THE STATE RECORDS OF NORTH CAROLINA. # PUBLISHED UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF THE TRUS- OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. COLLECTED AND EDITED BY WALTER CLARK, CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF N. C. VOL. XXIII. LAWS 1715-1776. NASH BROTHERS, A vast deal of the history of a people is to be found in its laws. For this reason, the laws of the Province, and State, of North Carolina from 1663 to 1 Jan., 1791, so far as they could be gathered up, have been collected and will appear as Volumes 23, 24 and 25 of the "State Records." The collection begins with the "Six Confirmed Laws" of 1715, which were really a codification (the first codification of laws in this State) of all the statutes prior to 1715 which were not deemed obsolete. There was a subsequent codification reported to the Legislature in 1749 (the "Yellow Jacket"), by Samuel Swann, but first printed in 1752 by James Davis, and private codifications printed by the latter in 1765 and again in 1773, and another codification by legal authority by James Iredell printed in 1791. Each of these collections omitted laws or parts of laws which had then become obsolete, and the original statutes in many instances were never printed or all copies have been lost in the process of time. After careful collation of the above several codifications, to obtain the statutes thus preserved in print, the omitted laws and parts of laws were supplied as far as possible by research among the manuscript laws in the office of the Secretary of State at Raleigh and among the manuscript records of the Province in the British Archives at London. These missing laws, as far as they could be found, have been intercalated at their proper places chronologically. There have been several codifications since "Iredell's Revisal" in 1791, but these do not concern us. Subsequently some other manuscript laws were discovered in London and these have been copied and printed as a Supplement at the end of Vol. 25. The laws prior to 1715 are still very fragmentary, but the above discoveries in manuscript, including those printed in the Supplement, enable us to present a nearly complete body of the statutes, both public and private, enacted from 1715 down to 1 Jan., 1791. The private laws, embracing charters and similar statutes, are often specially interesting as historical information. There is no division in this publication between public and private statutes, as no end could be served thereby. Two hundred and fifty extra copies of Volumes 23, 24 and 25 have been printed for the benefit of lawyers who may wish to buy these volumes separately, and there will be an Index at end of Vol. 25 for these three volumes of the laws, though the same matter will be incorporated into and will become part and parcel of the General Index in Vol. 27. 1715 TO 1791. 1715 (2 GEORGE I.) ("The Six Confirmed Laws.") CHAPTER I. An Act concerning Marriages. I. For as much as there may be divers people that are minded to be joined together in the Holy Estate of Wedlock & for that there is yet no Minister in this Country by whom the said persons may be joined in Wedlock, according to the Rites & Customs of our natural Country, the Kingdom of England; that none may be hindered from so necessary a work for the preservation of Mankind & settlement of this country. II. It is enacted, & Be it Enacted by the Palatin & Lords Proprietors of Carolina, by & with the consent and Advice of the present Grand Assembly & the authority thereof, that any two persons desirous to be joined together in the Holy Estate of Matrimony, taking three or four of the neighbours along with them & repairing to the Governor or any one of the Council, be. fore him declaring that they do join together in the Holy Estate of Wedlock & do accept one the other for Man & Wife, and the said Governor or Councellor before whom such Act is performed, giving certificate thereof & the said certificate being registered in the Secretary's office, or by the Register of the Precinct or in such office as shall hereafter be appointed for that use, It shall be deemed a Lawful Marriage & the persons violating that marriage shall be punished as if they had been married by a Minister according to the Rites and Customs of England. I. CHAPTER II. An Act for Transferring of Rights. There being divers persons who resort into this Country & perhaps in a short time leave it again; Yet, nevertheless, while they are here they make sale of their Rights & Lands, which thing may prove very prejudicial to our Lords Proprietors and to the speedy settlement of this Government. II. Be it therefore Enacted by the Palatin & Lords Proprietors by & with the consent of this present Grand Assembly and the authority thereof, that no person or persons whatsoever shall make sale of their Rights until they have been two compleat years at least and Inhabitants in the Country, |