clerk of the Sessions. sions to appoint certificate of the assessment of any tax from the Assessors towns, to the of any town, district or plantation, within sixty days Court of from the time appointed in the warrant for certifying the same, the Treasurer of the Commonwealth, for the time being, shall send a certificate of such deficiency to the Clerk of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace, for the county whereto the deficient town or district belongs, who shall lay the same before the said Court of Sessions at their next sitting; whereupon the said Court shall forth- Court of Seswith proceed to appoint Assessors to assess and apportion assessors. the rates and assessments granted as aforesaid; and if any person appointed an Assessor as aforesaid by the Court of Sessions, shall refuse to serve, he shall forfeit Forfeiture for the sum of Six pounds to the use of this Commonwealth, serve. to be recovered by complaint in the same Court, by such person as the said Court may appoint to be agent or attorney in behalf of the Commonwealth for that purpose, who shall forthwith pay the same to the Treasurer of the Commonwealth; and after such refusal the said Court of Sessions shall, as soon as may be, proceed to appoint other Assessors. refusing to collectors are to issue a war And be it further enacted, That if any Constable or If constables or Collector to whom any tax or assessment shall be com- remiss in their mitted to collect, shall be remiss and negligent of his duty duty, Treasurer in not levying and paying unto the Treasurer and Receiver rant of distress. General such sum and sums of money as he shall from time to time have received, and as ought by him to have Deen paid within the respective times set and limited by the Assessors' warrant, pursuant to law, the Treasurer and Receiver General is hereby empowered, after the expiration of the time so set, by warrant under his hand and seal, directed to the Sheriff, or his Deputy, to cause such sum and sums of money to be levied by distress and sale of such deficient Constable or Collector's estate, real and personal, returning the overplus, if any there be; and for want of such estate, to take the body of such Constable or Collector, and to imprison him until he shall pay the same; which warrant the Sheriff, or his Deputy, is hereby empowered and required to execute accordingly. And be it further enacted, That if any Constable or Col- If they have no lector so failing as aforesaid have no estate to be found, found, towns whereon to make distress, and his person cannot be taken good the within the space of three months from the time a warrant deficiency. of distress shall issue from the Treasurer and Receiver estate to be are to make Assessors of such towns to assess the de. ficiency, and commit the same to some other constable or collector. In case of default in assessors, the Treasurer to of distress. General as aforesaid, or being taken and committed to goal shall not within three months satisfy the same, in such case, the town, district or plantation, whose Constable or Collector so fails of his duty, shall, within three months from the expiration of the said three months first mentioned, make good to the treasury, the sum or sums due or owing to the same, from such deficient Constable or Collector; and the Assessors of such town, district or plantation having notice in writing from the Treasurer of the failure of any Constable or Collector as aforesaid, shall forthwith thereupon, without any other or further warrant, assess the sum the said deficient Constable or Collector is deficient, upon the inhabitants and estates of such town, district or plantation, in manner as the sum so committed to such deficient Constable or Collector, was assessed, and commit the same to some other Constable or Collector with warrant to collect, and in default thereof the Treasurer of this Commonwealth is directed issue a warrant and empowered, to issue a warrant of distress against such deficient Assessors for the whole sum which may remain due from such deficient Constable or Collector, which shall be executed in the same manner as is prescribed in this act for serving other warrants of distress, which may be issued by such Treasurer. Provided always, that such Constable or Collector failing of his duty as aforesaid, for whose default the town, district or plantation is answerable, as before expressed, shall at all times afterwards, be liable to the action or suit of the inhabitants in their corporate capacity, for all such sum and sums as were assessed upon the same through his defect, and for other damages occurring to them thereby. And in case of the decease of any Constable or Collector in any town, district, plantation, precinct or parish, before his having adjusted the accounts of his assessment to him committed to collect, for such town, district, plantation, parish or precinct, the Executors or Administrators of such Constable or Collector, shall, within two months after his decease, settle and make up accounts with the Assessors of the said town, district or plantation, precinct or parish, of such part of the assessment as was received and collected by the deceased Constable or Collector, in his life time, with which such Executors or Administrators shall be chargeable, in like manner as the deceased Constable or Collector should be if living; and such Assessors shall Proviso. In case of the decease of any constable or collector before his accounts are adjusted, what proceedings shall be had. appoint a col. thereupon procure and appoint in writing some suitable Assessors to person, a Collector to perfect such collection; and the lector to perfect person so appointed, is accordingly hereby empowered and the collection. required to execute all such powers as were granted to the deceased Constable or Collector: and if the Executors or Administrators of any Constable or Collector