SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That an ad-valorem tax of two-fifths of one per cent. be levied for the support of the State Government, the payment of its debts, and the promotion of the general welfare, upon the assessed cash value of the following subjects, to wit:

(1.) Real Estate in this State.

(2.) All slaves in this State (excepting such as the County Courts may have exempted, or may hereafter exempt from taxation on account of bodily or mental infirmity,) to be taxed according to value, which value is to be ascertained by the same persons who assess the value of lands.

(3) Money due from solvent debtors, or on hand, or on deposit with individuals, or in the banks, or other corporations, Provided, That Confederate and State Treasury Notes shall be considered money, and Provided further, that the person listing his money on hand and at interest, shall be allowed to deduct debts owing by him as principal, and also as surety, where the principal is insolvent.

(4) Money invested in manufacturing and steamboat corporations or companies, according to the shares as fixed by the charter; if the shares be in a corporation, and if there be no incorporation then upon the amount invested; also money invested in county bonds, or State bonds, issued since the 23d of February, 1861; also money invested in every species of trade and traffic, not otherwise taxed herein.

(5) Household and kitchen furniture, owned by any individual above the value of two hundred dollars, excepting articles of furniture hereinafter specifically taxed.

SEC. 2. The following property shall be exempt from taxation, to wit: All lands or other property belonging to the Confederate States, or this State, or to any County in this State, or to the University, colleges, or other institutions of learning; all town halls, market houses and other public structures, and edifices, parsonages, and all lots or squares kept open for health, use or ornament, belonging to any city, town or village; all churches and chapels set apart and appropriated to the exercises of Divine worship, or to the propagation of the Gospel; and such land or other property as may be set apart and kept for agricultural societies, grave-yards belonging to churches, and all other public structures and other property set apart and used for the support and comfort of the poor and afflicted; mechanical and farming tools, books, wearing apparel, and arms for muster, and boats, canoes, notes or sums of the value of one hundred dollars or less.

SEC. 3. The property hereinafter taxed at a higher rate than two-fifths of one per cent, shall not be liable to the tax of two-fifths of one per cent., but shall be listed separate therefrom.

SEC. 4. Every dollar of nett dividend or profit not previously listed, declared, received or due, on or before the first day of April in each year, upon money or capital invested in shares in the Bank of Washington, the Merchants Bank of Newbern, the Bank of Wadesboro', the Bank of Fayetteville, the Commercial Bank of Wilmington, the Farmers' Bank of North Carolina, the Bank of Charlotte, and the Bank of Yanceyville, shall pay an annual tax of eight cents, but the same shall not be subject to any county tax.

SEC. 5. The stock or interest held by individuals in all corporations or business shall be listed among the individual property of the holders in the counties where they respectively reside.

SEC. 6. The taxes shall be annually collected, and paid as follows: First, to the sheriffs, on all property and subjects of taxation required to be listed as per schedule A.— Secondly, to the sheriffs on all property and subjects of taxation, which are not required to be listed, but an account of which is to be rendered upon oath to the sheriffs and to the Treasurer of the State as per exhibit C.

SEC. 7. At the first Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions for each county, held on or before the first Monday in March, and at the same term every two years thereafter, the court shall appoint one justice of the peace and two free-holders, men of skill and probity, for each Captain's district, or for each school district, at the option of the court, who shall be styled the district board of valuation of their respective districts; the clerk shall issue a notice of his appointment to each man within five days after adjournment of the court. If the court shall fail to make the required appointments, or should from any cause a vacancy occur, any three justices of the peace may make the required appointments or fill the vacancy.

SEC. 8. This district board of valuation shall, as near as practicable, ascertain the cash value of every tract of land, or other real estate with the improvements thereon, situate in their district, and also the cash value of every slave required to be listed for taxation in their district, either by viewing the same or otherwise.

SEC. 9. In estimating the value, the board may call and swear witnesses to testify thereto, and they shall take into the estimate any fishery appurtenant thereto, or used with the land; also, all mines of metal, stone or coal, or other material discovered or supposed to exist, whereby the price of land is enhanced; also all machinery and fixtures for manufacturing or mechanical purposes, that have been erected or used on the land. When a tract of land shall be in one or more districts, the board of the district in which the owner resides shall ascertain the value of whole tract, and if the owner resides in neither of the districts, the board of the district in which the larger part may be, shall ascertain the value of the whole.

SEC. 10. The owner of the land or slaves, or if he be a non-resident, his agent shall furnish the district board with a list, including land entries, setting forth the separate tracts, and also the several contiguous bodies or tracts of land owned by him in the district, together with the names of the water courses, or other noted places on or nearest to which they may be situated, and the number of acres in each separate tract or contiguous body of land, and also the names, ages and number of slaves he may be bound to list.

SEC. 11. Town lots shall be listed separately, and each lot be numbered according to the plot of the town; each separate body or tract of land, and each town lot shall be separately and distinctly valued and returned.

SEC. 12. The district boards shall, in each case, administer the following oath to the persons furnishing the required list: You, A. B., do solemnly swear, that the list by you furnished, contains a full and fair statement of every tract of land and town lot and slaves in this district, for the taxes of which you are liable, either in your own right or the right of any other person, either as guardian, attorney, agent or trustee, or in any other manner whatsoever, to the best of your knowledge and belief, so help you God.

SEC. 13. If any person shall refuse to furnish the list required above, or to take the oath prescribed in the preceding section, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and the justices of the peace of said board shall bind him over to appear at the next term of the Superior Court of the county to answer the charge, and on conviction or submission, he shall be fined at the discretion of the Court.

