ders thereupon as in their judgment will relieve the party injured in future, or removing the apprentices, and binding them to other masters or mistresses, when it shall seem necessary; and may also, in the same manner, hear and determine complaints of masters or mistresses against their apprentices, or hired servants, for desertion, without good cause, and may oblige the latter, for loss thereby occasioned, to make retribution, by farther services, after expiration of the times courts of hus. for which they had been bound.

Richmond,

tings, of Wil- III. And be it further enacted, That the courts of liamsburg, hustings in the cities of Williamsburg and Richmond, Nortolk, and and borough of Norfolk, and all other incorporated other incor- towns, shall have the same power as is hereby given porated to the county courts.

towns.

IV. 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,

From Rev. Bills of 1779, ch. LXII

Directors of funatic hos pital, how to be appointed

CHAP. LXXXVII.

An act for the restraint, maintenance, and cure of persons not sound in mind.

1. BE it enacted by the General Assembly. That the present directors of the hospital for the reception of persons of unsound minds, and their successors, to be chosen when vacancies happen, by joint ballot of both houses of general assembly, are hereby constituIncorporated. ted a body politic and corporate, to have perpetual continuance, by the name of the directors of the hospital for the maintenance and cure of persons of unsound minds, and by that name may sue and be sued, and may, and shall have and use a common seal; and are enabled to take and hold any estate real and personal, given, or to be given, to the said hospital, or to themselves, for the use thereof, so as the annual revenue or income of such donations exceed not one

Style of corporation.

removed to

thousand pounds, any law or statute to the contrary, notwithstanding; and shall and may, so often as it shall be necessary, choose a president, to continue in office until his death, resignation, or removal. And Corporate the said directors, or any seven of them, the president powers. being one, shall, from time to time, ordain regulations for the government of the said hospital, and appoint a keeper or matron thereof, with nurses and guards, when they shall be necessary, and provide for the accommodation, maintenance, and cure of the patients remaining and to be received therein. By warrant, to be directed to the sheriff, a justice of peace may order to be brought before him any person whose Lunatics,how mind, from his own observation, or the information of hospital. others, he shall suspect to be unsound, and with two other justices, who, at his request, shall associate with him, shall enquire into the state of such person's mind; and the said justices shall write as well what shall appear to themselves as what shall be testified by witnesses, touching the supposed insanity; and if two of them adjudge the party to be such a one as ought to be confined in the hospital, and some friend will not become bound, with surety, to restrain and take proper care of him or her, until the canse for confinement shall cease, the said justices, or two of them, shall order the insane to be removed to the said hospital, and there received, and for that end direct a warrant to the sheriff, and a mittimus to the said keeper, transmitting therewith, to the latter, the examinations of the witnesses, and a relation of such facts as the said justices shall think pertinent to the subject, to be laid before the directors.The said keeper, immediately after the person remov- Proceedings ed shall be delivered to him, the receipt of whom he shall acknowledge in a writing signed by him, and given to the sheriff, shall inform the president thereof, who shall require his colleagues to meet so soon as may be; and at such meeting, which shall not be unnecessarily delayed, the directors, if having considered the case, they concur in opinion with the justices, shall register the insane as a patient; but they may at any time afterwards deliver him or her to a friend, becoming bound to restrain and take care of him or her, in the same manner as the justices might have done.— If the directors differ in opinion from the justices, they shall report the matter to the high court of chancery,

thereon.

If directors differ in opin

on from jas

tices.

