A.D. 1794. AN ACT TO ASCERTAIN AND FIX ON SOME CONVENIENT AND CENTRAL No. 1601. MENTIONED. WHEREAS, dissatisfaction hath arisen among the inhabitants of Greenville county, respecting the situation of their public buildings; I. Be it therefore enacted, by the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives, now met and sitting in General Assembly, and by the Commissioners authority of the same, That the Rev. James Tarrants, John McBeth, Peter of public buildSarter, Isaac Green, Paul Abner, Samuel Walker, William Anderson, ings appointed Robert Nelson, Martin Adams, William Goodlet, Josiah Foster, Silas for Greenville. Williams, James Kilgore, Thomas Townsend, and William Choice, be, and they are hereby appointed, commissioners, with full power either to alter the place at present fixed by law for building a court house and other public buildings for the said county of Greenville, or to confirm the same, as they, or a majority of them, shall think expedient and necessary; and that so much of an Act entitled "An Act to ascertain and fix on some convenient and central situation for the court house and other public buildings for the county of Greenville," passed the 21st day of December, 1793, as is repugnant to the present Act, be, and the same is hereby, repealed. In the Senate House, this seventeenth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-four, and in the nineteenth year of the Independence of the United States of America. DAVID RAMSAY, President of the Senate. JACOB READ, Speaker of the House of Representatives. AN ADDITIONAL ACT to the Act entitled "An Act to organize No. 1602. the Militia throughout the State of South Carolina in conformity with the Act of Congress." (Passed December 19, 1794. See last volume.) AN ACT to enable the Commissioners therein appointed to clear out No. 1603. and remove the obstructions in that branch of Ashepoo river which is called the Horse Shoe Creek; and to cut or sink and keep in repair a Drain or Canal from the head of the said Creek up the swamp called the Round O Swamp to the junction of the two branches of the said swamp, at the Plantation known by the name of Gilkicker's; for opening Lowder's Lake; and for other purposes therein mentioned. (Passed December 20, 1794. See last volume.) A. D. 1794. No. 1604. AN ACT to repeal the 12th clause of an Act entitled "An Act to alter and amend an Act respecting the High Roads and Bridges," passed the 22nd day of March, 1785, so far as the said clause relates to the Bridge constructed over Edisto river, at Jacksonborough; and for other purposes therein mentioned. (Passed December 20, 1794. See last volume.) No. 1605. AN ACT to revive and extend an Act entitled "An Act to prohibit the importation of Slaves from Africa, or other places beyond the Sea, into this State, for two years; and also to prohibit the importation or bringing in of Negro Slaves, Mulattoes, Indians, Moors, or Mestizoes, bound for a term of years, from any of the United States, by land or water." (Passed December 20, 1794. See last volume.) No. 1606. AN ACT FOR COMPELLING PERSONS RESIDING IN THIS STATE TO ATTEND AND GIVE EVIDENCE, UNDER COMMISSION, IN SUITS DEPENDING IN OTHER STATES; AND ALSO TO COMPEL PERSONS TO ATTEND AND GIVE EVIDENCE UNDER COMMISSIONS ISSUING OUT OF THE COURTS OF THIS STATE, AND TO GIVE EVIDENCE BEFORE JUSTICES OF THE PEACE, IN CAUSES WITHIN Witnesses obliged to attend and give evidence on commission from other States. THEIR JURISDICTION. I. Be it enacted, by the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives, now met and sitting in General Assembly, and by the authority of the same, That where a commission shall hereafter issue out of any court of judicature in another of the United States, to examine any witness or witnesses residing in this State, touching any cause, matter or thing depending in such court, the person having obtained such commission, or his or her agent, shall produce it to a judge of the supreme courts or county courts of this State, who, on being satisfied of its authenticity and regularity, shall direct a subpœna to issue in due form from the clerk's office of the nearest court of common pleas, or county court, as the case may be, requiring the witness or witnesses named in such commission to attend before the commissioners therein also named, at a certain time, and at some place not exceeding fifteen miles from the residence of such witness or witnesses respectively, and give evidence, fully, according to their knowledge, touching all such matters as shall be charged and set forth in the interrogatories and cross interrogatories annexed to such commission; which subpoena shall be served on the witness or witnesses personally, at least two days before the time at which attendance is required by it; and such witness or witnesses, so attending and giving evidence, shall be entitled to the sum of four shillings and eight pence each, for every day of necessary absence from home, and his or her necessary ferriages in going A.D. 1794. to and from and attending the said commissioners, to be paid by the party obtaining the commission, or his or her agent, before it is delivered out of the hands of the commissioners, who are hereby authorized and required to estimate the number of days for which payment is allowed as aforesaid, and to retain the commission till such payment be made. And Penalty for if any witness on whom such subpœna shall be served, shall refuse or