Deputy for each precinct (who are hereby required to attend at such elections) shall within Twenty days after make Return to the Governor or Commander in Chief for the time being (under the penalty of Five pounds for every such neglect) that the Governor or Commander in Chief with the Advice of the Lords Proprietors Deputies may make choice of one of them who being Commissionated under the Hand & Seal of the Governor or Commander in Chief shall be thereby Invested with the Office of Register of Deeds &, till there be a Clerk of the Parish Church of Births, Burials & Marriages.

III. And Be It Further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that each & every Public Register so chosen & commissionated shall within Three months after he shall enter upon his or her office give Bond with two good & sufficient securities to his Excellency the Pallatine & Lords Proprietors in the sum of one Thousand Pounds for the faithful discharge of his office which Bond shall be given before the Justices of the Precinct whereof the Party shall be appointed Register & Recorded in the Secretary's Office & the Original Deposited in the Hand of the Governor or Commander in Chief. And whoever after the said first day of April shall officiate in the said Office longer than Three months without giving such Security as aforesaid he or they so offending shall forfeit & pay the sum of Twenty pounds, one half to the Informer & the other half to the poor of the Parish or Precinct.

IV. Provided always that every person & persons who now Act in the aforesaid Office within any Precinct of this Government shall be & continue in the same till such choice shall be made & confirmed as is before by this Act directed when they and every of them are hereby required & commanded to deliver to the Publick Register of their Precinct so Elected & Confirmed all papers & Records which shall be in their Custody and which of right belong & appertain to the said office under the penalty of Fifty pounds.

V. And Be It Further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, that in case of death or other Legal disability of any of the said Registers the like proceedings shall be had for the nominating Three Candidates to the Governor the second day of the next Court ensuing the death or disability of the Register as is before by this Act directed.

VI. And it is further Enacted by the Authority Afors'd that no Conveyance or Bill of Sale for land (other than Mortgage) in what manner soever drawn shall be good & available in Law unless the same shall be acknowledged by the Vendor or proved by one or more Evidences upon Oath either before the Chief Justice for the time being or in the Court of the Precinct where the land lyeth & registered by the Publick Register of the Precinct where the land lyeth within twelve months after the date of the same Deed and that all Deeds so done & executed shall be Valid & pass Estates in Land or Right to other Estate without Liberty or Seizin, Attornment or other Ceremony in the Law whatsoever.

VII. Provided always that all Deeds or Conveyances of Land, Tenements, Hereditaments, Goods & Chattels which are already past & registered or which shall be registered within one Year after the Ratification of this Act for which a Good & valuable consideration has been actually bona fide paid shall be good & available in Law & Equity to purchasers & their heirs against the Vendors & their Heirs & all others claiming by, from & under them in as full & ample manner to all Intents, Constructions & Purposes as if the same Title had been made either by Fine, Common Recovery, Livery of Seizin, Attornment or any other ways used & practiced within the kingdom of Great Britain,

VIII. And Be It Further Enacted by the Authority afors'd that all Deeds & conveyances of Land lying within this Government made in foreign parts which shall be remitted hither & proved before the Chief Justice or Court of the Precinct where the land lyeth in manner as before directed or which shall be personably acknowledged or proved before the Chief Magistrate of and City, Town or Corporation within the King of Great Britain's Dominions And an Attestation thereof fixed thereto or which shall be acknowledged or proved before the Governor or Commander in Chief of any of his Majesty's plantations and attested under the Publick seal & registered in the afors'd Office of the precinct where the land lyeth within One year after the Arrival of such Deeds shall be good & valid in Law to all Intents & purposes as if made & Executed within this Government.

IX.. And for the avoiding & abolishing of feigned, Covinous & Fraudu lent Feoffments, Gifts, Grants, Alienations, Conveyances, Bonds, Suits, Judgements & Executions as well of Lands & Tenements as of Goods & Chattels which of late have been & still are devised & contrived of malice, Fraud, Covin or Collusion to the End, Purpose & Intent to delay, hinder & defraud Creditors & others of their just & lawfull Actions, debts, & Accompts.

X. It Is Hereby Further Enacted by the Authority afors'd that all & every Feoffment, Gift, Grant, Alienation, Bargain & Conveyance of Lands, Tenements, Hereditaments, Goods & Chattels or at any of them by Writing or otherwise and all & every Bond suit, judgment & execution at any time had or made to be or for any Intent or Purpose since the first day of January Anno Dom. 1714 or at any time hereafter to be had or made before, declared & expressed shall be from henceforwards deemed & taken only as against the person or persons, his or their heirs or successors, executors, administrators & assigns & every of them whose Actions, Suits, debts, Accompts, damages, penalties, forfeitures & Relief by such Covinous or fraudulent devices & practices as is afors'd or shall or might be in any wise disturbed, hindered, delayed or defrauded to be clearly & utterly void frustrata & if no effect any pretence, collour, feigned Consideration expressing of use or any matter or thing to the contrary notwithstanding.

