THE

PUBLIC LAWS

OF THE STATE OF

RHODE-ISLAND AND PROVIDENCE PLANTATIONS.

An Act establishing the Digest of Laws, as reported by the committee, appointed to revise the laws of this State, and amended by the General Assembly. Passed January Session, 1844.

Whereas, the committee, appointed to revise the laws of this state, have completed the business of their appointment, and the several bills reported by them, as proper to constitute the public statute laws of the state, have been carefully examined and considered by this assembly, and such amendments have been made thereto, and such additional acts passed, as have been deemed proper, and the digest reported by said committee, after being so amended as aforesaid has been approved, and the several acts therein contained, have been separately passed and enacted; in relation thereto,

It is enacted by the General Assembly, as follows:

SECTION 1. The Secretary of State, William R. Staples and Charles F. Tillinghast, are appointed a committee to procure and superintend the printing and publication of the laws aforesaid.

SEC. 2. The said committee shall cause all said laws, and such other public laws which are not temporary, as may be passed at this present session of the assembly, or at any other session or sessions previous to the publication of said digest, to be arranged in proper order, with a copious index and proper notes at the commencement of each act, or on the side of the page, and prepared for the press as soon as conveniently may be; and to reserve three hundred copies for the use of the state, to be disposed of as is provided in the following section.

SEC. 3. As soon as said digest shall be published, the secretary shall cause the copies reserved for the state, to be distributed in the following manner: one copy to his excellency the governor, one to his honor the lieutenant governor, one to each of the present members of the general assembly, four to the secretary of state of the United States, one to the executive of each of the United States, one to the secretary of this state, one to the attorney general, one to the general treasurer, one to each of the clerks of the house of representatives, one to the clerk of the senate, one to each clerk of the supreme court and court of common pleas, one to each sheriff, two to each town clerk, one to each jailer, one to the warden of the state prison, one to the library of Brown University, one to each cabinet of the Rhode-Island Historical Society, one to the judge of the circuit court of the United States for the first circuit, one to the district judge for the Rhode-Island district, one to the district attorney for the same district, two to the library of congress, one to the secretary of the senate, one to each of the clerks of the house of representatives of the Congress of the United States.

SEC. 4. The copies to be presented to the secretary, the attorney general, the general treasurer, clerks of the house of representatives, clerk of the senate, clerks of the courts, sheriffs, town clerks, jailers and warden, shall be preserved by said officers as appendages to their several offices, and be delivered with the other books and papers appertaining to their said offices, to their successors.

SEC. 5. Within one month after said laws shall have been printed and distributed as aforesaid, the governor shall issue his proclamation, announcing that the laws contained in said digest shall be in full force and effect immediately after the expiration of thirty days from the date of said proclamation. The secretary shall cause said proclamation to be published in all the newspapers printed within this state, in which the laws of the state are published; and the said laws contained

in said digest shall be in force and take effect from the expiration of thirty days after the date of said proclamation, and not before; and shall thereafter be the public statute laws of this state; and all other public statute laws heretofore made and published, which are not contained in said digest, shall be and are hereby declared to be repealed, from the expiration of said thirty days from the date of said proclamation, to be issued as aforesaid. Provided always, that such of the statutes contained in this digest, as remain in substance the same as before the said revisal, shall be considered as having continued in force from the time of their being first enacted, or as if this revision had not been made. Provided also, that nothing in this act, or in any of the acts contained in said digest, shall defeat, discharge or in any way affect any right, title, interest, duty, obligation, penalty, forfeiture, claim or demand, which shall have vested, enured, accrued, or become forfeited by virtue of the laws now in force, or which shall be in force until the expiration of said thirty days from the date of the said proclamation, to be issued as aforesaid; nor shall any thing in this act, or in any of the laws in said digest contained, be construed to bar, discharge or abate any civil or criminal process whatsoever now pending, or which shall hereafter be commenced or pending before the expiration of said thirty days; nor to mitigate, remit or discharge any criminal offence, or the punishment thereof, that shall have been committed before that time.

SEC. 6. In all cases in which provision is not made either at common law, or by the statutes aforesaid, such statutes as were introduced before the Declaration of Independence, and as have since been continued in practice in this state, shall be considered as part of the common law, and remain in force until the general assembly shall specially provide therefor.