ne- neglect. glect to attend according to the command thereof, or, so attending, shall refuse to answer on oath to the interrogatories and cross interrogatories thereunto annexed, or any of them, such witness shall be liable to the same actions, penalties and pains to which witnesses are liable who refuse or neglect, when duly subpoenaed, to attend in any court of record in this State, or, so attending, refuse to give evidence: Provided, that nothing herein contained shall authorize commissioners to attach or commit persons summoned as witnesses, but that any of the superior courts of this State, on such subpoena as is herein mentioned being produced, and satisfactory information made on oath that it was personally and in due time served on any witness therein named, who refused or neglected to attend, according to the command of the said subpoena, or, attending, refused to answer as aforesaid, shall have power, and is hereby required, to order an attachment against such witness, to appear and answer for such neglect or refusal, as for a contempt of the court; which attachment shall be served and executed by the sheriff of that court where it was awarded, or his deputy, and shall run into any part of the State; and such other proceedings shall be had thereon as are usual and allowed in other cases of attachment for contempt. State. II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That where a commission shall issue by consent of parties or otherwise, out of any court Within this of judicature in this State, to examine any witness or witnesses residing within this State, touching any matter or thing depending in such court, the said court shall have power, and is hereby required, to issue a subpœna, in due and legal form, commanding such witness or witnesses to attend before the commissioners named in the commission, at a certain time, and at some place not more than fifteen miles from the residence of such witness or witnesses respectively, and answer on oath, according to their knowledge, to the interrogatories and cross interrogatories annexed to the said commission; which subpoena shall be served personally on the witness or witnesses therein named, at least two days before attendance is required by it; and such witness or witnesses, so attending and giving evidence, shall be entitled to the same compensation, to be assessed and secured in the same manner, and in case of neglect or refusal to attend, or refusal to give evidence, shall be liable to the same actions, pains and penalties, and proceeded against in the same manner, as is provided by the first clause of this Act for the case of witnesses to be examined in causes Sick and infirm pending in other States: Provided, that nothing in the foregoing part of persons. this Act shall be held to extend to persons unable to leave home by reason of age, infirmity, sickness or bodily hurt, all which persons, whenever it may be necessary to examine them by commission in causes depending either in this State or other States, shall be attended by the commissioners; and in case of their refusal to give evidence, or to answer to the interrogatories and cross interrogatories under any such commission, shall be liable to the action of the party who may be injured by the want of their testimony, and shall make reparation in damages for such injury. III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That any justice of the peace in this State, on the application of any party to a cause within VOL. V.-32. A. D. 1794. his jurisdiction and depending before him, shall have power, and is hereby required, to issue a summons, citing any person or persons whose testimony Before Justices may be required in such cause, except persons confined by age, infirmity, of the Peace. sickness or bodily hurt, to appear before him, at a certain time, and at some place not more than twenty miles from the residence of such person or persons respectively, and give evidence in the said cause; which summons shall be personally served on such person or persons at least three days before the time at which attendance is required by it. And if any such person or persons, on being personally served, in due time, with such summons, shall refuse or neglect to attend, or, attending, shall refuse to give evidence, the party aggrieved by such neglect or refusal may apply to the county court of the county, and where there are no county courts, to the nearest superior court of the State, which courts, or any of them, on such application, and production of the summons, with due proof of the service, neglect or refusal aforesaid, are hereby authorized and required to proceed against such witness or witnesses by attachment, as for a contempt, in the same manner now used and allowed in the case of witnesses who refuse or neglect to appear in any of the said courts when duly subpænaed, or, appearing, refuse to give evidence; and every witness so refusing or neglecting to attend before a justice of the peace, when duly summoned as aforesaid, or refusing to give evidence when present, shall, moreover, be liable to the action of the party aggrieved by such neglect or refusal, and shall make compensation in damages for the injury so sustained. In the Senate House, the twentieth day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-four, and in the nineteenth year of the Independence of the United States of America. DAVID RAMSAY, President of the Senate. JACOB READ, Speaker of the