218 On removal of committee others to be chofen. Provifo. Secretary to keep State records, to record acts, copies, &c. Secretary. Select-men. Monies and other Eftates; and to take Leafes, Bonds, or other Securities to themselves and their Succeffors, for the use of such Schools: Which Leafes, Bonds, or other Securities the faid Select-men, Committee, or Committees who take the fame, fhall have Power to fue and recover thereon: And in cafe of the Removal of them, or any of them, by Death or otherwife, their Succeffors in that Office or Offices, fhall have as full Power in the Matters aforefaid, to profecute in their own Names, as those whom they fucceed as aforesaid, might or could do, if they had not been removed as aforefaid which Bonds, Leafes and Securities fhall, by faid Select-men and Committee be lodged with the Clerk of fuch Town or Society, who is directed and required to keep an Account thereof, and hold the fame under the Direction of the faid Select-men and Committees, for the Purpose aforefaid; and fuch Select men and Committees fhall render their Accounts of their Ufe and Improvements of fuch Eftate and Intereft, unto fuch Town and Society by whom they are appointed, when thereunto-required. Provided nevertheless, That this Act fhall not extend to any Eftate formerly granted by any particular Perfon for the Benefit of any School or Schools in any particular Town or Society; nor to Grants of any Interefts formerly made by any Perfon to any Town or Society for the support of Schools wherein the Grantor hath committed the Care and Improvement of fuch Eftate by him given, to particular Perfons, with particular Directions for a continual Succeffion in faid Truft; or where the General Affembly hath formerly interpofed and committed the difpofition of the Profits of fuch Eftates to a Committee in a continual Succeffion; any Thing contained in this Act to the contrary notwithstanding. An Act relating to the Secretary's Office and Duty. BE E it enacted by the Governor, Council, and Representatives, in General Court affembled, and by the Authority of the fame, That the Secretary of this State for the Time being, fhall have the keeping and cuftody of the Records, and other public Papers that contain the Acts, Orders, Grants and Doings of the General Affembly; and that have Relation to fuch Matters and Af&c. and give fairs as are of general Concern, and are to be recorded or kept in his Office: And fhall record all Acts, Orders, Grants and Refolves made by the General Affembly, and give true Copies thereof when reafonably thereunto required: And fhall within twenty Days after the End of every Seffion of the General Court, publish in Writing, under the common Seal of the State, fuch Acts, Laws, and Orders of public Concernment, as fhall from &c. to pub- Time to Time be made by the General Court, and then fend the fame to the Printer to the State of Connecticut for the Time being, in Order to the. Printing the fame to be difperfed among the People of this State for their better Knowledge thereof. In 20 days, lifh the laws, and fend copy to the printer. And alfo the Secretary fhall be the Keeper of the Seal of this State, and Keeper of the fhall affix it to fuch Laws, Acts, Orders, Commiffions, Inftruments, and Certificates as he is, or fhall by Law be ordered to do, or fhall be defired by particular Perfons that have fpecial Occafion for the fame. State feal. Preamble. An Act to enable Select-men to affefs the Inhabitants of the Town in fome Cafes. WHEREAS the Laws of this State do oblige the Select-men of each Town within the fame, (at the Charge of the Town) to provide, do and perform various Articles, Matters and Things : BE Wherefore, to enable them thereto, E it enacted by the Governor, Council and Reprefentatives, in General Court affembled, and by the Authority of the fame, That the Select-men, or the Sewers. the major Part of them, in the feveral Towns within this State, when and fo often as there fhall need a fupply of Money in the Treafury of any Town, to provide and answer any of thofe Articles, Matters, Things or Charges by them to be provided or anfwered according to Law, and the Inhabitants of the Town at any Town-Meeting (whereat fuch want of a Supply is made known to them by their Select-men) fhall refufe or neglect to grant fuch Supply; fhall be, and the faid Select-men are hereby fully authorized and impowered to affefs the feveral Inhabitants of their faid Town, and make a Rate upon them, according to the Lift of the Polls and rateable Eftate of the faid Inhabitants, for raising such Sum or Sums as fhall be neceffary for providing the feveral Things, and answering the feveral Matters aforefaid, or any of them; which Sum or Sums fo raised the faid Select-men fhall be accountable for according to the A&t, entitled, "An Act for maintaining and