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Colonial and State Records of North Carolina
Acts of the North Carolina General Assembly, 1769
North Carolina. General Assembly
October 23, 1769 - November 06, 1769
Volume 23, Pages 784-786

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LAWS OF NORTH CAROLINA, 1769.

At an Assembly, begun and held at New Bern, the Twenty third Day of October in the Ninth Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, &c., and in the Year of Our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty nine: Being the first Session of this Present Assembly. William Tryon, Esq., Governor.

CHAPTER I.
An Act for appointing an Agent to solicit the Affairs of this Province at the several Boards in England.

(Printed in Private Acts, post).

CHAPTER II.
An Act for confirming the Qualification of Henry Lockey, Sheriff of Beaufort County.

(Printed in Private Acts, post).

CHAPTER III.
An Act to encourage the destroying of Vermin in the several Counties therein mentioned. (a).

I. Whereas the Counties of Mecklenburg, Rowan, Tryon, Carteret, Bute, and Granville, are much infested with Wolves, and other Vermin, to the great Prejudice of the Inhabitants:

II. Be it Enacted by the Governor, Council, and Assembly and by the Authority of the same, That every Person who shall kill any of the Vermin herein after mentioned, within Ten Miles of any settled Plantation in any of the said Counties, shall be entitled to a Claim on the County where such Vermin shall be killed, to the several Rewards as follows: For every Wolf, Seven Shillings and Six pence. And for every Panther, Seven Shillings and Six Pence; to be paid as herein after directed.

III. And be it further Enacted, by the Authority aforesaid, That any Person who shall have a Claim for killing any of the aforesaid Vermin, are hereby directed to produce the scalp of the aforesaid Vermin with both Ears before a Magistrate, who is to administer an Oath to such Person Claiming the same, that it was taken and killed within the Bounds of such County where the Claim shall be made: And if any Slave or Indian that shall kill any Vermin, of which the Head or Scalp shall be produced as aforesaid, the Master or Owner of such Slave or Indian, or he that makes claim for such scalp or scalps, in behalf of any slave or Indian, shall make Oath before such Magistrate, that he verily believes the same was taken and killed within the County wherein the same was claimed; which Oath being administered, the Magistrate is hereby directed to give a Certificate for the same, and immediately cause such Scalp to be destroyed.

IV. And be it further Enacted by the authority aforesaid, That any Person

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having a Certificate from any such Magistrate, shall, upon producing the same to the Court of the County where such Certificate was obtained, be entitled to the Sum or Sums due upon such Certificate; which several Sums so paid, shall be allowed by the Court, out of the County Tax.

V. And be it further Enacted, by the Authority aforesaid, That the several Justices of the Inferior Courts of Pleas and Quarter Sessions within the said Counties, are hereby required, authorized, and impowered, to lay a Tax on the several Taxable persons within their respective Counties for discharging the said Claims.

VI. And be it further Enacted, by the Authority aforesaid, That this Act shall be and continue in Force, for and during the Term of Two Years, and from thence to the End of the next Session of Assembly, and no longer.

CHAPTER IV.
An Act to impower the Justices in the several Counties therein Mentioned to establishing free Ferries and Bridges in their respective Counties; and lay a Tax for defraying the Charges thereof.

I. Whereas by Reason of the several Rivers running through the Counties of Hertford, Pasquotank, Rowan, Mecklenburg, Pitt, and Tyrrel, the Ferries and Bridges over which it is necessary for many of the Inhabitants to pass, to attend the Courts and other Public Meetings at the Court Houses in the said respective Counties, are expensive and Burthensome to such Inhabitants:

II. Be it therefore Enacted by the Governor, Council, and Assembly, and by the Authority of the same, That the Justices of the said respective Counties or any seven or More of them, be and are hereby impowered to agree with the Owner or Owners, Keeper or Keepers of any Ferry or Ferries, Toll Bridge or Bridges, within their respective Counties, as they shall think necessary, for such Sum or Sums of Money as shall appear to them reasonable, to set over such Ferry or Ferries, or let pass over such Toll Bridge or Bridges any of the Inhabitants of the said respective Counties requiring the same, free from any Charge whatsoever, on any of the Days of the sitting of the Courts, Election of Members of Assembly, or Vestrymen, Meeting of the Vestry, or General Musters of the said Counties.

III. And be it further Enacted, by the Authority aforesaid, That the Justices of the said Counties are hereby authorized and required, Yearly, and every Year, at the same Time that they lay the County Levy, to lay a Tax not exceeding Six Pence, Proclamation Money, on each and every Taxable Person in their respective Counties, to be collected and accounted for by the Sheriffs with the Justices of the respective Counties in the same Manner as other County Taxes, and by them applied to the Discharge of the several Contracts to be made in Virtue of this Act: and the overplus (if any) to the Contingent Charges of the County.

IV. And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That each and every Ferryman, Owner or Owners of any such Toll Bridge or Bridges, with whom the Justices shall agree as aforesaid, shall be and they are hereby obliged to set over, Ferriage Free, or suffer to pass over such Toll Bridge or Bridges, without Toll, any of the Inhabitants of the respective Counties, on the Days and Times aforesaid; under the Penalty of Twenty Shillings, Proclamation Money, for every Offence; to be recovered by the Party grieved, before any Justice of the Peace, and applied to his Own Use.

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V. And be it further Enacted, by the Authority aforesaid, That it shall and may be lawful for the Justices of the said respective Counties, to take Bond and Security of all such Ferry Keepers or Owners of any Toll Bridge or Bridges, with whom they shall agree as aforesaid, in the Sum of Twenty Pounds, for the Due and faithful Performance of the Duty enjoined them by this Act.

VI. And be it further Enacted, by the Authority aforesaid, That the Ferry crossing the Yadkin River, where the Trading Path crosses below the Island, where the Ferry is now kept in Rowan County, be, and is hereby declared to be a Public Ferry; and that no other Ferry shall be kept on the said River within Four Miles above or below the same.

VII. And be it further Enacted, by the Authority aforesaid, That this Act shall be and continue in Force for and during the Term of Ten Years, after the passage thereof, and from thence to the End of the next Session of Assembly, and no longer.