SEC. 14. When the owner of the land and slave or slaves, or if he be a non-resident of the State, his agent be not a resident of the district where the land is situated and the slaves required to be listed, the required list with affidavits of the same import as the above required oath subscribed and sworn to before and certified by a justice of the peace, may be transmitted to the district board of valuation, and if received, before the board shall be ready to value the land and slaves contained in the list, such list shall be received as though tendered and sworn to by the owner or agent in person.

SEC. 15. When the board of valuation are not furnished with a list sworn to as above required, or the owner or agent refuses to answer to the correctness of the statements as to the number of acres contained in any tract of land, they may procure a county or other surveyor and have the same surveyed; and the surveyor may recover the amount of his fees and all expenses out of the owner of the land, before a justice of the peace by warrant or attachment, and the board may examine witnesses on oath as to the number and description of the slaves.

SEC. 16. The district boards of valuation shall, as soon as practicable, after their appointment, proceed to value all real property and slaves required to be listed in their respective districts as above directed, complete the list by the first Monday of April after their appointment, and annex the following affidavit subscribed and sworn to before a justice of the peace, who shall certify the same: We do solemnly swear that we have diligently enquired and do not believe that there is any real property or slaves required to be listed in the — district of — county subject to taxation, that is not entered and valued in the above list; and the foregoing valuation is in our judgment and belief the actual value thereof in cash, and that in assessing the same, we have endeavored to do equal justice to the public and to the individuals concerned, so help us God. This list and valuation shall remain in the hands of the justice of the peace of the board, and be open to the inspection of any one who wishes to examine it until returned as hereinafter directed.

SEC. 17. On the Thursday subsequent to the first Monday of April, after the appointment of the district boards of valuation, the persons who were appointed as justices of the peace to be members of the different district boards, shall meet at the court-house and organize themselves into a county board of valuation by electing by ballot one of their members chairman and another secretary. In case a justice of the peace of any district board, from any cause, cannot attend, the elder of the two members of the board shall take his place.

SEC. 18. To this county board of valuation shall the district boards of valuation make returns of their lists. The board shall carefully examine and compare all the lists, and if, in their opinion, the real property and slaves throughout the county shall not have been assessed by a uniform standard of value, they may re-assess any district, or any separate tract or tracts or lots of land, and also any slave or slaves.

SEC. 19. If any one deem that too high a valuation was put on his land or slave or slaves, he may apply to the county board of valuation for redress, and they shall duly consider the case, and decide as in their judgment is right; the board may call, swear and examine witnesses, or in person view the land or slaves about the value of which they are in doubt.

SEC. 20. Two thirds of the entire number of the members composing the county board of valuation shall form a quorum for the transaction of business, and the decision of a majority of the members present shall stand as the decision of the board.

SEC. 21. If in the opinion of the county board of valuation, any tract or tracts of land, or town lots, or slave or slaves have been assessed at too low a value, they shall make lists of such tracts, or lots and slaves, and post them on at least two conspicuous places in the court house, at the time of their adjournment. After they shall have examined and compared the lists, heard the complaints of all who may feel themselves aggrieved by the valuation of their property, the board shall post the lists as above required, and adjourn until the fourth Monday of April, when they shall again meet at the court house, hear the complaints of all who may feel themselves aggrieved by their former action, as by the original valuation, and decide each case as to them may appear right; and from this decision there shall be no appeal.

SEC. 22. When the county boards of valuation shall have performed the duty on them imposed, they shall return the lists received of the district boards of valuations, as by them revised and corrected, to the clerk of the county court, before whom they shall subscribe and swear to the following affidavit annexed to the list returned: “We solemnly swear that the foregoing lists have been carefully examined and compared, and in our judgment and belief they do, as now corrected, exhibit the actual cash value of every tract or lot of land in this county, with the improvements thereon and privileges thereto attached, and of the slaves required to be listed in this county; and in the discharge of our duties, we have endeavored to do equal justice to the public and the individuals concerned, so help us God.”

SEC. 23. Each member of the county and district boards of valuation shall receive out of the county treasury such compensation as the County Court may allow, not exceeding three dollars per day, for the time he may have been engaged in the discharge of his duties.

SEC. 24. At the first Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions of each county, which shall be held on or after the first day of January in each and every year, except in cases wherein a special Court is hereinafter provided for, the Court shall appoint for each captain's district or for each school district, at the option of the Court, a justice of the peace or a freeeolder of known skill and probity, to take the lists of taxable subjects, and the names of such takers of the tax lists, with their respective districts, shall, during the term, be advertised at the court house by the clerk.

SEC. 25. If the Court shall fail from any cause to make such appointment, any three justices of the peace of the county may meet at the office of the clerk of the County Court, on or after the first Monday of April, and appoint the takers of the tax lists for the county, or supply any vacancy arising from death or incapacity to act, and the clerk shall record the same.

SEC. 26. The clerk shall issue notice of all appointments of takers of tax lists as soon as made to the sheriff, who shall serve them within ten days upon the appointees, whose duty it shall be to advertise at their several places in their respective districts at least ten days before the time of listing the places and times, when and where he will attend for the purpose of receiving the list of taxables, which lists he shall take during the last twenty working days in April; they shall perfect their lists and return them to the clerk of the county court on or before the second day of May.

SEC. 27. If any person appointed to take the lists of taxables shall refuse, or willfully fail to discharge the duties of his appointment, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.

SEC. 28. Every person appointed to take the lists of taxables before he enters upon the duties of his appointment, shall take the following oath, to be administered by any justice of the peace, to-wit: I, (A. B.,) do solemnly swear that I will perform all my duties as taker of the tax lists for the district for which I have been appointed, according to my best knowledge and ability, so help me God.

