Ch. 25. Deeds. This act is a revision of the former statutes, on the subject of conveyances by deed. By the third section, it is enacted that the purchaser of any real estate may record the deed, in any county, besides recording it in the county where such estate lies; and in case of misfortune to the original deed, and destruction of the records in the county where such estate lies,' an attested copy from any of the other county records, shall be as authentic as copies from the register's office in the county where such estate is situate.' Ch. 50. Partition of Real Estate. This act authorizes the superior court of judicature to make partition of real estate, and prescribes the mode. Ch. 37. Dower. This statute 'regulates the assignment of dower.' No woman is to be entitled to dower in any lands whereof her husband was seized during the coverture, unless they were in a state of cultivation during such seizin, or were used as 'a wood or timber lot, and occupied with or as appurtenant to some tenement at the same time owned by such husband.' The widow of any person is to be endowed of so much of the lands, &c. of her husband, as will produce an income equal to one third of the income thereof, at the time her husband died seized thereof, or lost or parted with his title thereto. Women are to be liable to respond in damages,' for any strip or waste, committed on lands, &c. whereof they shall be endowed. Ch. 49. Mortgages. The right to redeem is foreclosed by a 'peaceable and continued actual possession of the premises,' by the mortgagee or person having his estate, for the space of one year after entry for condition broken, or (if he is in possession at the time the condition is broken) after notice to the mortgager or the person having his right, that the possession is held for the purpose of foreclosing. Every conveyance of land, for the purpose of securing the performance of anything in the condition of such conveyance stated,' is to be deemed a mortgage; but no estate of freehold, or lease for more than seven years of lands, &c. is to be encumbered or defeated by any agreement, unless the agreement is inserted in the conveyance. No estate of freehold or lease for more than seven years conveyed in mortgage, is to be held by the mortgagee as security for the performance of any thing, the obligation to perform which shall arise, be made, or contracted, after the execution and delivery of such mortgage.' Ch. 35. Frauds and Perjuries. This act is a revision of former acts on this subject. Ch. 47. Trustee Process. This act is also a revision of former laws. If any corporation or body politic' is possessed of any 'money, goods, chattels, rights, or credits' of a debtor, it shall be liable to answer as the trustee of such debtor, and may be required to disclose on oath by the cashier, or agent, or person conducting the concerns thereof.' If a trustee is under contract for the delivery of specific articles to the principal debtor, execution is to 'issue against the trustee, for such articles to be delivered,' to the creditor, who is to levy his execution thereon.' 'Any trustee process may be brought and maintained, before any justice of the peace, in the county where the trustee' resides, if the sum demanded in damages against the principal debtor,' does not exceed the sum of $13 33; but no person or party' is liable to 'appear or answer to any trustee process,' before a justice of the peace, unless the place, appointed for the return and hearing of the same, shall be within the town where such person or party shall reside.' Ch. 65. Lands of Non-Residents. If the taxes, assessed upon the unimproved lands of non-residents, are not paid, together with incidental charges, the collector is to sell, by auction, so much of the land as will be sufficient to pay the taxes and charges. The land so sold may be redeemed, at any time within one year from the sale, on payment or tender to the collector, his executor or administrator, a sum of money, equal to that for which the land may have been sold, with interest at the rate of 12 per cent. per annum, for the same, until the time of payment or tender;' or in his absence, by tender thereof, at his usual place of abode. In case of his absence, on tender being made at his place of abode, the money is to be paid to the clerk of the town, where the land lies, for the use of the collector. If it is received by the town clerk, he is to be paid 10 per cent. on the amount. Every purchaser of land so sold, upon the redemption thereof, is to be entitled to receive 12 per cent. per annum, upon the purchase money.' If the land is not redeemed, the collector, his executors or administrators, are to execute a deed thereof to the purchaser or his heirs. Ch. 56. Witnesses. Members of incorporated mutual fire insurance companies are to be admitted as witnesses, in cases in which the company is interested,' in the same manner as inhabitants of towns are now admitted.' Ch. 61. The sum of $40,000 is to be raised, for the use of the state. Private Acts. Among the private acts, we notice nine for the incorporation of 'social' or 'union' library societies; two acts, incorporating manufacturing companies; acts incorporating the 'Concord Aqueduct Association, the Meridian Sun Chapter,' the Libanus Lodge, No. 49,' the 'Belknap Chapter, No. 8,' &c.; and an act providing that the town of ADAMS may assume the name of JACKSON, any law, custom, or usage to the contrary notwithstanding. Resolutions. Among the resolutions, we notice one, requiring the Governor and Council to appoint a committee, for the pur pose of collecting information on the subject of the culture of silk; a resolution, appropriating $1200 for the purpose of educating indigent deaf and dumb children, at the Asylum at Hartford; and a resolution providing for the publication of a new edition of the laws of the state. Virginia. The General Assembly of this state, at the session commenced at Richmond, December 1st, 1828, passed one hundred and eighty-one acts, of which the seventy-three first are of 'a public and general nature;' and the remainder of a private and local nature.' The two houses also passed resolutions on five subjects. Ch. 1. Taxes. This is an act for taxation for the year 1829. Most of the taxes are in the nature of excise duties. Among others we notice, for every slave above twelve years old, forty cents; for every license to keep a house of private entertainment, seven dollars for every hundred dollars of yearly rent or value; for every writ instituting a suit in a superior court of law, $1 50, and the same for