fupporting the Poor." And that all fuch Rates fo made by the Select-men or the major Part of them, in any Town in this State, and delivered to the Conftable or Conftables of the Town, with a Warrant annexed thereto, figned by the Select-men or the major Part of them, and directed to the Conftable or Conftables, requiring him or them to gather the fame (which Warrant fuch Select-men are hereby authorized and impowered to grant, as aforefaid) fhall be a fufficient Warrant for fuch Conftable or Conftables to collect fuch Rate: And they are hereby required to obey and ferve fuch Warrant; and therein shall obferve and follow the Directions of the Law relating to the gathering and collecting the State Rates: And when they have collected the fame according to fuch Warrant, fhall pay the Sum or Sums collected to the Select-men or major Part of them, or to their Order, for the Uses aforefaid, and take Receipts of what they pay. And in Cafe any fuch Constable shall not perform the Truft hereby committed unto him, he fhall be accountable, and fhall and may be proceeded against by Diftrefs, as is provided against Collectors of Rates, in the Law, entitled, “ An A&t for collecting and paying of Rates or Taxes.” An Act for appointing and directing Commiffioners of WHEREAS there are great Quantities of meadow, marshy, and low Lands of 219 Select-men to affefs the inhabitants nies for fup plies, &c. Select-men's warrant fuffi cient, &c. Penalty for neglect. Grounds belonging to fundry Perfons in feveral Towns in this State, which Preamble, are spoiled by the overflowing of Waters: And also much swampy and unprofitable Land which might be rendered profitable by drowning and draining the fame. To the Intent therefore that the Owners of fuch Lands may be encou raged and enabled to remove fuch Obstructions, and dam and flow their Swamps, and other unprofitable Grounds, thereby to bring them under profitable Improvement; BE it enacted by the Governor, Council and Representatives, in General Court affembled, and by the Authority of the fame, That it fhall be in the Power of the Governor and Council, for the Time being, from Time to Time, upon Requeft to them made by the major Part of the Proprietors of any fuch Lands, to grant Commiffions of Sewers, to fuch and fo many able and difcreet Perfons, as to them fhall feem meet, for the clearing and removing of the Banks and Obftructions of the Paffages of the Waters in Rivers, Brooks, Streams, or Ponds that occafion the overflowing and drowning of meadow, fwampy and low Lands: And alfo for the flowing and draining of Swamps and other unprofitable Grounds: And alfo for damming to prevent the Water overflowing marshy and flat Lands; which Commiffions fhall be figned by the Governor: And by the faid Commiflions, the Commiffioners fhall be impowered to do the Service aforefaid, and to employ Work-men and Labourers for fuch reasonable Wages as may be agreed Ee 2 on Governor & council to grant com miffions, &c. on for the effecting the Premifes: And from Time to Time to affefs and tax all fuch Perfons as are Owners of fuch low and wet Lands, towards defraying the Charge of the Service aforefaid, (having Regard to each Perfon's Quantity of Land, and Benefits to be received thereby, as equally according to their best Judgment as they can) and also to appoint and fwear a Collector or Collectors, for the collecting and gathering and paying in the fame Affeffment to fuch Perfons as fhall by faid Commiffioners be appointed to receive it; with Power to diftrain all fuch Perfons as fhall neglect or refuse to make Payment of his, her or their Parts or Proportion fet and affeffed as aforefaid, in fuch Manner as in the State Rates and Taxes by Law may be done; and to call before themfelves the faid Collector or Collectors, to an Account for his or their Betruftment, with Reference to the Premises. And the faid Commiffioners fhall be fworn to a faithful Difcharge of their Commiffion- Truft, and fhall receive fuch Salaries out of the faid Affeffments for their Time and Expences, touching the Premifes, as the Governor and Council fhall appoint; unto whom the faid Commiffioners fhall be accountable when thereunto required. ers to be íworn. And if any Proprietor of any fuch Lands fhall be unable, or otherwise neglect to pay his, her or their Proportion of the faid Rates or Affeffments, Charges how it fhall and may be lawful to and for the other Proprietors concerned therein, paid. to pay the faid Affeffments, and to hold the faid Lands of the Perfon neglecting or refufing as aforefaid, until the Profits of thofe Perfons Lands may be fufficient to reimburse them, according to the Judgment of the Commiffioners. Provifo. Proprietors to meet, &c. called. Always provided, That it fhall be in the Liberty of any Perfon aggrieved at any Procedure of the faid Commiffioners, or