the very right of the cause, and matter in law, shall appear unto them.

cide according to the very right of

IV. And for the easier, speedier, and better advance- Courts to dement of justice, in obtaining judgments in any suit or action, to be brought upon any of the penal laws of this colony, after the said fifteenth day of April, in the cause. which suit or action, the penalty sued for, shall not exceed five pounds current money, or one thousand pounds of tobacco: Be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That where any demurrer shall be joined, and entred, in any such suit or action, in any court of record in this dominion, the judges shall proceed, and give judgment, according to the very right of the cause, and as the matter in law shall appear unto them, without regarding any imperfection, omission, or defect in any writ, return, plaint, declaration, information, or other pleading, process, or course of proceeding whatsoever, except those only which the party demurring shall specially and particularly set down, and express, together with his demurrer, as causes of the same, notwithstanding such imperfection, omission, or defect, might have heretofore been taken to be matter of substance; so as sufficient matter appear in the said pleadings, upon which the court may give judgment, according to the very right of the cause.

V. And be it further enacted, by the authority afore- After versaid, That if any verdict shall be given in any such ac- dict, not to tion, or suit, in any court of record in this dominion, defect of the judgment thereupon shall not be stayed or reversed, form. for or by reason of any default in form, or want of form, in any writ, original or judicial, declaration, plaint, information, or bill, or for want of any writ, original or judicial, or by reason of any imperfect or insufficient return of any sheriff or other officer, nor for any insufficient pleading, or mis-joining the issue, nor for any matter of the like nature, nor any judgment hereafter to be given on any verdict, in any such suit or action, shall be reversed for any the defects or causes aforesaid; any law, statute, or usage to the contrary, notwithstanding.

Preamble.

tablished.

CHAP. XIV.

An Act for erecting a Town, in each of the Counties of
Spotsylvania and King George.

I.

W

HEREAS great numbers of people have of late seated themselves and their families, upon and near the river Rappahannock, and the branches Frederick- thereof, above the falls; and great quantities of tobacburg, and Falmouth es- co and other commodities, are every year brought down to the upper landings upon the said river, to be shipped off and transported to other parts of the country; and it is necessrry, that the poorer part of the said inhabitants should be supplied from thence, with goods and merchandize, in return for their commodities; but for want of some convenient place, where traders may cohabit, and bring their goods to, such supplies are not to be had, without great disadvantages; and good houses are greatly wanted, upon some navigable part of the said river, near the falls, for the reception and safekeeping of such commodities, as are brought thither; and for the entertainment and sustenance of those who repair thither from remote places, with carriages drawn by horses or oxen: And forasmuch as the inhabitants of the county of Spotsylvania, have made humble supplication to this general assembly, that a town may be laid out, in some convenient place, near the falls of the said river, for the cohabitation of such as are minded to reside there, for the purposes aforesaid, whereby the peopling that remote part of the country will be encouraged, and trade and navigation may be increased:

Fifty acres of. II. Be it enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor, Counland vested cil, and Burgesses, of this present General Assembly, and in trustees, it is hereby enacted, by the authority of the same, That who are ap within six months after the passing of this act, fifty acres of land, parcel of a tract of land belonging to John Royston, and Robert Buckner, of the county of Glocester, situate, lying, and being upon the south side of the river Rappahannock, aforesaid, in the county of Spotsylvania, commonly called or known by the name of the Lease-Land, shall be surveied and laid out, taking the whole breadth of the said tract of land, upon the river, by the surveior of the said county of Spot

out in lots &

sylvania; and the said fifty acres of land, so to be surveied and laid out, shall be and is hereby vested in John Robinson, esq. Henry Willis, Augustine Smith, John Taliaferro, Harry Beverly, John Waller, and Jeremiah Clowder, of the county of Spotsylvania, gentlemen, and their successors, in trust, for the several purposes hereafter mentioned; and the said John Robinson, Henry Willis, Augustine Smith, John Taliaferro, Harry Beverly, John Waller, and Jeremiah Clowder, are hereby constituted and appointed directors and trustees, for designing, building, carrying on, and maintaining a town upon the said land. And the said directors and trustees, or any four of them, shall To be laid have power to meet as often as they shall think neces- streets. sary; and shall lay out the said fifty acres in lots and streets, not exceeding half an acre of ground in each lot; and also to set apart such portions of the said land for a church and church-yard, a market place, and public key, and to appoint such places upon the river for public landings, as they shall think most convenient; and if the same shall be necessary, shall direct the making and erecting of wharfs and cranes, at such public landings, for the public use: And when the said town To be sold. shall be so laid out, the said directors and trustees, shall have fuil power and authority, to sell all the said lots by public sale or auction, from time to time, to the highest bidder, so as no person shall have more than two lots: And when such lots shall be sold, any two of the said trustees shall and may, upon paiment of the purchase money, by some sufficient conveyance or conveyances, convey the fee-simple estate of such lot or lots, to the purchaser or purchasers; and he or they, or his or their heirs and assigns, respectively, shall and may forever thereafter peaceably and quietly have, hold, possess, and enjoy the same, freed and discharged of and from all right, title, estate, claim, interest, and demand whatsoever, of the said John Royston, and Robert Buckner, and the heirs and assigns of them, respectively, and of all persons whatsoever, claiming by, from, or under them, or either of them.