XI. And Be It Further Enacted by the Authority afors'd that all and every the Parties to such feigned, Covinous or Fraudulent Feoffments, Gifts, Grants, Alienations, Bargains, Conveyances, Bonds, Suits, Judgments, Executions, or other things before expressed & being Privy & knowing of the same or any of them which after any time after the first day of August next coming shall wittingly & willingly put in use, avow, maintain, justify & defend the same or any of them as true, simple & done, had or made bona fide & upon good consideration or shall alien or assign any the Lands, Tenements, Goods or things before mentioned to him or them conveyed as afors'd or any part thereof shall incur the forfeiture of the real value of the Lands & Tenements, Goods & Chattels the one moiety thereof to the Lords Proprietors & the other half to the Party grieved & intended to be defrauded thereby.

XII. Provided also & be It Enacted by the Authority afors'd that this Act or any thing herein before contained shall not extend or be construed to impeach, defeat or make void any conveyance or assurance, Interest or Limitation of Use or Uses of into, or out of any lands or Tenements heretofore at any time had or made or hereafter to be bona fide made upon and for good consideration to any person or persons whatsoever any thing before mentioned to the contrary notwithstanding. And for the prevention of

Frauds by Double Mortgages & Conveyances of Lands, Negroes, Goods & Chattels.

XIII. Be It Further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid that every mortgage of Lands, Tenements, Goods or Chattels which shall be first registered in the Register's Office of the precinct where the Land lyeth or of Goods & Chattels where the Mortgager liveth shall be taken, deemed, judged, allowed of & held to be the first Mortgage & to be good, firm, Substantial & lawfull in all Courts of Justice within this Government any former or other Mortgage of the same Land, Goods or Chattels not before Registered Notwithstanding unless such prior Mortgage be registered within Fifty days after the Date. XIV. Provided always & be it further Enacted by the Authority afors'd that in case more than one Mortgage shall happen to be made & to be in force at one time of the same Lands & Tenements, Goods & Chattels the several Mortgagees which have not Registered their Mortgages, their Heirs, Executors, Admrs. or Assignes shall have power to Redeem any Mortgage or Mortgages Registered upon paying the Principal Debt, Interest & cost of suit to the prior Mortgagee or Mortgagees, their Heirs, Executors, Adminrs. or Assignes.

XV. And as a punishment for such intended fraud or Covin any person or persons which shall Mortgage the same Lands, Tenements, Goods or Chattels a second time a former Mortgage being in force & not discharged, shall have no power or liberty of Redemption in Equity or otherwise.

XVI. Provided also, that nothing in this Act contained shall be construed, deemed or extended to Barr any Widow of any Mortgage or of such Lands & Tenements from her right of Dower to the said Land who did not legally join with her husband in such Mortgage or otherwise Barr or exclude herself from such her Dower or Right.

XVII. And Be It Further Enacted that every prior purchaser or mortgagee of any Lands or Tenements, Goods or Chattels which shall not before the first day of January, 1716, Register his Title or Mortgage as afors'd. If after that time a second deed of Sale, Conveyance or Mortgage be registered before the prior such person, so neglecting shall take no advantage or Bene. fit of such Purchase or Mortgage already signed & sealed.

XVIII. And Be It Further Enacted by the Authority afors'd that the Register afors'd of every precinct when there is no Clerk of the Church in that precinct shall register all Births, Burials & Marriages within the precinct whereof he is Register & that every Master or Mistress of a family who shall neglect to register the Birth or Death of any person Born or Dying within his or her House or Plantation & every married man who shall neglect to remit to the said Register a Certificate of his Marriage & cause the same to be registered for longer than one month, Each Master or Mistress or Married man so neglecting or refusing shall forfeit & pay to the said Register one shilling per month for every month so neglected. Provided the whole do not exceed Twenty shillings.

XIX. And Be It Further Enacted by the Authority afors'd that all penalties & forfeitures in this Act mentioned shall be recovered by Bill, Plaint or Information in any Court of Record within this Government wherein no injuncton, Protection or Wager of Law shall be allowed or admitted of. EDW'D MOSELEY, Speaker.