tics, how pro

who shall thereupon award the writ de idiota inquirendo, directed to the sheriff of that county from whence the person supposed to be insane shall have been removed, and such person shall be put into the custody of the said sheriff, and remain there until the inquisition be taken and returned, and then shall be enlarged or registered, as the said court shall order. The court Infant una of a county, city, or borough, shall refer it to three ceeded with. justices to examine into the state of mind of an infant, child, or ward, in their county, city, or borough, suggested to such court, by the parent or guardian, to be insane, and upon the report of the said justices, if the suggestion appear to be true, shall order such insane to be removed in the manner before directed, to the hospital. where he or she shall be received and registered. The expence of maintaining, and endeavouring to cure a registered insane, shall be reimbursed out of his estate, if any such there be, and in case of an infant, not an orphan, shall be repaid by the parent, if of sufficient ability to support such infant, to be adjudged of and certified by the court of the county where such parent resides, and may be recovered by an action commenced and prosecuted in the names of the directors, who shall account for what shall thus come to their hands. Accounts of expences incurred in execution of this act, as well for repairing the hospital, and other necessary incidental works and services, shall be audited and discharged in the same manner as other public accounts. The directors shall enlarge every person confined in the hospital, who shall ap→ pear to them to be perfectly cured of insanity, and give Legal settle- such person a certificate thereof. A person registered ment of luna in the hospital shall nevertheless, during the time of his or her confinement there, be deemed an inhabitant of that county in which was his or her legal settlement at the time of his or her removal to the hospital.

When luna

tics may be discharged.

tics.

Commence

11. This act shall commence and be in force from ment of act. and after the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven.

CHAP. LXXXVIII.

An act vesting the estate of Matthew Womble, deceased, in trustees, to be sold for the benefit of his children.

BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That the Estate of whole estate, both real and personal, of Matthew Matthew Womble, who was convicted of murder at the session Womble, exof the general court in December last, and executed ecuted for murder, how accordingly, be, and the same is hereby vested, in disposed of. Thomas Wrenn, William Gay, James Coffer, and John Scasbrook Wills, gentlemen, trustees, to be by them, or any two of them, sold for the best price that can be had, giving one month's notice of the time and place of sale in the Virginia Gazette; and the said trustees shall convey the same to the purchasers in fee, and apply the money arising from the sale thereof in the first place to the payment of the just debts of the said Matthew Womble, and the residue divided between his children, and paid by the said trustees to their guardian or guardians; any law, usage, or custom, to the contrary, notwithstanding.

CHAP. LXXXIX.

An act incorporating trustees for establishing and conducting a seminary of learning, at the town of Fincastle, in the county of Bole

tourt.

1. WHEREAS it is the interest of all wise, civilized and free governments, to facilitate as much as may be, the diffusion of useful knowledge among its inhatants: And whereas to this end sundry persons of the county of Botetourt have given considerable donations, VOL. XIK A 2

Preamble.

for the purpose of endowing and supporting a seminary of learning, at the town of Fincastle, in the said county, and have represented to this present general assembly, that their designs would be much accelerated were a law to pass incorporating them into a body politic:

II. Be it enacted, That from and after the passing Seminary of of this act, the said seminary shall obtain the name of Tearning es Botetourt Seminary; and that David Robinson, WilFincastle, in liam Fleming, George Skillern, Patrick Lockhart,

tablished at

Botetourt county.

powers.

Thomas Madison, Thomas Rowland, Thomas Lewis, David May, John Wood, Robert Harvey, William Neely, James Barnet, Henry Bowyer, Samuel Mitchell, George Hancock, and Archibald Stuart, gentlemen, be, and they are hereby constituted, a body Incorporated. politic and incorporate, by the name of the President, Style of cor. Wardens, and Directors of Botetourt Seminary, who poration. Corporate shall have perpetual succession, and a common seal; and that they and their successors, by the name aforesaid, shall be able and capable in law to possess, purchase, receive, and retain, to them and their successors forever, any lands, tenements, rents, goods, chattels, or donations of any kind whatsoever, which may have been given, or shall in future be given, or purchased by them, for the use thereof, and by the same name to sue and be sued, implead and be impleaded, answer and be answered unto, in all courts of law or equity, and from time to time, under their common seal, to make and establish such bye-laws, rules and ordinances, not repugnant to the laws of this commonwealth, as by them shall be thought necessary for the good order and government of the same.

Duty and power of offi

oers.

III. And be it further enacted, That the said president, wardens, and directors, or any seven of them, shall have full power and authority to meet at such times as they shall think proper, and determine in all cases where a greater number of poor and indigent apply for admission than the funds can support, (to whom the preference shall be given) and to continue those so admitted for such length of time as they, or a majority of them, shall think necessary, having regard to the genius and capacity of the students, and of directing the study of such to any branch of literature, to which in their opinion the genius of the student is best dapted.