divi- ing date the thirteenth day of March one thousand seven ded between hundred and fifteen-sixteen, did, amongst other things, parishes of give to the poor of the said county of Norfolk one hunNorfolk. dred acres of land, or thereabouts, together with sundry slaves, to be let out from year to year for the good of the poor of the said county, as the vestry of the parish in the said county should see good and most profitable; and whereas by an act of Assembly made in the first year of the reign of his present majesty, entitled An act for dividing the parish of Elizabeth river, in the county of Norfolk, into three distinct parishes, for dissolving the vestry of the said parish, and for other purposes therein mentioned, the said parish of Elizabeth river was divided into three parishes, by the names of St. Bride's, Portsmouth, and Elizabeth river, and it was by the said act, amongst other things, directed and enacted that the said lands and slaves, and the increase of the said slaves, should be, and were thereby vested in the justices of the said county of Norfolk for the time being, and their successours, in trust: Nevertheless, that the said justices, and their successours, should let and hire out the said lands, together with the house or houses built thereon, and also the said slaves, and their increase, annually, for the best price that could be got for the same, and should once a year, in the month of May, equally divide the rents and profits thereof between the said three parishes, in proportion to the number of tithables in each respective parish, and should pay and deliver such proportionable part of the said rents and profits as aforesaid to the vestries of the said parishes respectively, to be by them applied for and towards the support and maintenance of the poor of their respective parishes. II. And whereas many inconveniences have arisen in the execution of the said act, and some losses have already happened in the hiring out the said slaves, the persons to whom they have been hired not taking proper care of them when they have been sick, and the directions of the said act for renting out the said lands annually have rather impaired than augmented the yearly rents thereof, and the ministers, vestries, and other inhabitants of the said parishes, have petitioned this present General Assembly that the said slaves may be divided between them, and also that the said lands may be valued, and vested in the vestry of the said parish of Elizabeth river, where the same lies, upon their paying to the vestries of the two other parishes an equal proportion of such valuation, to be laid out by them in the purchase of other lands for the use of the poor of their respective parishes. Slaves to be divided between the three pa rishes. III. Be it therefore enacted, by the Lieutenant-Governour, Council, and Burgesses, of this present Generat Assembly, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That Lemuel Riddick, Willis Riddick, Edward Hack Moseley, and Anthony Walke, junior, gentlemen, shall be, and they are hereby appointed commissioners to value the said lands, and divide the said slaves; and the said Lemuel Riddick, Willis Riddick, Edward Hack Moseley, and Anthony Walke, junior, or any three of them, shall, and they are hereby empowered and required, between the last of June and the first day of October, in the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty six, to make a fair, just, and equal division of all the said slaves, and their increase, between the said three parishes of Elizabeth river, St. Bride's, and Portsmouth, and shall cause such partition and division, together with the names of the slaves assigned to each respective parish, to be entered amongst the records of the said county; and at the same time the said Lemuel Riddick, Willis Riddick, Edward Hack Moseley, and Anthony Walke, junior, or any three of them, shall, and they are hereby required to lay a value upon the said lands, with Lands to be the improvements thereon, which shall in like manner held by pa- be recorded, an equal proportion of which valuation the rish of Eliza- vestry of the said parish of Elizabeth river shall pay to the vestries of each of the said parishes of St. Bride's and Portsmouth, according to the number of tithables portion of its in each respective parish at the time the said valuation value to the shall be made, upon due payment whereof the vestry of parishes of St Bride's the said parish of Elizabeth river for the time being, beth river on paying equal pro and Ports mouth. and their successours, shall be, and are hereby declared to be vested with the said lands, and its appurtenances, for the use of the poor of the said parish. IV. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That the vestries of the said parishes of St. Bride's and Portsmouth shall, as soon as conveniently they can after receipt of their respective proportions of the said valuation, lay out and apply the same in the purchase of other lands in their respective parishes, to be held by them and their successours, vestries of the said parishes for the time being, together with the slaves to be assigned to them as aforesaid, for the use of the poor of their respective parishes for the time being for ever. V. Provided always, That the execution of this act shall be, and the same is hereby suspended, until his majesty's approbation thereof shall be obtained, CHAP. XXXIX. chap. 5.] An act for repealing an act passed in the former part of this present ses- [See ante sion of assembly, entitled An act for dividing the parish of Truro, in the county of Fairfax, and for making a more equal division of the said pa rish. Fairfaxcoun I. WHEREAS it is represented to this present ge- Former act neral assembly that the lines and boundaries whereby for dividing the parish of Truro, in the county of Fairfax, was di- the parish of vided into two distinct parishes, pursuant to an act Truro in passed for that purpose in the former part of this pre- ty, repealed sent session of assembly, have made a very unequal di- and a new vision of the said parish, by leaving nearly double the division number of tithables in the new parish of Fairfax, than made. there are in Truro parish: Be it therefore enacted, by the Lieutenant-Governour, Council, and Burgesses, of this present General Assembly, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That the said act, entitled An act for dividing the parish of Truro, in the county of Fairfax, be, and the same is hereby repealed, and declared null and void. II. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That from and after the ninth day of June next the said parish of Truro shall be divided into two distinct parishes, in the following manner, that is to say: From the mouth of little Hunting creek, up the same, Boundaries. to the forks thereof; thence up the meanders of the south branch thereof, to the Gum Spring thereon; from thence by a straight line to the ford of Dogue run, where the back road from Colchester to Alexandria crosses the said run; and from thence by a straight line to the forks. of Difficult. And that all that part of the said parish which lies above the said lines shall be one distinct rish, and called and known by the name of Fairfax; Fairfax. and all that other part thereof below the said lines shall be another distinct parish, and retain the name of Truro. III. And be it further enacted, That the freeholders and housekeepers of the said parishes of Truro and Fairfax respectively shall meet at some convenient time pa Truro. and place, to be appointed and publickly advertised by the sheriff of the said county of Fairfax at least one month before the first day of August next following, and then and there elect twelve of the most able and discreet persons of their respective parishes for vestrymen in each of the said parishes; which vestrymen so elected, having in the court of the said county of Fairfax taken and subscribed the oaths appointed to be taken by one act of parliament made in the first year of the reign of his majesty king George the first, entitled An Act for the further security of his majesty's person and government, and the succession of the crown in the heirs of the late princess Sophia, being Protestants, and for extinguishing the hopes of the pretended prince of Wales, and his open and secret abetters, and taken and subscribed the oaths of abjuration, and repeated and subscribed the test, and also subscribed to be conformable to the doctrine and discipline of the church of England, shall, to all intents and purposes, be deemed and taken to be the vestries of the said parishes respectively. IV. Provided always, That nothing herein contained shall be construed to hinder the collectors of the said parishes respectively, as the same now stand divided, according to the directions of the above mentioned act of Assembly, from collecting or making distress for any parish levies which shall remain unpaid by the inhabitants of either of them at the time this act shall take place; but such collectors shall have the same power to collect and distrain for the said levies, and shall be answerable for them in the same manner, as if this act had never been made, any law, usage, or custom, to the contrary thereof, in any wise, notwithstanding. V. And whereas before the division of the said parish of Truro, by the above mentioned act, considerable sums of money and tobacco were levied on the inhabitants thereof, and laid out in the purchase of a glebe for their minister, and building houses thereon, and also for plate for the use of their churches, and fifty thousand pounds of tobacco have been also lately levied on them for building churches in the said parish, which hath not been yet so applied, and it is reasonable that the inhabitants of the said parish of Fairfax should be reimbursed their due proportion of the said money and tobacco, according to their number of tithables: Be it therefore further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That Henry Lee, John Baylis, Foushee Tebbs, Allan Ma |