CHAS. EDEN,

N. CHEVIN,

C. GALE,

FRAN. FOSTER,

T. KNIGHT.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

(Repealed by Act 4 Apr., 1741, Ch. 17.)

An Act concerning Weights and Measures.

I. Be It Enacted by his Excellency the Palatine & the rest of the True & Absolute Lords Proprietors of Carolina by & with the Advice & Consent of the rest of the Members of the Genl. Assembly now met at Little River for the No. East part of said Province.

II. And It Is Hereby Enacted that the Vestry of each & every precinct or parish within this Government which is not already provided therewith shall within Twelve months after the Ratification of this Act at the precinct or parish cause to be assessed, levied & raised with the other precinct or parish charges the several sealed Weights & Measures following that is to to say Five Half hundreds, One Quarter of an Hundred, Four pounds Weight, Two pounds, One pound & two Half pound Weights-A pair of Brass Scales together with a Brass or Copper Yard And of measures an Half Bushel, Peck, Gallon, Pot, Pottle, Quart & pint under the penalty of Twenty Shillings each Vestryman who shall neglect to perform his duty herein; One Halfe to the Informer & the other half to the use of the parish or precinct where the said neglect shall be to be recovered before any Justice of the Peace of the said Precinct without Appeal to any Court or Courts whatsoever.

III. And Be It Further Enacted by the Authority afors'd that the Eldest of the Church wardens of each Precinct or Parish or such other person as shall be appointed by the vestry or the Major part of them shall keep these Standards in his House with a Burnt Mark & Stamp for Iron, Lead or Pewter with the letters N. C. to whom all persons who have not Weights & Measures sealed in England shall bring their Weights & Measures and Steelyards to be tried & sealed.

IV. And Be It Further Enacted by the Authority afors'd that whoever shall presume to buy or sell by Weight or Measure not tryed or sealed as afors'd, whether he be foreignor or Inhabitant, after the procurement of such Weights & Measures as afore directed such person or persons so offending shall forfeit & pay the sum of twenty shillings, for each Default, One Halfe to the Informer & the other half to the Vestry for the use of the Precinct where such default shall be committed to be recovered as aforesaid.

V. And Be It Further Enacted by the Authority afors'd that every person ir whose keeping the said Standards shall be shall at the time of the trying & sealing thereof give a Certificate to the owners of all Steelyards, Weights & Measures by him tryed & sealed for which service it shall & may be lawful for the said Standard keepers to ask, demand & receive the sum of one shilling for every pair of Steelyards, Weights or Measures by him stamped or sealed.

VI. And Be It Further Enacted by the Authority afors'd that the said Standard keeper each & every of them at the time of receiving the said Standards into his or their keeping or within Thirty days after shall have administered to him the following Oath Viz. That he will not stamp, seal or give Certificate for any Steelyards, Weights or Measures by him sealed but such as shall be perfectly agreeable with the Standard & that he will in all things faithfully discharge the office or trust hereby reposed in him to the best of his Judgment or Understanding which Oath the Justices of each & every Precinct Court or any one of them is & are hereby impowered to administer.

VII. And Whereas by much using the best of Steelyards are lyable to damage & alteration.

Be It Further Enacted by the Authority afors'd that every person using, buying or selling by Steelyards shall trye the same and make them agreeable with the Standard once every year & take out a new Certificate for the same under the penalties & forfeitures before ascertained for using the same without being stamped to be recovered as afors'd for the uses afors'd.

EDW'D MOSELEY,

Speaker.

CHAS. EDEN,
N. CHEVIN,
C. GALE,

FRAN. FOSTER,

T. KNIGHT.

CHAPTER XL.

Staple Commodities Rated.

I. Be It Enacted by his Excellency the Pallatine & the rest of the True & absolute Lords Proprietors of the Province of Carolina by & with the Advice & Consent of the rest of the Members of the Genl. Assembly now met at Little River for the No. East part of the Province & by the Authority of the same.

II. And It Is Hereby Enacted that for establishing a Certainty in Trade & in the payment of Publick Levys all Debts due or which hereafter may become due on acct, of the Publick or to any Inhabitant or foreignor trading amongst us or in our private dealing amongst ourselves or otherwise howsoever the Debt being contracted or due in Money not expressing Sterling such person or persons to whom such money shall be due shall take & receive of the same any Specie hereafter expressed & all the Rates hereby appointed or Publick Bills of Credit any thing in this Act contained to the Contrary Notwithstanding.

III. And Be It Further Enacted by the Authority afors'd none of the aforementioned Comodities shall be forced upon any Creditor or Publick