III. Provided nevertheless, That the said directors 40 shillings and trustees, shall pay or cause to be paid, unto the for every asaid John Royston, and Robert Buckner, out of the cre, to be paid to the money to be raised by the sale of the said lots, as soon proprietors. as the same shall be by them received, after the rate of forty shillings for every acre of the said fifty acres of land, according to the right which the said John Roy ston, and Robert Buckner, now respectively have to the same: And the said John Royston, and Robert Buckner, shall also have each of them two lots, which shall be assigned to them by the said directors and trus. tees, and they shall respectively remain seised of such lots of the same estate, whereof they were respectively seised in the said land, before the making of this act.

Overplus of the money to be laid out in public ufor the ses, benefit of the town.

How to be built.

IV. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That after the said lots shall be laid out and disposed of as aforesaid, the said directors or any four of them, shall have full power and authority, to apply all the overplus money, which shall be raised by the sale of the said lots, to such public use, for the common benefit of the inhabitants of the said town, as to them shall seem best.

V. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That the grantee or grantees of every sush lot or lots, so to be conveied and sold in the said town, shall within two years next after the date of the conveiance for the same, erect, build and finish, on each lot so conveied, one house, of brick, stone, or of wood, well framed, of the dimensions of twenty foot square, and nine foot pitch at the least, or proportionably thereto, if such grantee shall have two lots contiguous: And the said directors shall have full power and authorily to establish such rules and orders, for the more regular placing the said houses, as to them shall seem fit, from time to time. And if the owner of any lots shall fail to pursue and comply with the directions herein prescribed, for the building and finishing one or more house or houses thereon, then such lots upon which such houses shall not be so built and finished, shall be revested in the said trustees; and shall and may be sold and conveied to any other person or persons whatsoever, in the manner before directed; and shall revest, and be again sold, as often as the owner or owners shall fail to perform, obey, and fulfil the directions aforesaid: And if the inhabitants of the said town shall fail to obey and pursue the rules and orders of the said directors, in repairing and amending the streets, landings, and public wharfs, they shall be liable to the same penalties as are inflicted for not repairing the highways in this colony.

the direct

VI. And for the continuing the succession of the said trustees and directors, until the governor of this colony shall incorporate some other persons, by letters patents, under the seal of this colony, to be one body politic and corporate, to whom the government of the said town shall be committed, Be it further enacted, For perpetu, That in case of the death of the said directors, or of ating the their refusal to act, the surviving or other directors, or succession of the major part of them, shall assemble, and are hereby ors. impowered, from time to time, by instrument in writing, under their respective hands and seals, to nominate some other person or persons, being an inhabitant or freeholder of the said town, in the place of him so dying or refusing; which new director or directors, so nominated and appointed, shall from thenceforth have the like power and authority, in all things relating to the matters herein contained, as if he or they had been expressly named and appointed, in and by this act: And every such instrument and nomination, shall, from time to time, be recorded in the books of the said directors.

VII. And whereas William Levingston is possessed For a recom of a lease under the said John Royston, for certain years pense to Leto come, of part of the said fifty acres of land, and vingston and Royston. hath erected buildings, and made several improvements thereon, which will be taken away when the said town shall be laid out: For making satisfaction for which,

VIII. Be it further enacted, That the two lots to be Two lots as assigned to the said John Royston, pursuant to this act, signed to shall include the dwelling house and kitchen of the said them. William Levingston, and shall be held and enjoied by him, for the residue of the said term; and at the expiration thereof, shall revert unto, and be vested in the said John Royston, as aforesaid: And moreover, the said trustees are hereby enjoined and required to pay unto the said William Levingston, the sum of twenty pounds current money, out of the monies arising by sale of lots, as a consideration and competency for the said lease.

IX. And be it further enacted, That the town afore- Frederickssaid shall be called by the name of Fredericksburg.