thereof shall be transmitted by the respective clerks, without delay, to the auditors of public accounts, and admitted as evidence in any suit or proceeding founded thereon.

IV. And be it enacted, That all free male persons,

Exempts

and also all slaves, who have been, or shall be, by the from taxa. county courts exempted from payment of taxes under tion. the revenue law, on account of age or infirmity, shall

be exempted also from payment of the capitation tax imposed by the said recited act.

V. And be it further enacted, That the tax of one per cent, on the valuation of land, by the said act im- Tax on land, how regulatposed, shall be regulated and collected according to ea the equalized value thereof, as the same has been charged by the examiners appointed under the act of the last session of assembly, intituled, "An act for equalizing the land tax." And whereas it is represented to this present general assembly, that the examiners, under the act aforesaid, have committed mistakes in extending the amount of the sums due by the respective persons, on the estimate of the quantity of land belonging to each, at the price so by them equalized;

correct mis.

VI. Be it enacted, That the county commissioners shall, and they hereby are required, to estimate every County com. charge in the books to them committed; and where it missioners to shall appear that any mistake has been made by the takes of ex examiners aforesaid, the said commissioners shall, and aminers, unthey are hereby required to correct the same in the lists der the eby them delivered or to be delivered to the respective law, in the qualizing sheriffs for the collection of the present year, and to extension of transmit to the auditors an account of their proceedings taxes. herein, on or before the first day of November next, to enable them to make corresponding entries in the books returned by the examiners, and to settle with the sheriffs for the sums by them actually received; for which the commissioners of each county shall be allowed the sum of four pounds, to be paid by the treasurer, on the auditors warrants, as their other fees are; all which warrants shall be receivable by the sheriff in payment of taxes.

[Ch CLXX in original.]

Town of Kemsville,

CHAP. XXVI.

An ael for establishing a town in the county of Princess Anne.

I. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That in Princess sixty acres of land lying at the place commonly called Anne coun- and known by the name of Kemp's Landing, in the ty, establish. county of Princess Anne, be, and the same is hereby ed. vested in, John Thoroughgood, Anthony Lawson, William Wishart, John Ackiss, Lemuel Thoroughgood, Lemuel Cornick, John Hancock, and Joel Cornick, gentlemen, trustees, to be by them, or any five of them, laid out into lots of half an acre each, with convenient streets; which shall be, and the same is hereby established a town, by the name of Kempsville. That so soon as the said sixty acres of land shall be so laid off into lots and streets, the said trustees, or Lots, how any five of them, shall proceed to sell the same at pubCisposed of. lic auction, for the best price that can be had, the time

and place of which sale shall be previously advertised for one month in the Virginia Gazette; the purchasers to hold the said lots respectively, subject to the condition of building on each of the said lots a dwellinghouse twenty feet square at least, with a brick chimney, to be finished fit for habitation within three years from the day of sale; and the said trustees. or any five of them, shall, and they are hereby empowered, to convey the said lots to the purchasers thereof in fee simple, subject to the condition aforesaid, and pay the money arising from the sale thereof to the proprietor or proprietors thereof, or their legal representatives. Power of The said trustees, or any five of them, shall have power, from time to time, to settle and determine all disputes concerning the bounds of the lots, and to establish such rules and orders for the regular building of houses thereon as to them shall seem best and convenient; and that in case of the death, removal out of the county, or other legal disability, of any one or more of the said trustees, it shall be lawful for the surviving or remaining trustees, to elect and choose so many other persons, in the room of those dead or disabled, as shall make up the number eight; which trustees, se

trustees.

inhabitants.

chosen, shall, to all intents and purposes, be vested with the same powers and authority as any other in this act particularly nominated and appointed. That Privileges of the purchasers of the lots in the said town, so soon as they shall have built upon and saved the same, according to the conditions of their respective deeds of conveyance, shall then be entitled to, and have and enjoy, all the rights, privileges, and immunities, which the freeholders and inhabitants of other towns, not incorporated, hold and enjoy. If the purchaser of any lot shall fail to build thereon, within the time before limited, the said trustees, or the major part of them, may thereupon enter into such lot, and sell the same again, and apply the money for the benefit of the inhabitants of the said town. Provided always, That nothing herein contained shall be construed or taken, so as to authorize the said trustees to sell any lot in the said town, which shall be built upon according to the directions of this act, nor to remove any dwellinghouse, store, or kitchen, within less than fifteen years from the passing of this act.