SEC. 7. All laws which relate to the emission of bills of public credit, or the calling in and redeeming the same, not contained in said digest, shall be considered as remaining in full force and effect, in the same manner as if the said acts and laws had been contained in the said digest.

SEC. 8. All charters and grants of incorporation to any body politic or corporate, and all other private acts or statutes heretofore granted, passed or enactd, not contained in said digest, shall remain in full force and effect, any thing in this act to the contrary notwithstanding.

SEC. 9. The Charter granted to the late colony of RhodeIsland and Providence Plantations, by Charles II., King of Great Britain, the Declaration of Independence, the articles

of Confederation, President Washington's Address of September, 1796, to the people of the United States, the Constitution of the United States, the act of the Convention of this State adopting the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of this State, together with the following acts of the general assembly, to wit:

The act entitled "an act confirmatory of the tenure of lands belonging to the Narragansett tribe of Indians, and for other purposes therein mentioned," contained in the digest published in 1822:

The act entitled "an act confirming the grants heretofore made by the inhabitants of the towns of Newport, Providence, Portsmouth, Warwick and Westerly," passed on the third day of May, A. D. 1682:

The act entitled "an act quieting possessions and establishing titles of land within the towns of Bristol, Tiverton, Little Compton, Warren and Cumberland," passed January 27, A. D. 1746:

The act entitled "an act to secure and appropriate the Touro Jewish Synagogue Fund," passed June 14, A. D. 1823: The act entitled "an act in addition to the act to secure and appropriate the Touro Jewish Synagogue Fund," passed October 30, A. D. 1827:

The resolution in relation to said Touro Jewish Synagogue Fund, passed June 28, A. D. 1834:

The act entitled "an act to regulate the fishery in Pawcatuck river," passed in October, A. D. 1798 :

The act entitled "an act to enforce an act to regulate the fishery in Pawcatuck River," passed in January, A. D. 1822: Shall be published with the laws contained in the digest aforesaid.

An Act defining the extent of the several Counties in this State. Counties established, viz: Newport, Providence, Washington, Bristol, Kent.

It is enacted by the General Assembly, as follows:

SECTION 1. The extent and boundaries of the several counties in the state, shall remain as now established, that is to say: The towns of Newport, Portsmouth, Jamestown, New Shoreham, Middletown, Tiverton and Little Compton, shall continue to constitute the county of Newport; and Newport shall be the county town.

The city of Providence, and the towns of Smithfield, Scituate, Glocester, Cumberland, Cranston, Johnston, NorthProvidence, Foster and Burrillville, shall continue to constitute the county of Providence; and the city of Providence shall be the county town.

The towns of South-Kingstown, North-Kingstown, Westerly, Charlestown, Exeter, Richmond and Hopkinton, shall continue to constitute the county of Washington; and SouthKingstown shall be the county town.

The towns of Bristol, Warren and Barrington, shall continue to constitute the county of Bristol; and Bristol shall be the county town.

The towns of East-Greenwich, Warwick, West-Greenwich and Coventry, shall continue to constitute the county of Kent; and East-Greenwich shall be the county town.

An Act in relation to certain lands in this State, owned by the

1. Concurrent jurisdiction over certain 2. Custom House lot in Newport and lands heretofore ceded to the United Providence exempted from taxes. States, recognized and continued.

It is enacted by the General Assembly, as follows:

SECTION 1. The several places hereinafter enumerated, which have heretofore been ceded to the United States, or purchased by them, over which concurrent jurisdiction has been granted to the United States, shall continue to be subject to such concurrent jurisdiction, according to the several acts of this state, heretofore passed in relation to them; that is to say:

The light house in Jamestown, and the lands and tenements thereto adjoining, ceded to the United States by this state, in 1793.

A tract of land at Watch Hill Point, in the town of Westerly. A tract of land at Point Judith, in the town of South-Kingstown.

A tract of land near the south end of the island of Conanicut.

A tract of land on Goat Island, in the harbor of Newport. An island called Castle Island, at the entrance of Bristol harbor.