SEC. 29. It shall be the duty of every one liable to pay tax, residing in any district, or having property therein liable to taxation, at the time and place appointed by the taker of the lists, to furnish him a written list of his taxables, mentioned in section first of this bill and in schedule A, hereafter set forth, setting forth the number of acres of land he is bound to list, on what waters situate, the valuation of each tract of land, and the number, ages and value of his slaves, as assessed by the board of assessors next preceding the time of listing, and any other slaves subsequently acquired, and his estimate of value of such articles, or subjects of taxation not mentioned in the first section of this act, as are taxed ad-valorem; and such listing and valuation shall have reference to the property owned and the subjects of taxation held by the tax-payer and its value on the first day of April next before the listing thereof, and the taker of the tax list shall administer to the person furnishing said list the following oath: You solemnly swear that the list by you furnished contains a full statement of all the property and subjects of taxation which you are bound to list either in your own right or in right of any other person, and that the property valued by you is not worth more in cash than the valuation annexed, to the best of your knowledge and belief; Provided, however, that in the year 1863 the taker of the tax lists shall not take the lists of lands and slaves, but they shall be ascertained by the clerk of the county court, and entered by him on the tax list to be furnished to the sheriff or tax collector, from the lists of the assessors, and after the year 1863 and until another assessment of slaves, they shall be listed at the same valuation, Provided, however, that when the tax lister shall make oath in writing that any slave has become greatly impaired in value by reason of disease, or other bodily or mental infirmity, he may list such slave at such price as he may state on oath is the then present value of such slave, and where a slave shall have been acquired after the assessment, the person listing shall list him at the same value at which he was listed by his former owner if known to him, and if not known to him, he shall file a written affidavit stating his cash value on the first day of April preceding such listing, and as to the slaves born after the assessment, the lister shall be required to state on oath their cash value on the first day of April preceding, and they shall be listed accordingly.

SEC. 30. Every taker of the tax lists shall be allowed such compensation for his services as the county court may, in its discretion allow, to be paid out of the county treasury.

SEC. 31. Every taker of the tax list after the year 1863, shall be furnished by the clerk of the county court, with a fair copy of the return made by the last board of valuation of the real estate and slaves in his district, and with the necessary printed form of tax bill to be furnished by the Comptroller, under the provisions of this act.

SEC. 32. The comptroller at the public cost, shall have prepared and printed, as they may be needed, forms of tax lists, with all the articles and subjects of taxation to be listed by virtue of this act, mentioned separately over the heads of parallel columns, in which the amount or quantity, or description of each article or subject to be listed, is to be set down; and he shall annually furnish to each county court clerk, for the use of the county revenue officers, such other blanks as he may deem necessary.

SEC. 34. In the return of said lists the tax lister shall annex the following affidavit: “I solemnly swear that 1 have diligently inquired, and have no just reason to believe that there is any property or other subjects of taxation in my district, not entered and valued, (where the same is required to be valued by the owner) in the above list, with the following exceptions, (here enumerating the exceptions) so help me God.”

SEC. 35. The clerk of the county court annually, on or before the twenty-fifth of June shall deliver to the sheriff of the county a fair and accurate copy of the tax lists, (inserting therein) for the year 1863, the land and slaves, from the list returned to him by the assessors, in alphabetical order, which contain the public tax, or tax payable to the public treasurer, and the taxes payable to the county court. It shall set forth the separate amount due from each subject of taxation, and extend the aggregate amount due from each person in columns; and if any clerk shall fail to furnish the sheriff at the time prescribed with such copy, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and the sheriff shall inform the grand jury thereof.

SEC. 36. The clerks shall record the returns at length, made by the takers of the tax lists in alphabetical order, keeping the return of each district separate from the others.

SEC. 37. The clerk on or before the first day of August in each year, shall return to the comptroller an abstract of the same, showing the number of acres of land, and their value, and the value of town lots, and the number of white and free black polls, the number and value of the slaves separately, and specify every other subject of taxation, and the amount of State tax due on each subject, and the amount of the whole; at the same time the clerk shall return to the comptroller an abstract of the poor, county and school taxes, paid in his county, setting forth separately the tax levied on each poll, and on each other subject of taxation, and also the gross amount of taxes imposed for county purposes.

SEC. 38. If any clerk shall fail to perform the duties prescribed by the preceding section, or shall fail to return to the comptroller a copy of the sheriff's returns made, sworn to and subscribed as required in section — of this act, he shall forfeit and pay to the State one thousand dollars, to be recovered against him and the sureties of his official bond in the superior court of Wake county at the term next after the default, on motion of the Attorney General, and it shall be the duty of the comptroller to inform the Attorney General of such default.

SEC. 39. For services of clerks in relation to taxes where no fees are specially provided for in this act, they shall be paid by the county courts such sums as said courts may deem reasonable and just.

SEC. 40. The sheriff shall forthwith proceed to collect said taxes, and when he shall collect by his deputies, who are not sworn as others, such persons shall, in open court, or before a justice of the peace of the county, take an oath faithfully and honestly to account for the same, with the sheriff or other person authorized to receive them.

SEC. 41. The sheriff shall give to each tax-payer one receipt for the amount of his taxes, specifying how much is for State taxes and how much for county taxes.

SEC. 42. If any sheriff shall die during the time appointed for collecting taxes, his sureties may collect them, and for that purpose shall have all the powers of collecting the same of the collectors and tax-payers, which the sheriff would have had, and shall be subject to all the remedies for collection and settlement of the taxes on their bond or otherwise, as might have been had against the sheriff if he had lived.

SEC. 43. The sheriff and (in case of his death) his sureties shall have one year and no longer from the day prescribed for his settlement and payment of the State taxes, to finish the collection of all taxes; but this extension of time shall not extend the time of the settlement of the taxes.