CHAP. XXVII.

[Chapter CLXXI in o riginal.]

An act to amend an act, intituled, an act declaring tenants of Lands or p. slaves in taille, to hold the same in fee simple.

Chan. Rev. 204.1

Lands or

of the act

1. WHEREAS by the operation of an act, intituled, "an act declaring tenants of lands or slaves in slaves estaille, to hold the same in fee simple;" the conditional cheated, in provisions made by many persons for the several consequence. branches of their families may be defeated, and the es- destroying tates intended as such provisions become escheated to entails, to go the commonwealth: For remedy whereof, Be it enacted, the dom according to That all estates in lands or slaves, which by virtue of tim the said act have become, or shall hereafter become

escheatable to the commonwealth, for defect of blood, shall descend and be deemed to have descended, agreeable to the limitations of the deed or will creating such Not to re- estates. Provided always, That nothing in this act strain the contained shall be construed to restrain any tenant of tenant from conveying, such lands or slaves from selling, or conveying the nor exempt same by deed, in his or her life-time, or disposing from debts. thereof by his or her last will and testament; and that all such estates shall remain liable to the debts of the tenants, in the same manner as lands and slaves held in fee simple. Provided also, That this act shall not extend to any lands or slaves which have been escheated and sold for the use of the commonwealth.

[Chapter CLXXII in

CHAP. XXVII.

original.] An act for incorporating the trustees of Hampden-Sydney.

Preamble.

I. WHEREAS it is represented to the present general assembly, that an academy has been founded in the county of Prince Edward, and which hath been supported by the generous donations of a few public spirited citizens for several years past; but that in order to make the advantages arising therefrom more permanent and diffusive, certain privileges are essentially necessary for conducting the same in future to greater advantage; and this assembly, warmly impressed with the important advantages arising to every free state by diffusing useful knowledge amongst its citizens, and desirous of giving their patronage and support to uch seminaries of learning as may appear to them calculated to promote this great object:

II. Do hereby enact, That from and after the passing Hampden of this act, the said academy shall obtain the name and Sydney acabe called the college of Hampden-Sydney, and that demy incor porated by the Rev. John Blair Smith, Patrick Henry, William the name of Cabell, senior, Paul Carrington, Robert Lawson, James the College Madison, John Nash, Nathaniel Venable, Everard of Hampden Meade, Joel Watkins, James Venable, Francis Wat

Sydney,

kins, John Morton, William Morton, Thomas Reade, Trustees ap William Booker, Thomas Scott, senior, James Allen, pointed. Charles Allen, Samuel Woodson Venable, Joseph Parke, Richard Foster, Peter Johnston, the Rev. Richard Sankey, the Rev. John Todd, the Rev. David Rice, and the Rev. Archibald M'Roberts, and their successors, are hereby constituted a body politic and corporate, by the name of the president and trustees of Hampden-Sydney college, who shall have perpetual succession and a common seal; and that they and their successors, by the name aforesaid, shall be able and Style of corcapable in law to possess, purchase, receive, and retain poration. to them and their successors for ever, any lands, tenements, rents, goods, or chattels of any kind whatsoever, which may have been given already, or shall in future be given or purchased by them for the use of the said college, and the same to dispose of in whatsoever manner they shall adjudge most beneficial for the use thereof; and by the same name to sue and implead, be sued and impleaded, answer and be answered, in all courts of law and equity, and from time to time, under their common seal, to make and establish such byelaws, rules, and ordinances, not being contrary to the constitution or laws of this commonwealth, as by them shall be thought necessary for the good order and government of the professors, masters, and students, of the said college.

Corporate

powers.

confer de

grees.

III. And be it further enacted, That the said presi- Power of dent and trustees, or any seven of them, shall have full trustees to power and authority to meet at such times as they shall think necessary, for the examination of any candidates for literary degrees, and they are hereby empowered and authorized to confer those degrees on such students as in their opinion shall merit the same, in as ample a manner as any other college in America can do, and to grant testimonials thereof, under their common seal, signed by the president and five of the trustees at least; and that the president and trustees, or any seven of them, are hereby authorized and required to meet at the said college, on some day to be appointed by the president, on or before the first day of October next, and then and there to elect and commission, under their common seal, such professors and masters as they shall judge necessary for the purposes of the institution. And that in order to preserve in the minds of the Vot.. XI. K2