the same that was so lost, and pay so much as the ex- way, being a slave, after the end of one year from the II. This act shall commence and be in force from Commence. and after the first day of January, one thousand seven ment of act. hundred and eighty-seven. CHAP. LXXXV. From Rev. Bills of 1779, An act to enable guardians and com-ch. LXI. 1. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That What acts where any person under the age of twenty-one years, guardians & committees or of unsound mind is, or shall be seized or possessed may perform of any land, tenements, or hereditaments, in trust or by for infants, & way of mortgage, the guardian of the one, or commit- wards. tee of the other (which committee shall be appointed by the high court of chancery) by order of such court made, upon the petition of one or more of the parties interested, and after hearing them all, may execute any such deed, or perform any other such act as the trustee, Vol. XII. Ꮓ Commence. ment of act. or mortgagee, if he were of full age, or of sane mind, respectively might have executed or performed; and such deed or other act shall be as valid, except that he shall not be bound by a warranty or other covenant contained in the deed. Also the said court may in like mauner empower such guardian or committee to make, or take, a surrender of a former lease, and to take; or make, a new lease, as the case may require, and as it shall seem most for the advantage of the infant, ideot, or lunatic, out of whose estate any fine that may be advanced and all other just expences that may be incurred in order to obtain a new lease to him, shall be reimbursed, and the new lease shall not only be chargeable with such fine and expences, but shall remain subject to all incumbrances which the lease surrendered would have been subject to. II. This act shall commence and be in force from and alter the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven. From Rev. Bills of 1779, ch. LX. Testamenta. ry guardian, how and by whom constituted. CHAP. LXXXVI. An act concerning guardians, infants, masters, and apprentices. 1. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That any father, even if he be not twenty one years old, may, by deed, or last will and testament, either of them being executed in presence of two creditable witnesses grant or devise the custody and tuition of his child, which had never been married, although it be not born, during any part of the infancy of such child, to whomsoever he will; and such grant or devise heretofore or hereafter to be made, shall give the grantee or devisee the same power over the person of the child as a guardian in common socage hath, and authorize him, by action of ravishment of ward or trespass, to recover the child, with damages, for the wrongful taking or de Power of courts over saining him or her, for his or her use, and for the same use to undertake the care and management, and receive the profits of the ward's estate, real and personal, and prosecute and maintain any such action and suits concerning the same, as a guardian in common socage may do. The high court of chancery generally, and the court of every county in chancery within the limits of their jurisdiction, shall have power from time to time guardians. to controul guardians, and hear and determine all matters between them and their wards; to require security of any guardian in focage, or statutory guardian, when that caution shall seem necessary, for prevention of any damage his ward may suffer, by neglect, mismanagement, or malversation; and if the security be refused or delayed, or if such guardian appear to have been guilty of a flagrant abuse of trust, to displace him, and appoint another in his stead, and to give such directions, and make such rules and orders, as they shall think fit, for the government, maintenance, and education of wards, and preservation of their estates, and for the conduct of guardians. Every court appointing a Bond and guardian, shall take bond of him, with sufficient surety security. for the faithful execution of his office, and if any court omit this duty, or take such surety as shall not satisfy them of his sufficiency, which may be done as well by the surety's affidavit, as otherwise, the ward, by an action on the case against the judges or justices so making default, may recover so much of the damages which the guardian and surety shall be answerable for as these shall be unable to pay. If any guardian re- Curator. fuse, or be unable to give the surety required of him, the court may put the estate into the hands of a curator, the fittest they can prevail upon, to undertake the care of it, to be accountable to them, and in that case shall not be sponsible for his ability. Every guardian, or Inventories. curator, to be appointed by any court, shall, at the term or session next afterwards, deliver into such court, an inventory, upon oath, of all the estate which he shall have received, to be entered of record in a separate book; and such guardian, or curator, and every guardian heretofore so appointed, shall exhibit to such court, once in every year, which, if it be a county court, shall be in