every subpoena in a superior court of chancery; other law process is also taxed; for every license to sell merchandize by wholesale and retail, $60-by retail only, $20; license to sell lottery tickets, $300-in schemes authorized by the state only, $60; license to a broker, $60. Ch. 14. Literary Fund and Free Schools. This act is in amendment of preceding acts on the same subjects. It contains provisions for dividing the counties into school districts; for defraying out of the funds two-fifths of the expense of school houses in any district where the inhabitants of the district raise threefifths by voluntary contributions; and school commissioners are authorized to appropriate a sum not exceeding $100 a year, for the employment of a teacher in any district school house, provided the inhabitants of the district raise an equal or greater sum for the same purpose by voluntary contribution, provided that the school is made a free school for the instruction of 'every free white child within the district.' Ch. 15. Constitution. An act to organize a convention to amend the state constitution. Ch. 17. Pauperism. This act makes it the duty of the clerk, agent, or president of the board of overseers in each county in the state to report to the auditor of public accounts, all the information furnished by the records as to the number of the poor, the manner and annual expense of their maintenance from Jan. 1, 1800, to the date of the report, to be given in a tabular form, which is prescribed in the statute, as follows: Year. The num-The num- The amount The amount] The num-|The number of free of poor rates of donations ber of ber of blacks levied annu- for the use poor main-poor maintain- ally for their of the poor tained at boarded ed at the support. from indivi-poor or duals or oth-work hous-otherwise erwise. es,with the supportamount of led, with ber of poor maintained at the public charge. public charge. out or the annual the am't. jexpense of of the antheir main-nual extenance. pense of their sup port. A similar annual report is required to be made in all succeeding years. Ch. 20. Abatement of Suits. No suit or motion of a feme sole plaintiff shall abate in consequence of her marriage, but may be prosecuted by her and her husband. Ch. 24. Bills and Notes. The damages on foreign bills protested for non-acceptance or non-payment, are made ten per cent. The protest of a notary of any bill, note, or check, stating the time, place, and manner of presenting and of giving notice, verified by the oath of the notary, made before a justice of the peace of the state, the same or the next day, may be evidence of any suit founded on the bill, note, or check; unless the court is satisfied by the defendant's oath or otherwise, that the personal attendance or deposition of the notary is necessary to a fair trial or decision of the case. Among the other public acts are one amending the laws relating to the penitentiary; two relating to slaves and persons of color; four to the revenue; seven to the terms and jurisdiction of courts; twenty-eight to elections in counties and towns; and two to the Kanawha Turnpike Road, and one prescribing the rate of tolls on the Kanawha River. Private and Local Acts. The private and local acts comprise several in relation to companies for the improvement of the navigation of the rivers and other waters of the state; others in relation to companies for making turnpike roads; a company is also incorporated for building a bridge across the Potomac, and another for building a bridge across the Shenandoah at Harper's Ferry. [If we may judge from these acts the communication between the different parts of the state must be rapidly improving.] Several lotteries are granted by the state, most of them for improving roads. [We cannot but regret that any of the states are still willing to sanction this most pernicious species of gambling. No object of public improvement will justify the sacrifice of the morals and property of the people, which inevitably attend the raising of money by such means.] Four companies are incorporated for manufacturing cotton, wool, flax, and hemp. The largest of these companies is allowed a capital which is not to exceed one hundred thousand dollars. There are eleven acts in relation to schools and academies, and one granting a lottery for the benefit of an academy. Many of the acts relate to towns. Two acts grant divorces; and three allow the free persons of color respectively named in them to remain in the state. The Constitution and the Tariff. A long preamble and six resolutions were adopted by both houses. The resolutions are to the following effect. 1. That the constitution of the United States being a federative compact between sovereign states, in construing which no common arbiter is known, each state has the right to construe the compact for itself. 2. That in giving such construction' 'each state should be guided, as Virginia has ever been, by a sense of forbearance, and respect for the opinion of the other states, and by community of attachment to the Union, so far as the same may be consistent with self-preservation, and a determined purpose to preserve the purity of our republican institutions.' 3. That this General Assembly of Virginia, actuated by the desire of guarding the constitution from all violation, anxious to preserve and perpetuate the Union, and to execute with fidelity the trust reposed in it by the people, as one of the high contracting parties, feels itself bound to declare, and it hereby most solemnly declares, its deliberate conviction, that the acts of congress, usually denominated the Tariff laws, passed avowedly for the protection of domestic manufactures, are not authorized by the plain construction, true intent and meaning of the constitution.' 4. "That the said acts are partial in their operation, impolitic, and oppressive to a large portion of the people of the Union, and ought to be repealed.' 5. The fifth resolution requests the governor to communicate the preamble and resolutions to the executives of the several states, to be laid before their respective legislatures. 6. The sixth requests the governor to transmit copies of the report and resolutions to the senators and representatives of Virginia in congress, 'with a request to the representatives, and instruction to the senators, that the same be laid by them before their respective houses.' Alabama. At the session of the General Assembly of Alabama, commenced on the third Monday of November, 1828, at Tuscaloosa, one hundred and fifty one statutes and three joint resolutions were |