Their powers. To be commissioned by the Governor. Former act repealed. Chap. 2 Insolvent es tates, how to be distributed. missioners as are or may be appointed, and vested with similar powers for the above purpose by the legislature of New York, and in conjunction with them to ascertain, run, and mark the said boundary line; which line, when so ascertained, shall forever afterwards be held and considered to be the true and just boundary line of jurisdiction between that part of this Commonwealth and the State aforesaid. And it is further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That the Commissioners aforesaid on the part of this Commonwealth, or any three of them, are authorized and empowered to employ a surveyor or surveyors, and a sufficient number of chainbearers, to ascertain the said line as aforesaid; and in conjunction with such Commissioners as are or may be appointed by the legislature of New York as aforesaid, to agree upon and confirm the titles of individuals to such lands as they may now respectively hold, in virtue of any grant or grants made by either of the said governments, upon such terms and in such manner as they may judge reasonable. And it is further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That the Commissioners aforesaid on the part of this Commonwealth, shall, prior to their proceeding on the business herein assigned them, receive a commission from the Governor with the seal of the Commonwealth thereto affixed, agreeable to the powers with which they are vested in and by this act. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That an act passed by the Legislature of this Commonwealth, on the eighteenth day of March last, bearing the same title with this act, be, and hereby is repealed and rendered null and void. 1784.- Chapter 2. [May Session, ch. 2.] June 4, 1784. AN ACT FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OF INSOLVENT ESTATES. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, That when the estate of any person deceased shall be insolvent or insufficient to pay all just debts which the deceased owed, the same shall be distributed to and among all the creditors, in proportion to the sums to them. bate to appoint respectively due and owing, saving that debts due for all rates and taxes, and debts due to the Commonwealth, and for the last sickness and necessary funeral expences of the deceased are to be first paid. And the executor or administrator appointed to any such insolvent e-tate before payment to any be made (except as aforesaid) shall represent the condition and circumstances thereof unto the Judge of Probate. And the said Judge shall nominate and appoint Judge of Protwo or more fit persons to be commissioners, with full Commissioners. power to receive and examine all claims of the several creditors; and such commissioners shall cause the times and places of their meeting, to attend the creditors for receiving and examining their claims, to be made known by causing notifications thereof to be posted up in some public place, in the shire town of the county where such deceased person last dwelt, and of the two next counties, or by causing an advertisement thereof to be printed in such public newspaper or papers as the Judge of Probate shall direct; and six months and such further time not exceeding eighteen months, (as the circumstances of any estate may require) shall be allowed by the said judge to the creditors for bringing in and proving their claims; at the end of which limited time, such commissioners shall make their report, and present upon oath a list of all the claims that shall have been laid before them, with the sums they shall allow on each claim unto the said Judge; and the Judge shall order them meet recompence out of the deceased's estate for their care and labor in examining the claims; and the debts due for all rates and taxes, and debts due to the Commonwealth, debts incurred for the last sickness of the deceased, and necessary funeral expences as afore provided, being first deducted, shall order the residue and remainder of the estate both real and personal, (the real estate being sold according to law) to be paid and distributed to and among the creditors who shall have made out their claims with the commissioners as aforesaid, in proportion to the sums unto them respectively due and owing, saving unto the widow (if any be) her right of dower in the housing and lands of the deceased, which dower (unless the reversion shall be sold by the executor or administrator, and distributed with the other estate which the Judge may order if he see fit, upon application therefor) at the expiration of her term, shall also be distributed among the creditors aforesaid in like Proviso. proportion. Provided, That notwithstanding the report of any commissioners, any creditor whose claim is wholly or in part rejected, may have the same determined at the common law, in case he shall give notice thereof in writing at the Probate office within twenty days after such report shall be made, and bring and prosecute his action as soon as may be; and in case the executor or administrator shall be dissatisfied with any creditor's claim allowed by the commissioners, and shall give notice thereof at the Probate office, and also to the creditor, within twenty days as aforesaid, such claim shall by the Judge of Probate be struck out of the commissioners report, unless such creditors shall commence and prosecute at the common law his claim as aforesaid as speedily as the same can be done, or unless the creditor and the executor or administrator shall agree before the Judge to submit the same to reference; in