August, or at the next session, if there be none in that month, or oftener, if he be specially required, accounts of the pro- accounts. Guardians' duce of the estate, of the sales and disposition of that produce, and of the disbursements, which accounts shall be examined by the court, or by such persons as the court shall refer them to, and being found and certified, or reported to be properly and fairly stated, and the articles thereof to be justified by the vouchers, and the report, in case of a reference, being approved and confirmed by the court, shall, with such certificate or confirmation, be entered of record in the book aforesaid: And if any article of such accounts at any time afterwards be excepted to by the ward, or his representative, it shall be incumbent on him to prove or shew the falsity or injustice thereof, unless notice on his behalf shall have been given at the time of passing the accounts, that such article would be excepted to, and a memorandum of that notice shall have been entered on record, or desired to be entered. The court, at any Supplement time when they shall know or have cause to suspect al security. that the surety of a guardian is failing, may require and compel such guardian to give supplemental security, or if he refuse or neglect to do so, may displace him. A guardian who shall not deliver in such inventory, and render such accounts as aforesaid, shall, by order of the court to which he is amenable, be summoned, and if he remain in default, be compelled to perform his duty, or be displaced; for which purpose the summons, or other process from a county court, may be directed to and shall be executed by the sheriff of any other county wherein the guardian may be found, and every judge or justice of the court sitting therein, at any time during the term or session in which the process ought to have been ordered, if it be not orDisburse dered accordingly, shall be amerced. If the disbursements of the guardian, being suitable to the estate and circumstances of the ward, shall exceed the profits of his estate in any year, the balance, with the allowance of the court, may be debited in the account of a succeeding year; and a balance appearing on the contrary side, may be put out to interest, for the benefit of the ward, upon such security as the court shall approve, or the guardian, if it remain in his hands, shall account for the interest, to be computed from the time his accounts were or ought to have been passed, If any surety for a guardian, by petition to the court before whom they were bound, setting forth, that he apprehends himself ments. Counter security. Estate of bound to ward. Orphans to be in danger of suffering thereby, shall pray that he may be relieved, the court, after a summons to answer the petition shall have been served upon the guardian, or a copy of such summons shall have been left at the place of his usual abode, shall order him to give counter security, or to deliver the ward's estate into the hands of the surety, or some other, in that case taking sufficient security, or may make such other order for relief of the petitioner as to them shall seem just. The estate of a guardian, not under a specific lien, shall, af- guardian, first ter his death, be liable for whatsoever may be due from him on account of his guardianship to his ward before any other debt due from such guardian. Every or phan who hath no estate, or not sufficient for a main- bonnd aptenance out of the profits, shall, by order of the court prentices. of the county in which he or she resides, be bound apprentice, until the age of twenty-one years, if a boy, or of eighteen years, if a girl, to some master or mistress, who shall covenant to teach the apprentice some art, trade, or business, to be particularized in the indenture, as also reading and writing, and if a boy, common arithmetic, including the rule of three, and to pay to him or her three pounds and ten shillings at the expiration of the time. Any guardian may, with the approbation of that court in which his appointment shall apprentices. be recorded, and not otherwise, bind his ward apprentice to such person, for learning such art or trade, and with such covenants on the part of the master of mistress as the said court shall direct; and any such apprentice, with the like approbation, or any apprentice bound by his father, may, with the approbation of the court of that county in which the father shall reside, after he shall be sixteen years of age, agree to serve until he shall be twenty-four years of age, or any shorter time, and such agreement entered on record shall bind him: Covenants in indentures. Wards bound II. The court of every county, city, or borough, Complaints shall at all times receive the complaints of apprentices, ces, how reof apprenti. or hired servants, being citizens of any one of the con- dressed. federated states of America, who reside within the jurisdiction of such court, against their masters or mistresses, alledging undeserved or immoderate correction, insufficient allowance of food, raiment, or lodging, or want of instruction, and may bear and determine such cases in a summary way, making such or |