SEC. 44. The sheriff shall collect the taxes as they are set down in the list, and moreover, shall collect of all persons whose taxables are not listed, double the tax imposed on the same subjects; and as to any land not listed, which may not have been assessed at the last assessment, the same in estimating the double tax, shall be deemed to be of the value by the acre, of the highest valued tract adjoining thereto; and as to any personal property not listed, herein taxed according to value, the sheriff may call on a justice of the peace of the vicinage, who shall value the same and put his valuation in writing, and the sheriff shall collect a double tax on such valuation.

SEC. 45. Immediately on receiving the tax list, the sheriff shall advertise the fact, and that he holds them ready for inspection. He shall also request therein, all persons to inform him of any taxables which are not listed; for the more efficient collection of the taxes, the sheriff at any time, from the delivery to him of the lists, till the first day of October, in the next year may, and if there be need, shall distrain and sell the property of the tax payer to satisfy the same, selling first his personal and then his real estate.

SEC. 46. In each case in which the sheriff collects by distress, he shall be entitled to an extra compensation of forty cents, to be collected with the tax.

SEC. 47. If any person liable for taxes on other subjects than land, shall [be] about to remove from the county, after listing time, and before the period for collection, the sheriff shall make affidavit thereof before the clerk, and obtain from him a certificate of the amount of such person's tax, and forthwith collect the same.

SEC. 48. If any person be liable for taxes in any county wherein he shall have no property, but shall be supposed to have property in some other county, and will not pay his tax, the sheriff shall report the fact to the county court held next after the first day of October, and thereupon the court shall direct the clerk to issue a fieri facias to the sheriff of that county, returnable to the court whence it issues for such tax, and the cost of process and executing the same, which the sheriff shall execute in the manner of writs of execution in other cases, and the tax collected thereon, shall be paid to the clerk of the court, and by him paid to the sheriff to be accounted for as other taxes.

SEC. 50. The sale of land for taxes due thereon, shall be made under the following rules:

(1) The sheriff shall return to the court of pleas and quarter sessions of his county, held next after the first day of January, a list of the tracts of land which he proposes to sell for taxes, therein mentioning the owner or the supposed owner of each tract, and if such owner be unknown, the last known or reputed owner, the situation of the tracts and the amount of taxes for which they are respectively to be sold, which list shall be read aloud in open court, recorded by the clerk upon the minutes of the court, and a copy thereof shall be put up in some public part of the court house.

(2) The county court shall order the clerk of the court to issue notice to every person whose land is returned as aforesaid; and a copy of the notice shall be served by the sheriff on the owner or agent and returned to the next county court; and if the owner be a non-resident, the clerk shall publish the same in some newspaper printed in the State, in which advertisement shall be mentioned the situation of the land, the streams on or near which it lies, the estimated quantity, the names of the owners, where they are known, and the names of the tenants of the same.

(3) The sales shall be made within the two terms next succeeding the term when the returns are made of lands to be sold, and at such place in the county as is directed for the sale of land under execution; and the whole expense attendant on the advertising and sale shall be chargeable on the lands and raised at the sale.

(4.) The whole tract or contiguous body of land belonging to one delinquent person or company, shall be set up for sale at the same time, and the bid shall be struck off to him who will pay the amount of taxes, with the expenses aforesaid, for the smallest part of the land.

SEC. 51. If any sheriff or clerk shall fail to perform any of the duties prescribed in sections 47 and 48 of this act, he shall forfeit and pay to the person aggrieved one hundred dollars, and he and his sureties shall moreover be liable for all such damages as any person may sustain by reason of such default.

SEC. 52. The land of an infant, lunatic, or person non compos mentis, shall not be sold for taxes, Provided, however, that when land may be owned by such persons in common with another or others, free of such disability, the share or interest of the person so free, shall be subject to be sold for the taxes due on the whole tract; but before setting apart the quantity bid off, the purchaser, by petition, shall cause the tract to be divided among the tenants in common, and the share or interest of the defaulting taxpayer being set apart, the purchaser may proceed to lay off on such share the quantity by him bid off and secure the title as before provided; and the time necessarily employed in procuring such division shall not be reckoned against the purchasers.

SEC. 53. The owner of land sold for taxes under section 50 of this act, his heirs, executors or administrators or any other person for them, may redeem the same from the purchaser, at any time within one year after the sale, by paying or tendering in payment to the purchaser or to the county court clerk of the county where the land lies, the full amount paid to the sheriff and twenty-five per cent thereon.

SEC. 54. If the land so sold, shall not be redeemed within the period aforesaid, the purchaser may, at the end of that time, select the quantity of land struck off to him out of any part of the tract or body, of which the same was bid off, the said quantity to be laid off in one compact body as nearly square as may be, and adjoining to some of the outlines of the whole tract or body of land.

SEC. 55. Within one year after the time of redemption shall have passed, the purchaser, at his own cost, his heirs, executors or administrators, or any of them, may procure the quantity bid off to be surveyed by the county surveyor, who shall make out and certify, under his hand, a fair plot of the survey, with the courses and distances fairly and truly set forth, and if the county surveyor, on request, shall fail to make such survey and plot, then any other surveyor may make and certify the same.

SEC. 56. The sheriff on being presented with such certified plot, within the year after the time of redemption is passed, shall convey to the purchaser the land therein contained.

SEC. 57. When by any provision of the law, any sheriff or officer other than the person who sold for the taxes, shall be authorized to execute a conveyance for the land, the purchaser shall apply to the county court, and on showing to the court that such purchase has been made, and the price paid to the sheriff who sold, and that he has paid the other taxes since accruing thereon, the court shall direct the present sheriff to execute a deed on the purchaser's producing to him a certified plot and survey as is provided for in sections 55 and 56 of this act.

