1st ANNE.. Nis. 26, 27. A. D. 1701. No. 26. An Act for the preventing the Abuses in all Manner of Lumber, and for the better encouraging of that Trade. CONFIRMED. 17 May, 1703. OBSOLETE. Dated 15th December, 1701. NEVIS. No. 27. An Act for declaring a certain Act of Parliament made at Westminster in the seventh and eighth Years of the Reign of our late Sovereign Lord King William, and continued by one other Act made in the thirteenth and fourteenth Years of the said King, intituled, An Act that the Solemn Affirmation and Declaration of the People called Quakers, shall be accepted instead of an Oath in the usual Form, be of Force in these Islands. RECITAL of 3. and its Continuance by 3. directing the Affirma tion of Quakers to be taken. WHEREAS a certain Act of Parliament made at Westminster the Act 7.& 8.W. seventh and eighth Years of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord King William the Third, of ever blessed Memory, intituled, An Act that the Solemn Affirmation and Declaration of the People called Quakers, shall be accepted instead of an Oath in the usual Form, and continued by one other Act past at a Parliament held at Westminster in the thirteenth and fourteenth Year of the Reign of the said King, and now in Force in the Kingdom, hath been, and is found to be a beneficial Law, and such as, if the same were extended to these Islands, would be an Encouragement to Trade, and a Means to further the Settlement of these Colonies. II. We therefore pray Her Most Excellent Majesty that it may be enacted, and be it, and it is hereby enacted by the Chief Governor of Her Majesty's Leeward Caribbee Islands, and the General Council, and General Assembly of the same, now met at Nevis, That the said Act, intituled, An Act that the Solemn Affirmation and Declaration of the People called Quakers, shall be accepted instead of an Oath in the usual Form, and every Clause, Matter, and Thing therein contained shall, in the Leeward from and after the tenth Day of this instant June, be in full Force To be in force Islands. and 4th ANNE. Nis. 27, 28. A. D. 1705. and Power in these Her Majesty's Leeward Caribbee Islands; any Law, Usage, and Custom to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding. Dated in Nevis this fourth Day of June, one thousand seven hundred and five, and in the fourth Year of Her Majesty's Reign. THOMAS BELLMAN, Speaker. JOHN JOHNSON. NEVIS. An Act to settle General Councils and General Assemblies No. 28. for the Caribbee Islands in America, and to secure to each particular Islands their own peculiar Laws and HEREAS there is at this time a General Council and a Gene- Preamble. ral Assembly, for the Leeward Caribbee Islands in America, met together at Nevis, concerning the Publick Affairs, to consult and enact such good and wholesome Laws and Ordinances, as may be for the Safety and Advantage of all Her Majesty's said Islands. II. And whereas the Interest, in point of Trade and Laws, of most of the said Islands, in some Respects do differ the one from the other, therefore the better to preserve and defend the whole, and to secure to each particular Island their own Laws and legal Customs which are not of a general Concern. Recites a dif ference in the Laws of the Islands. III. We Your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal Subjects the Commander in Chief of all Your Majesty's Leeward Caribbee Islands in America, the General Council and General Assembly of the same now met together at Charles Town in the Island of Nevis, do pray Your Most Excellent Majesty to enact and ordain, and be it, and it is hereby enacted and ordained by the Authority aforesaid, That all the Laws and legal Customs now in Force in each and every the Caribbee as Leeward Islands, and respecting only the Circumstances of the same, be and remain in their full Force and Virtue. IV. And be it further enacted, That whensoever the Commander in Chief that now is, or that shall hereafter be, shall judge it necessary VOL. I. C for Each Island to retain its Laws to local cir cumstances. General Assembly con stituted, who general Laws. shall make Members of to be sued for 10 Days before or after Session, but amenable for Treason, &c. 4th ANNE. No. 28. A. D. 1705. for Her Majesty's Service, and the Good and Welfare of the Caribbec Leeward Islands, to call together the General Council and General Assembly, That then all the Freeholders of each respective Island (that are qualified by Law) shall meet together at a certain Time and Place, to be nominated and appointed by Writ from the Commander in Chief for the time being, in their several respective Islands, to elect and make choice of five able and discreet Men, being Freeholders of and in each and every the said respective Islands, to be their Representatives, and to join with the said Commander in Chief and General Council, to make, enact, and ordain such General Laws and Ordinances, as may be proper and convenient for all the Caribbee Leeward Islands. V. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That no Assembly not Member of the General Council nominated by the Commander in Debt, within Chief, or Representatives of the General Assembly elected in any of the said several respective Islands for the Service aforesaid, shall be any way troubled, sued, molested, or arrested for Debt, or otherwise (Murder, Felony, Treason, or other Misdemeanour against the Crown only excepted) by any Person or Persons whatsoever within the said Leeward Caribbee Islands, whenever the General Council and General Assembly that shall and may be held for the future; but shall have free Liberty to come on and go off of the said Islands where such General Council and General Assembly is, and shall be held, for the space of ten Days before, and ten Days after each Session. Each Member, &c. to be paid 20s. per Diem, during the Session, and allowed VI. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That each and every Person so nominated as a Counsellor, and elected as a Representative to serve in this or any other General Council and General Assembly, for the future, shall be allowed and paid by the Treasurer of each respective Island they serve for, out of the Public Stock of the same, during the Continuance of each and every such Session, Charges of go- the Sum of twenty Shillings per Diem; and where the Council and Representatives go off one Island to another, they shall be transported to and from each respective Island at the Publick Charge of that Islandfor which they serve; and shall be paid their Allowance of twenty Shillings per Diem from the Day they go off, to the Day of their. Return, provided their Return be not delayed by their own private Business. ing from Island to Absence of the Represen VII. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That tatives of any if the Members of any one particular Island, whether Council, or appointed by the Commander in Chief, or Representatives elected by the Freeholders, shall neglect and refuse to appear, their delaying and one Island not from Obedi ence to general Acts: refusing 4th ANNE. Nis. 28-30. A. D. 1705. refusing to appear and join with the rest of the said General Council and General Assembly when convened and met together, shall not exempt that Island from the due Obedience and Observance of all and every the Laws and Ordinances that shall be enacted during any such Session of General Council and General Assembly, provided they do Provided a not act but when there is present a Majority of the whole Number, Majority is but that all such Laws, and Ordinances shall be good and binding to all and every the said Leeward Caribbee Islands, to all Intents and Purposes whatsoever. Dated in Nevis this seventh Day of June, in the fourth Year of Her Majesty's Reign, Anno Domini one thousand seven hundred and five. THOMAS BELLMAN, Speaker. present JOHN JOHNSON. OBSOLETE. An Act declaring a certain Act made at Nevis, the fifth No. 29. Day of September, one thousand six hundred eighty seven, intituled, An Act against ingrossing Provisions, shall be in Force in all the Leeward Caribbee Islands in America. Dated 8th June, 1705. An Act for declaring an Act made in Antigua, intituled No. 30. Dated 20th June, 1705. NEVIS. No. 31. An Act for preventing tedious and chargeable Law Suits, and for declaring the Rights of particular Tenants. WHEREAS Law Suits and Controversies frequently arise between Preamble. Law of Eng where altered the Inhabitants of these Islands, principally occasioned by the different Nature and Circumstances of our Estates from those in England, whereby it sometimes hath happened, through the Partiality of some, and Ignorance of others, that contradictory Judgments have been given in Cases founded on the same Rules and Principles of Law and Reason; for the redressing of which Mischiefs, and establishing a constant and certain Uniformity in the Proceedings of the Courts of the several Islands under this Government, and for declaring the Rights of particular Tenants in these Islands: II. We Your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal Subjects the Commander in Chief of Your Majesty's Leeward Caribbee Islands, the General Council, and General Assembly of the said Islands, now met at Nevis, do humbly pray Your Majesty that it may be declared, and it The Common is hereby declared by the Authority aforesaid, That the Common Law and to be in of England, as far as it stands unaltered by any written Laws of these force, except Islands, or some of them, confirmed by Your Majesty, or some of Your Royal Predecessors in Council, or by some Act or Acts of Parliament of the Kingdom of England, extending to these Islands, is in Force in each of these Your Majesty's Leeward Caribbee Islands, and is the certain Rule whereby the Rights and Properties of Your Majesty's good Subjects inhabiting these Islands, are and ought to be determined; and that all Customs or pretended Customs, or Usages the contrary contradictory thereunto, are illegal, null, and void. by Laws of the Islands. Pretended Customs to void. III. And be it and it is hereby declared, That all Negroes and other Slaves, Coppers, Stills, and all Cattle, Horses, Asses, commonly used and exercised upon and about any Plantation or Plantations, and all other Plantation Utensils are Inheritance, and affixed to the Freehold, and are, with the Plantation, descendible to the Heir at Law, and the Widow dowable as well of them and every of them, as of the Lands and Tenements whereof her Husband died seized; and that such Widow may and shall recover the mesne Profits of such Plantation, Negroes, Cattle, Horses, Asses, or other Hereditaments whereof she shall be so endowed, against the Party or Parties that have received or de |