which case the determination of the referees shall be final; and when a claim shall be disputed in the course of the common law as aforesaid, execution shall not issue as in common cases, but the judgment of the Court respecting the same, shall be the amount of the claim, and added to or deducted from the commissioners No action to be report, as the case may require. And no action brought cept for debts against any executor or administrator after the estate Commonwealth, shall be represented insolvent, shall be sustained, except for debts due to the Commonwealth, debts due for all rates or taxes, for the deceased's last sickness and funeral charges, unless the executor or administrator having objection to the claim upon which such action shall be brought, shall consent to have the same settled by course of law, in which case the judgment of the Court shall determine the said claim, and be reported by the commissioners as such. And all actions brought against any executor or administrator before the estate is represented insolvent, shall be continued until it shall appear whether the said estate is insolvent or not, and if found insolvent, the process shall be conducted as above provided. And if any creditor shall not make out his claim with the commissioners within the time of their commission, or at the common law, or before referees, in the manner this act provides, he shall be forever barred of his debt; unless such creditor shall find some other estate of the deceased, not inventoried or accounted for by the executor or administrator before distribution. June 15, 1784. sustained, ex due 1784.- Chapter 3. [May Session, ch. 3.] AN ACT FOR ENABLING THE FIRST PRECINCT BELONGING TO, Chap. 3 AND LYING WITHIN THE TOWN OF CAMBRIDGE, TO RAISE Whereas doubts have arisen whether the laws of this Preamble. State will fully authorize the assessors of the first precinct in Cambridge to assess upon the inhabitants any sum or sums of money that have been expended in carrying on the late war, especially that part of the parish only as belong to the town of Cambridge: Be it therefore enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, That when the first precinct of the town of Cambridge, being and lying within the same, at any legal meeting of the inhabitants, shall vote any sum or sums of money for the purpose of discharging the debts already contracted in consequence of the late war, the assessors of the aforesaid precinct or parish, or such other person or persons as they have or may appoint for that purpose, shall have full power and authority to apportion or assess such sum or sums of money upon the inhabitants thereof, according to the rules and methods prescribed by law for apportioning the State tax, and shall have full power and authority to grant warrants for collecting the same, in like manner as the law directs for gathering town and other parish rates or assessments. Money voted, assessed, &c. how to be and asses8 And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all grants and assessments that have been made in Former grants time past, or that may hereafter be voted and assessed in ments, ratified. the first precinct or parish in Cambridge aforesaid, in manner and for the purpose aforesaid, be, and hereby are ratified and confirmed, and the collector or collectors of the said parish are hereby directed and required to execute all such warrants in the same manner as they are by law obliged to execute warrants for collecting town or other parish rates or assessments. June 21, 1784. Chap. 4 Clerk of the Su preme Judicial Court to issue his warrant to constables the worries 30 days before the sitting of the Court. 1784.- Chapter 4. [May Session, ch. 4.] AN ACT REGULATING THE APPOINTMENT AND SERVICES OF Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, That thirty days at the least before the sitting of the Supreme Judicial Court in each county within this Commonwealth, the clerk of the same Court shall issue his warrants, directed to the constables of the several towns within the county or counties for which the said Court is to be holden, or to so many of the said towns as the Court shall order, requiring the constables respectively, to assemble the freeholders and other inhabitants in the said towns, qualified by law to vote in the choice of representatives, to elect and choose by ballot, so many good and lawful men of their town, of like qualification, and of good moral character, as such warrant shall direct, to serve on the Grand Jury at the same Court; and the persons chosen. constables shall summon the persons so chosen, four days at the least before the sitting of the Court, to attend accordingly at the day and place where the Court is to be holden, and to appear at ten of the clock in the forenoon upon the same day; and the constables shall make timely return of the warrants, with their doings therein, to the same Court. And when the Grand Jury to Court is opened, the Grand Jury shall be impanelled and sworn as follows: Constables to summon the be sworn. Foreman's oath. FOREMAN'S OATH. "You solemnly swear, that as foreman of this inquest for the body of this county of S. you shall diligently inquire, and a true presentment make of all such matters and things as shall be given you in charge; the Commonwealth's counsel, your fellows and your own, you shall keep secret; you shall present no man for envy, hatred, or malice; neither shall you leave any man unpresented, for love, fear, favor, affection, or hope of reward; but you shall present things truly as they come to your knowledge, according to the best of your understanding." So help you GOD." |