SEC. 58. The purchaser of land, sold for taxes, under section 50 of this act, shall be considered as taking and holding the same subject to all the taxes accrued from the first day of April in the year preceding the purchase.

SEC. 59. If any county surveyor, being required within two months after the survey may be lawfully made, to survey the land bid off at sale for taxes, shall wilfully fail to do so within four months after such request, he shall forfeit and pay to the purchaser, or his executor or administrator, one hundred dollars.

SEC. 60. If no person will bid a less quantity than the whole land, for the taxes, the bid shall be deemed the bid of the State, and the land shall be struck off to the State as the purchaser, and the sheriff shall report in writing to the county court at the time he returns the list of lands sold for taxes, what and whose lands are thus struck off to the State, describing them particularly, which report shall be recorded on the minutes of the court, and thereupon the title of said lands shall be deemed to have been vested in the State from the time of purchase.

SEC. 61. The clerk shall, within twenty days after the return of the sheriff's report of the land sold to the State, make and certify two copies thereof, one of which he shall transmit to the comptroller and the other deliver to the sheriff, (or his sureties when they act) who shall deposit the same with the Secretary of State, to be by him recorded, and the secretary shall grant to the sheriff a certificate, setting forth what and whose land and the quantity and value thereof, have been sold for the taxes and struck off to the State.

SEC. 62. If any sheriff or other person authorized thereto, shall sell for taxes and strike off any land to the State, and shall fail duly to report the same to the county court, or to duly obtain and deposit a copy thereof with the Secretary of State, the comptroller shall, in his report to the treasurer, charge such sheriff (or other person acting in his stead) with the sum of two thousand dollors, and the treasurer shall recover the same as an unpaid tax.

SEC. 63. Lands bid off for the State may be redeemed in like time, and under the same rules and regulations as those purchased by individuals, except the payment (which shall be double in amount of all taxes for which they were sold) shall be made to the treasurer, and on his certificate thereof the Secretary of State shall, on being paid his fees issue a grant to the original proprietor, his heirs or assigns, and at the same time shall certify the payment to the comptroller.

SEC. 64. Lands bid off for the State, shall, as to the person for whose tax the same is sold, his heirs or assigns, be liable to be entered as vacant lands, subject, nevertheless, to the right of redemption within the time prescribed.

SEC. 65. When land shall be sold for its tax, and the sheriff shall die, or otherwise become unable to report his sales, his sureties may report the same within the time prescribed, and shall proceed as to the land bid off by the State, in the same manner as the sheriff might.

SEC. 66. When any person shall sell his real property, and shall have no estate within reach of the sheriff, to satisfy the taxes due from him on any subject of taxation, the real property shall be bound for all such taxes.

SEC. 67. Every conveyance made by any deceased person, with the fraudulent intent to evade the collection of any taxes by this act imposed, shall as against the State be void, and the taxes shall be chargeable at the suit of the State of North Carolina, on the property conveyed in the hands of vendees, donors and assignees.

SEC. 68. If the sheriff, or other person shall discover that any land has not been assessed, he shall make it known to the county court, whereupon a board shall be appointed to assess the same, who shall proceed in the manner herein provided, and the court shall ascertain the amount of tax which, within the ten preceding years, the land has been liable for but not paid, and the sheriff shall be ordered forthwith to collect treble the amount with interest, of all such tax, by distress or otherwise.

SEC. 69. It shall be the duty of the sheriff to inform the attorney general, and the solicitors of the State, for the circuits and counties, concerning all omissions by tax payers, done in their respective counties to defraud the State of its revenue; and the attorney general and solicitors for the State for circuits, upon information or good cause of suspicion, that any person has wilfully omitted to return his tax list, or has wilfully failed to file an accurate and fair list of all the property, estate and subjects on and for which he is liable to be taxed, shall file a bill in equity against the person so in default, and the answer of the defendant shall not be competent against him in any criminal or penal prosecution; and whenever a suit is brought, or a bill filed in behalf of the State, under any provisions of this act, it shall be done in the name of the State of North Carolina.

SEC. 86. The sheriff shall annually collect the taxes as set forth in this schedule, and grant to each party paying the tax, a license to carry on his business, until the first day of July next ensuing, except in cases where the tax is on non-resident traders in slaves, or horse and mule drovers, in which cases no license shall be required.

(1.) Every company of circus-riders, or exhibitors of collections of animals, seventy-five dollars for each county in which they shall perform or exhibit for reward. Every separate exhibition (commonly known as side-shows,) accompanying such performers or exhibitors, which cannot be seen without the payment of a separate charge, fifteen dollars for each county in which they exhibit for reward.

(2.) Every company of stage or theatrical players, or persons performing feats of strength or agility, or exhibiting natural or artificial objects, except amateur performers, twenty dollars for each county in which they exhibit for reward.

(3.) Every company of itinerant singers or performers on musical instruments, or dancers, or itinerant companies, who, otherwise exhibit for the public amusement, ten dollars for each county in which they exhibit for reward.

(4.) Every insurance company incorporated out of the State, five per cent upon its gross receipts.

(5.) Every agency of a bank incorporated out of the State, five hundred dollars.

(6.) Every money or exchange, bond or note broker, private banker or agent of a foreign broker or banker, ten per cent upon his profits.

(7.) Every express company six hundred dollars.

(8.) Every public billiard table one hundred and twenty-five dollars; every private billiard table twenty-five dollars; every bagatelle and roulette table fifty dollars.