House of Representatives. No. 1607. AN ACT FOR RAISING SUPPLIES FOR THE YEAR ONE THOUSAND SEVEN Preamble. Rate of taxation on lands. HUNDRED AND NINETY-FOUR. WHEREAS, we, the representatives of the free and independent State of South Carolina, in General Assembly met, have thought it expedient and necessary that a tax, for the sums and in manner herein mentioned, should be assessed, raised, and paid into the public treasury of this State, for the use and service thereof: I. Be it therefore enacted, by the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives, now met and sitting in General Assembly, and by the authority of the same, That the sum of ten shillings per centum ad valorem on every hundred pounds, to be paid in specie or paper medium, shall be, and is hereby, imposed on all lands granted within this State, and in the manner and under the several regulations hereinafter set forth and expressed, that is to say: No. 1. All tide swamp not generally affected by the salts or freshes, of the first quality, shall be rated at six pounds per acre; of the second quality, at four pounds per acre; of the third quality, at two pounds per acre; all pine barren lands adjoining such swamps, or contiguous thereto with respect to the benefit of water carriage, at ten shillings per acre; all prime inland swamp, cultivated and uncultivated, at an average of three pounds per acre; second quality, ditto, at two pounds per acre; third quality, ditto, one pound per acre; pine A.D. 1794. barren lands, adjoining or contiguous thereto, at five shillings per acre; salt marsh or inland swamp, clearly proved to the assessors to be incapable of immediate cultivation, five shillings per acre. 2. High river swamps or low grounds, cultivated and uncultivated, including such as are commonly called second low grounds, lying above the flowing of the tides, and as high up the country as Snow Hill, on Savannah river, the fork of Broad and Saluda rivers, on the Congaree, Graves's Ford on the Wateree, and the boundary line on Pedee; the first quality at three pounds per acre; the second quality at two pounds per acre; the third quality at one pound per acre; except such as lie so low as to be clearly proved to the assessors to be incapable of immediate cultivation, which shall be assessed at five shillings per acre. 3. All high river swamp, or low grounds, lying above Snow Hill, the fork of Broad and Saluda rivers, Graves's Ford, and the old Indian boundary line, fifteen shillings per acre. 4. All high lands without the limits of St. Philip's and St. Michael's parishes, on John's island, James island, and on the main, within twenty miles of Charleston, at one pound per acre. 5. All lands on the Sea islands, Slann's island included, or lying on or contiguous to the seashore, usually cultivated, or capable of cultivation, in corn or indigo, and not within the limits prescribed in class number four, one pound per acre. 6. All oak and hickory high lands lying below Snow Hill, the fork of Broad and Saluda rivers, Graves's Ford, or the boundary line on Pedee, and not included in the limits or description of the two preceding classes, numbers four and five, at fifteen shillings per acre. 7. All pine barren lands not included in number one, four, and five, to be assessed at one shilling per acre. 8. All oak and hickory high lands lying above Snow Hill, the fork of Broad and Saluda rivers, and Graves's Ford, the first quality, at eight shillings per acre; the second quality, at five shillings per acre; the third quality, at two shillings per acre. 9. All oak and hickory high lands above the old Indian boundary line, the first quality, at six shillings per acre; the second quality, at three shillings per acre; the third quality, at one shilling per acre. That all lands within the limits of the parishes of St. Philip and St. Michael shall be assessed in the same manner and upon the same principles as houses and lots in Charleston, and in a relative proportion to lands in the country. That the sum of three shillings and six pence per head shall be levied on all slaves; the sum of nine shillings and four pence, per head, on all free negroes, mulattoes, and musti- Kate of taxing zoes, between the ages of sixteen and fifty years; and ten shillings per centum ad valorem on all lands and lots and buildings within any city, village, or borough, and on every hundred pounds stock in trade, factorage, employments, faculties and professions, (clergymen, mechanics, schoolmasters and schoolmistresses excepted)-to be ascertained and rated by the assessors and collectors throughout the State, according to the best of their knowledge and information; to be paid in specie or paper medium of this State. slaves, &c. II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all negroes and other slaves who are employed on any lands leased by any person or ed on Indian Slaves employpersons of the Catawba Indians, shall be, and they are made, liable to the lands. payment of this tax. III. And whereas, doubts have arisen and are still subsisting respecting the construction of former tax Acts, inasmuch as the tax collectors have assesed the property of divers religious societies, and also of the incorporated Religious Societies exempted South Carolina Society; Be it therefore enacted, that nothing in this Act, or in any former Act contained, shall be construed to impose a tax on any property of any religious society, or of the South Carolina Society. |