so deceased not having fully collected the assessment committed, shall fail of making up and settling the account of what was received by the deceased as aforesaid, before the expiration of the time aforesaid, such Executors or Administrators shall be chargeable with the whole sum committed to their testator or intestate, in case there be sufficient assets, in the same manner the deceased Constable or Collector should be if living. collectors of any are remiss in taxes em issue his war And be it further enacted, That if the Constable or If constables or Collector of any town, district, plantation, precinct or town taxes, &c., parish, within this Commonwealth, to whom any county, their duty, the town, district, plantation, precinct or parish rates or receiver of such assessments shall have been committed to collect, shall be powered to remiss in his duty, by neglecting to collect and pay in the rant of distress. same to the Treasurer or Receiver of such county, town, district, plantation, precinct or parish, by the time fixed in the warrant to him directed, such Treasurer or Receiver, is hereby empowered to issue his warrant, returnable in ninety days, under his hand and seal, directed to the Sheriff of the county, or his Deputy, (who are hereby respectively directed and empowered to execute the same) to cause such sum or sums of money as such Constable or Collector hath not paid in, to be levied by distress and sale of his estate real or personal, returning the overplus, if any there be; and for want of such estate, to take the body of such Constable or Collector, and him imprison until he pay the same: and the warrant shall be in substance as follows: SS. A. B. Treasurer of the of B. in the [SEAL.] day of being a GREETING. Form of the warrant. Whereas C. D. of B. aforesaid, (addition) on the of rates and taxes granted and agreed on by the aforesaid, had a list of assessments, duly made by the Assessors of the aforesaid, amounting to the sum of committed to him, Sheriffs to make return of with a warrant under their hands and seals, directing and and there still remains due thereof the sum of Given under my hand and seal, this day of And it is further enacted, That all executions or warof their doings. rants of distress, that have been, or may hereafter be issued by the Treasurer and Receiver General, or by the Treasurer of any county, town, district, plantation, precinct or parish, against any Constable or Collector, which hath been, or may be hereafter delivered to the Sheriff of any county within this Commonwealth or his Deputy, such Sheriff or Deputy shall make return of his doings thereon unto the Treasurer who issued the same execution or warrant of distress, within a reasonable time after the return day, in the same mentioned, with the money, if any, that he hath received and collected by virtue thereof; When warrants and where the same shall necessarily be returned unsatissatisfied, Treas. fied, or satisfied in part only, such Treasurer may issue an alias for such sum as may remain due on the return of the first; and so toties quoties; which reasonable time after the return day shall be computed at the rate of are returned un urer to issue an alias. default, shall be forty-eight hours, for every ten miles distance, from the dwelling house of the Sheriff or his Deputy, to the place where the warrant may be returnable; and any Sheriff or sheriffs making Deputy Sheriff, that shall make default in accounting for, liable to pay the and paying in the monies he may have collected and whole sum. received of any deficient Constable or Collector, by execution or warrant of distress as aforesaid, or in making return of his doings within reasonable time as aforesaid, shall be liable to pay the whole sum in such execution or warrant of distress mentioned; and the Treasurer and Receiver General of this Commonwealth, and the Treasurers of the counties, towns, districts, precincts and parishes respectively, are hereby authorized and empowered to make out their warrants respectively, directed to the Coroner of such county, where any Sheriff or his Deputy is deficient as aforesaid, requiring them respectively as aforesaid, to distrain for the same, upon the estate real or personal, of such deficient Sheriff or his Deputy, as is before directed herein, with respect to the Sheriff or his Deputy making distress upon the estate of deficient Constables or Collectors; which warrant, the Coroner of any county respectively is hereby empowered and required to execute. of distress are &c., of deficient deputies, sale public vendue. And be it further enacted, That when any execution or When warrants warrant of distress issued by the Treasurer of the State, levied on lands, or Treasurer of any county, town, district, plantation, constables, precinct or parish, to the Sheriff or his Deputy, or to the sheriffs or Coroner, shall be levied on the lands, tenements, or here- thereof to be at ditaments of any deficient Constable, Sheriff, or Deputy, in every such case, the officer executing such warrant of distress, shall make sale thereof at public vendue, to the highest bidder, and execute a good deed or deeds of bargain and sale thereof, to the purchaser, having first given notice of the time and place of sale, by posting up advertisements, at least fourteen days previous thereto, in two or more public places in the town or place where such lands or tenements lie, as also in the two adjacent towns; and all deeds and conveyances of any such lands or tenements duly executed as aforesaid, shall be good and effectual in law unto the purchaser, his heirs and assigns forever, to all intents and purposes, as though executed by the deficient Constable, Sheriff, or Deputy; and in In case the procase the produce of such lands and tenements, shall not satisfy the satisfy the sum or sums, mentioned in the said warrant or execution shall duce shall not sums, an alias be issued. |