SEC. 87. The county court may release any person from the payment of a double tax, for failing to list his taxables, in cases where it shall appear to the court, by satisfactory evidence, that such failure occurred by reason of sickness of the party at the time when the list was taken, or when it may appear that he rendered a list, and that his name was omitted to be entered, or was omitted in the duplicate prepared by the taker of the tax lists to be returned to the clerk, or for other sufficient cause, to be judged of by the Court.

SEC. 88. On personal property, in the hands of executors and administrators, bequeathed to, or as distributive shares to collateral relations or strangers, as set forth in schedule A, in connection with real estate descended or devised to collateral relations or strangers, the tax shall be paid to the sheriff direct.

SEC. 89. Every person who is intended to be taxed in paragraphs 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 23, of schedule B, and shall have been carrying on his business 12 months before the first day of July of any year, shall render to the sheriff a statement of the amount of his purchases of taxable articles (or sales thereof as the said paragraphs may require) during the year ending on the first day of July, and shall sign and swear to an affidavit that his purchases (or sales as may be required) during that period, did not exceed the amount stated, and on his paying the taxes imposed and enumerated in schedule B, shall be entitled to a license to carry on his business until the first of July next ensuing.

SEC. 90. Every person who is intended to be taxed in paragraphs 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 and 23, of schedule B., commencing to do business, or who shall not have been doing business for twelve months before the first of July, shall pay at the end of the year for which his license is issued, the taxes on his purchases or sales, as set forth in said paragraphs; and to secure the same, he shall, before license is delivered, enter into bond with good sureties, payable to the State of North Carolina, in such sum as the sheriff may deem sufficient, conditioned that he will render a true statement of his purchases or sales, as by this act required for the period embraced in his license, and pay his taxes thereon on the first day of July, when his license shall expire.

SEC. 91. Every person who shall carry on any business intended to be taxed as per schedule B, without having previously obtained a license as required, shall in addition to the taxes, forfeit and pay one hundred dollars, to be collected by distress or otherwise, by the sheriff, one-half to his own use, and the other half to the use of the State.

SEC. 92. Every person intended to be taxed by paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 22, 23, 24 and 25, of schedule B, shall show his license to any justice of the peace or constable who may demand a view thereof, and it shall be the duty of every constable to demand such a view, and if such person fail to exhibit his license on demand thus made, he shall forfeit and pay one hundred dollars, recoverable on a warrant before a justice of the peace, one-half to the person suing out the warrant, and the other half to the use of the State, to be paid over to the sheriff and accounted for as taxes.

SEC. 93. Every sheriff shall keep a record of the taxes collected by him from the clerks of courts and under schedule B, of this act, and of all forfeitures, arrears for insolvents, double taxes and taxes on unlisted subjects, and on or before the second Monday in August, shall deliver to the clerk of the county court, a statement setting forth all the sums received to that date, and not previously accounted for, the date of receipt, the person from whom received, the amount received from such person, the subjects on which received, and the aggregate amount, accompanied by an affidavit, signed and sworn to before the clerk and attested by him, that the statement is correct, and that no receipt has been omitted. And the clerk before the third Monday in August, shall send a duplicate of said statement and affidavit to the comptroller of the State, register the same in a book kept in his office for that purpose, and keep a copy of the same posted in a conspicuous place in the court house, until the first day of January next ensuing.

SEC. 94. The clerk, on application of the sheriff, shall deliver to him a true abstract of such return, which the sheriff shall deliver to the comptroller when he settles his accounts; and if any sheriff shall fail to deliver such abstract to the comptroller, the comptroller, shall add to the taxes for which such sheriff is liable one thousand dollars, and so report his account to the treasurer.

SEC. 95. If any clerk shall fail to perform any of the duties required in the two preceding sections of this act, or shall falsely certify to the abstract of the sheriff's return, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction, shall be removed from office.

SEC. 96. If any person taxed in schedule B, of this act, refuses or fails to pay the taxes imposed, and leaves the county before the sheriff can collect the forfeiture, the sheriff, in his own name, may recover the tax and forfeiture out of the delinquent, in any superior court of the State; the tax and forfeiture when collected, shall be paid over by the sheriff, as originally required.

SEC. 97. The following subjects shall be taxed the amounts specified, and the taxes collected and accounted for thus:

(1.) Every corporation that might become incorporated by letters patent, under the provisions of chapter 26, Revised Code, entitled “corporations,” but shall fail to do so, and apply to the General Assembly and obtain a special act of incorporation, or shall obtain an act to amend their charter, whether it had been secured by letters patent under said law, or by a special act, twenty-five dollars for each act, to incorporate or to amend, which tax shall be paid to the treasurer of the State.

(2.) No corporation shall organize under such special act of incorporation obtained as set forth in the preceding section, or derive any benefit under such act to amend their charter, until it shall first have obtained a certified copy of such act from the secretary of State, and the secretary shall, in no case, furnish such copy until the company applying shall have deliverd to him the treasurer's receipt for the tax assessed in the preceding section, which receipt the secretary shall file in his office.

(3.) Every marriage license, one dollar; every mortgage, deed, marriage contract, and deed in trust, made to secure debts or liabilities, one dollar; and every other deed conveying title to real estate, where the consideration is three hundred dollars or upwards, fifty cents, payable to the clerk of the county court. No clerk shall grant such license, or admit to probate such instrument, until the tax shall have been paid, and the receipt shall be endorsed on such license or instrument, and be registered with the same.

(4.) Every broker, not a resident of the State, shall pay to the cashier of the bank from which he draws any exchange or specie, one per cent on all such sums drawn, to be accounted for to the State treasury, by the said cashier on oath.