of any others in Pursuance of this Act, to appeal or complain unto the Governor and Council for Relief. And forafmuch as the Ditches, Drains and Dams made by the Commiffioners afcrefaid, will be likely to fill up, or get out of Repair, it will be needful that they be frequently fcoured or repaired: Therefore, Be it further enacted by the Authority aforefaid, That the Proprietors of fuch marfhy, wet or drained Lands, after the faid Commiffioners have dammed, ditched or drained the fame, may meet and affemble together from Time to Time, as there fhall be Occafion: Which Meeting fhall be warned as follows, viz. When and fo often as any three of faid Proprietors, fhall judge a ProMeeting how prietors Meeting neceffary for the Purpofes hereafter mentioned, they may apply to the next Affiftant or Justice of the Peace, who thereupon is hereby impowered to iffue forth his Precept to fome meet Perfon, to warn all the Proprietors of fuch Lands, to meet at fuch Time and Place, and for fuch Bufinefs as fhall be therein appointed and declared; and the Perfon to whom fuch Precept is directed, fhall give Warning to all the Proprietors of fuch Lands, that live in the Town where the Lands lie, by reading the fame in their hearing, or leaving an attefted Copy thereof at the Place of their ufual Abode, at least three Days before fuch Meeting: And the faid Meeting being fo warned and affembled, thall be a lawful Meeting. Their power and bufinefs when met. And at any, and every of fuch Meetings, as there fhall be Occafion, the faid Proprietors, by their major Votes, to be computed according to their Intereft in fuch Lands, may choofe a Clerk, who fhall be fworn to make true Entries of all fuch Votes as fhall be paffed in faid Meetings; and alfo of the Reports of the Proprietors Committee, of their doing, in ftating and fetting out to each Proprietor his Part of fuch Dams, Ditches and Drains; Which Committee the faid Proprietors are hereby impowered to choose, confifting of two or three Men, who may ftate and fet out to each Proprietor his Part or Proportion of fuch Dam, Ditch or Ditches; to be computed and done according to his Intereft in fuch Lands: Which Committee fhall make a Return, or Report of their Doings therein, unto the Clerk, in in Writing under their Hands; to be entered on Record, that it may be known. And each Proprietor, his Heirs and Affigns, fhall ever after fufficiently clear and keep open, and in Repair, his Part of fuch Dams, Ditches and Drains, ftated and fet out to him as aforefaid. Always provided, The Proprietors may, at any Time afterwards, caufe a new Stating of the fame, as they fhall fee Occafion. And the more effectually to oblige the faid Proprietors to do the fame, It is further Enailed, That the said Proprietors fhall be, and are hereby impowered to choose two or more Perfons among themselves, to be Scavengers for the clearing up or keeping in Repair fuch Dams, Drains and Sewers: Which Scavengers fhall be chofen and appointed once in two Years; and fhall take the Oath by Law provided. And if any Perfo: or Perfons, lawfully chofen to faid Office of Scavenfhall refufe or neglect to take fuch Oath, being required thereunto by ger, a Citation from an Affiftant or Juftice of the Peace; fuch Perfon or Perfons fhall each of them pay a Fine of Twenty Shillings to the Proprietors of fuch Lands, to be delivered to their Committee for the Ufe of the Proprietors : The fame to be levied by Warrant from fuch Affiftant or Juftice. And the Proprietors aforefaid, fhall proceed to choofe other Perfon or Perfons Scavengers, in the Room of fuch as have refufed as aforefaid; and fo toties quoties. And the faid Scavengers fhall, from Time to Time, diligently inspect the Dams, Drains and Ditches, and fee that they are kept open, or in good Repair; and if at any Time they find them, or any Part of them filled or out of Repair, they fhall forthwith give Warning thereof unto fuch Proprietors, Whole Part is deficient, that they forthwith repair and amend the fame; and if any Proprietor fhall not within five Days next after fuch Warning given, clear or repair the fame fufficiently, in the Judgment of the Scavengers, the faid Scavengers are hereby impowered and appointed, forthwith to caufe the fame to be fufficiently repaired; and the Perfon or Perions to whom it belongs, fhall pay double Coft to the Scavengers for repairing the fame : And in Cafe of Refufal or neglect of Payment thereof, for the Space of ten Days after an Account thereof prefented, and Demand thereof made; fuch Colt and Charges fhall be levied by Diftrefs, and Sale of the Offender's Goods, by Warrant from an Affiftant or Justice of the Peace. And for Want of Goods or perfonal Eftate, the Officer fhall deliver to Lands liable, the Scavenger, fo much of the Lands of the Perfon deficient as will answer &c. the fame, with additional Cofts, by a reasonable Extent. Always provided, That if any Proprietor thinks himfelf aggrieved with the Account of the Scavengers, he may, at his own Coft, within the faid ten Provifo, Provided alfo, That when the Proprietors of fuch Lands fhall judge that, the clearing of faid Ditches and Drains, or repairing faid Danis may be more eafily and more effectually performed in a general Way and Manner, and hall thereupon in any of their lawful Meetings, by their major Vote, computed by Intereft, as aforefaid, vote and agree that the faid Ditches and Drains fhall be cleared, or faid Dams repaired ar the public Charge of the Proprietors, then the faid Commiffioners of Sewers fhall, and they are hereby impowered, to employ Perfons to do the fame, and to affefs the Proprietors therefor, and levy the fame in the fame Manner as they are by this Act enabled to do in the firft making of faid Dams, Ditches, and Drains; any Thing in this Act contained to the contrary notwithstanding., And be it further enacted by the Authority aforefaid, That if any Perfon or Perfons, Provifo. Sheep. Perfons, without Liberty of the Proprietors firft had or obtained, fhall fet any Fence, Hedge, or other Incumbrance, on the Bank of fuch Drain or Drains, to the annoyance and incumbrance of it, or to make the clearing up and keeping the fame in good Repair more difficult, it fhall be lawful for the Scavengers to remove the fame as a common Nufance. An Act for ordering, reftraining, and preferving Sheep. BE E it enacted by the Governor, Council and Representatives, in General Court affembled, and by the Authority of the fame, That the Owners of Sheep in any Town in this State, or the major Part of them, fhall be allowed and impowered, and they are hereby allowed and impowered to meet together. within their Limits, as often as there fhall be Occasion; and in fuch their Meetings to order that the Sheep in fuch Town fhall be put together in a Flock or Flocks annually, for fuch Time and Seafon of the Year as they fhall determine. And the Owners of the Sheep of every fuch Flock, are impowered to meet together in their Limits, and in fuch Meeting by their major Vote, according to their Intereft, to be computed according to the number of Sheep each Voter hath, to choose their Clerk, who fhall be fworn to make true Entries of all fuch Votes and Acts as fhall be made by faid Owners of Sheep: And alfo to choose Sheep-Mafters for the hiring of a Shepherd, and letting out the Flock to fold, and for other prudential Affairs relating to the Flock; And also to make Orders for the warnings of their Meetings, and all neceffary Orders proper for the better managing their Flock, reftraining Rams from going at Large within their Limits, and fecuring the Flock from being destroyed by Dogs. And if any Sheep fhall go at Large on the Common without a Keeper, in any Town in this State, fuch Sheep may be taken up and impounded by any Perfon finding the fame; unlefs any Town fhall agree and order to the contrary within their own Precincts, refpecting their Sheep. And whereas it is practiced in fome of the Towns in this State, by fome particular Inhabitants, to turn large Flocks of Sheep on the Highways, with a Keeper, and thereby eat up and destroy the Herbage therein, to the great Detriment of the poor Inhabitants of fuch Towns : Which to prevent: Be it further enacted by the Authority aforefaid, That no particular Perfon in any Town in this State, fhall for the future, turn any Flock of Sheep on the Highways with a Keeper, of more than Fifty, to eat up and confume the Herbage therein, without Liberty first had and obtained from fuch Town, or the Proprietors thereof, on Pain that every Offender shall forfeit and pay the Sum of Twenty Shillings for every such Offence, to him or them who will fue for and profecute the fame to effect. And it is further Enacted, That every Town that does not agree to have any Flock, fhall have the fame Power to make Acts relating to the reftraining of Rams and fecuring the Sheep from being destroyed by Dogs, as the Owners of Sheep have that live within the Limits of any Flock, as aforefaid. And no Damage fhall be recovered against any Perfon for killing any Dog or Dogs, according to the Orders of fuch Town or Owners of any Flock. And the more effectually to prevent Mischief being done by Dogs to Sheep and Cattle in this State, Be it further enalted by the Authority aforefaid, That when any Perfon or Perfons living in any Town in this State, fhall complain to any one of the Select-men of such Town, of Damages done among Sheep or Cattle, by their being worried, wounded or killed by Dogs in the Woods or elsewhere in fuch Town; or fhall complain thereof to any one of the Sheep-mafters of the Flock, within the Limits whereof fuch Mischief is done, and shall inform fuch |