(5.) The president or cashier of the banks herein named, on or before the 1st day of October in each year, shall pay into the public treasury the following tax upon each share of stock owned by corporations or individuals, to-wit: The Bank of Washington, twenty-five cents; the Merchant's Bank of New Berne, twenty-five cents; the Bank of Wadesboro' twelve and a half cents; the Bank of Fayetteville, twelve and a half cents; the Commercial Bank of Wilmington, twenty-five cents; the Farmers' Bank of North Carolina, twenty-five cents; the Bank of North Carolina, ninety cents; the Bank of Lexington, forty-five cents; the Miners' and Planters' Bank, forty-five cents ; the Bank of Commerce, forty-five cents; the Bank of Clarendon, forty-five cents; the Bank of Cape Fear, ninety cents; the Bank of Wilmington, ninety cents; the Bank of Charlotte; twelve and a half cents; the Bank of Yanceyville, twenty-five cents; the Bank of Thomasville, forty-five cents; the Bank of Roxboro, forty-five cents, and any other which may be chartered by this or any future General Assembly, ninety cents on the share of one hundred dollars, and in that proportion for shares of a less value, and in case the said officers of any bank shall neglect or fail to pay the tax herein required, said bank shall pay double the amount of said tax, and the same shall be sued for and recovered by the Attorney General in the name of the State, in the superior court of the county of Wake.

SEC. 98. Every clerk shall keep a record of the taxes received by him, and to the county court next preceding the first of July of each year on the first day of the term, shall return a statement setting forth the date of each receipt, the person from whom received, the subject on which received, the amount received from each person, and the aggregate amount received up to that date, and not previously accounted for; and to this statement the clerk shall attach an affidavit that such statement is correct, and that no receipt by himself or a deputy of his, has been omitted to the best of his knowledge, which affidavit shall be sworn to and subscribed in the presence of the chairman of the court, who shall attest the same; and the county court clerk shall record such statement and affidavit in a book kept for that purpose in his office, and keep a copy of the same posted in some conspicuous place in the court house, from the time at which the return shall be made, until the first day of January next ensuing. And on or before the second day of the term, the clerk shall pay the sheriff the amount of the taxes received, as set forth in said return, less three per cent. commission for receiving and accounting for said taxes.

SEC. 99. If any clerk shall fail to perform any duties required in the preceding section, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction shall be removed from office. And if any clerk shall fail to pay over to the sheriff the amount of taxes in his hands on the day specified, the sheriff shall inform the county solicitor of the default, and the county solicitor shall bring suit on his bond, and shall recover, in addition to the taxes withheld or not accounted for, one hundred dollars, and the whole recovery shall be paid into the treasury by the sheriff.

SEC. 100. The sheriff, and all receivers of public monies, shall yearly settle their accounts with the comptroller, between the last day of July and the first day of October, (unless where the settlement of such person may be specially directed to be made in another manner, or at another time) so that it may be known, what sum each one ought to pay into the treasury; and the comptroller shall forthwith report to the public treasurer the amount due from each accountant, setting forth therein, if a sheriff's account, the nett amount due from the sheriff to each fund, and therefor the treasurer shall raise an account against such person, and debit him accordingly.

SEC. 101. The sheriff in making his settlement, as aforesaid, shall designate in a list by him rendered at the time, the different sources from which were raised the taxes accounted for by him, and the particular amount of tax received from each source; and the comptroller shall give to each sheriff a certified copy of such list, which the sheriff shall deposit with the clerk of the county court of his county, for public inspection. In such settlement the sheriff shall be charged with the amount of public tax as the same appears by the tax list transmitted to the comptroller; also, with all double taxes, and taxes on unlisted property by him received, and with all other tax which he may have collected, or for which he is chargeable.

SEC. 102. He shall be credited (1) with the amount of State tax on land bid off by the State, with the cost attendant on the sale, and procuring of the title, and with commissions on the whole, including the county revenue, on producing the certificate of the secretary of State, as provided in section—of this act. (2.) With all insolvent taxables allowed by the courts as hereinafter provided; and when the sheriff shall be required to settle before such taxables are allowed, he shall be credited with them in the next year's settlement, or the sheriff may, at any time thereafter, on producing certificates of such taxables allowed, and procure an order from the comptroller on the treasurer for the amount thereof. And in like manner, the sheriff shall have credit for any over payment made in former setment, by reasou of any error in the clerk's abstract of taxables.

SEC. 103. No insolvent taxables shall be credited to the sheriff in his settlement with the comptroller, but such as shall be allowed by the county court, a list whereof containing the names and amounts, and subscribed by the sheriff, he shall return to the court at some time preceding said settlement, and the same shall be allowed only on making oath that he could not find in the county, property of the tax payer, wherewith to discharge his taxes, or such part thereof as is returned unpaid, and that the persons contained in the list were insolvent at, and during the time when, by law, he ought to have endeavored to collect their taxes. Such list shall be recorded on the minutes of the court, and a copy thereof, within ten days after its return, shall be set by the clerk in some public part of the courthouse; Provided, That when the sheriff may be desirous of obtaining his allowance for insolvent poll tax, that instead of swearing to his list, as the law now directs, the same may be submitted to the county court, a majority of the justices being present, who shall consider and examine said sheriff's list, and make him such allowances as they may think just and proper.

SEC. 104. If any sheriff shall return to court as insolvent, the name of a person who is not listed, or has paid his taxes for the year, or shall, by himself or his deputy, collect from any person his tax for the year, for which he has been returned an insolvent, without accounting for the same; or if any clerk shall fail to record or set up the returns as required in the preceding section, the person so offending shall forfeit and pay to the State one hundred dollars, and the county solicitor shall prosecute a suit for the same.

SEC. 105. Every sheriff or other person allowed by law to collect and account in his stead, on settling his accounts with the comptroller, shall take the following oath, administered by the comptroller, and subscribe the same in the presence of the comptroller, by whom it shall be attested, and the comptroller shall make no settlement with the sheriff, or any one in his stead, unless he shall have sworn to and subscribed the oath as hereby required: I, A. B., sheriff of the county of—, do, on this, the—day of—, one thousand eight hundred and—, make oath, that the list now given by me, is, to the best of my knowledge and belief, complete, perfect and entire, and doth contain the full amount of all monies by me or for me received, or which ought to have been received on account of the public taxes for the year one thousand eight hundred and—on listed and unlisted property, and all double taxes, and all taxes received from clerks of courts, and from insolvents not heretofore accounted for, and all taxes received, or which ought to have been received from any other sources whatsoever. And I do further make oath, that if I, or any person for me, shall hereafter collect any unpaid tax now due, and not rendered in said list, I will render a true account thereof within one year after collecting the same.

SEC. 106. If the comptroller at any time shall have just cause to suspect that any sheriff, or other person accounting in his stead, may have made a false return, or sworn falsely in any matter relative to collecting or accounting for any tax, he shall thereof inform the officer prosecuting in the superior court of the county wherein the offence was committed, who shall take such steps as public justice may demand.

SEC. 107. The sheriff for his services in collecting and paying the public taxes into the treasury, shall receive a compensation of two per cent. on the nett amount received by him from the clerk for taxes imposed by schedule C, of this act, and four per cent. on the amount of taxes collected from every other source, to be deducted in the settlement of his account with the comptroller; for collecting and paying county taxes (for whatever purpose laid) the sheriff shall receive the same per centum compensation as above allowed on public taxes.

SEC. 108. And for his settlement with the treasurer, he shall be paid by the treasurer three dollars for each day he may be necessarily engaged therein, and ten dollars for every thirty miles of twice the estimated distance from his home to the seat of government, by the most usual common highway.

SEC. 110. The clerk of the county court at the same time when he transmits to the comptroller the tax list, shall transmit to him also a copy, certified under the seal of the court, of the official bond of the sheriff, conditioned for the collection, payment and settlement of the public taxes, upon the pain of his default of forfeiting to the State one thousand dollars, which the treasurer shall, and is hereby specially charged to collect in like manner, and at such time as is provided in the preceding section.

SEC. 111. The register of every county yearly, on or before the first day of September, shall transmit to the comptroller a certified copy of the bond of the clerk of the county court, as the same is registered, upon pain of forfeiting, for his default to the State, one thousand dollars; which the treasurer is hereby specially charged to collect in like manner and time, as is provided in section 109 of this act.

SEC. 112. In all suits directed by any law to be instituted on motion of the attorney general, at the instance of the treasurer or comptroller against any sheriff or clerk, and his sureties, a copy of the bond of such officer, certified as aforesaid, and sent to the comptroller, and by the comptroller certified, together with the default under his hand, shall be deemed sufficient evidence of the execution of such bond, and the default of the officer, to allow the judgment to be entered.

SEC. 113. And in case of the default by the register to duly certify and transmit the bond of the clerk in proper time, the comptroller shall forthwith proceed to procure such certified copy, and also a copy of the bond of the register certified by the keeper thereof, and shall proceed in the manner hereinbefore provided, against them and their sureties at the first superior court in Wake county, after copies shall have been procured.

SEC. 115. The certificate of the treasurer or comptroller of any matter of default in any of said officers occurring at the office of the comptroller or treasurer, and copies of any papers in said offices duly certified by the proper keeper thereof, shall be admitted as evidence in any suit or prosecution whatever against them or others, and about any other matter whatsoever.

SEC. 116. The treasurer may, on motion, obtain judgment in any court of record against any person indebted to the State in the same manner and under the same rules and regulations which are prescribed in case of delinquent sheriffs; and the court shall award execution, though the amount of the claim be within the jurisdiction of a justice of the peace.

SEC. 117. If any person shall, wilfully and corruptly, commit perjury in any oath required to be taken or administered by any section of this act, such person shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction shall be subject to the same pains and penalties as are imposed in section 29, chapter 34, entitled “Crimes and Punishments,” in the Revised Code, on persons guilty of perjury.

SEC. 118. All laws imposing taxes, the subjects of which are revived in this act as imposing taxes upon subjects other than those revived in this act, are hereby repealed; Provided, that this repeal shall not be construed to extend to the provisions of any law, so far as relates to the taxes listed, or which ought to have been listed, or which may be due for the year 1862, or for any year previous thereto.

SEC. 119. All other laws of this State, coming in conflict with the provisions of this act, are hereby repealed; Provided, that nothing herein contained shall be construed as repealing existing laws, authorizing the appointment of tax collectors in certain counties, and all tax collectors so appointed, shall be subject to all the provisions of this act as fully as sheriffs are declared to be.

SEC. 120. In all the counties of this State, where the first term of the county court, next after the first of January, is already past by, or where, if held between the first of January and the first Monday of March, it shall pass by without appointing assessors and tax listers, as hereinbefore provided; or wherever in any county the first term of the county court shall be after the first Monday of March, the chairman of each of the said county courts, or if there be no chairman, then the clerk shall direct a notice to the justices of the said courts, to meet in their respective court houses, to make the appointments aforesaid, and the clerk shall record on the minute docket of his court the proceedings of the said justices in special session; Provided, that this section shall continue in force during the year 1863, and after that, proceedings shall be had according to the previous sections of this act.

Sec. 121. As early as practicable after the ratification of this act, the comptroller shall have published three thousand copies of the same for the sheriffs, clerks, assessors, tax listers, and members of assembly, and shall distribute the same among the different counties of the State, by such mode as he and the public treasurer may adopt.

SEC. 122. This act shall be in force from and after its ratification.