IT is Ordered by this Court and the Authority thereof, That henceforth it shall not be lawfull for any Ship, Sloop, Ketch, No Masters of Vessels to carry servants &c. without Permit or Vessel of more then twelve Tunns burthen to sail out of any Harbor or Port within this Colony, or entertain on board thereof any Passenger or Passengers, or any Servant or Negro, without the Permit of the Governour for the time being, or such as he shall appoint to that trust, on penalty of twenty pounds Fine to be paid by the Master or Skipper of said Ship, Ketch, Sloop or Vessel that shall be convicted of transgressing hereof, and shall be liable to satisfie double damages to any that shall be injured thereby, to be recovered by an Action of the Case.

THis Court being informed of the great deficiency generally found among the Troopers, some in one kind some in others &c. and for prevention of future mistakes in the Law, Tit. Charges publick, wherein Troopers claim abatement as to their Per­sons and Horses being exempted,

It is Ordered by this Court and Authority thereof, That henceforth all Troopers (excepting only those who by the first Law Anno 1648. were allowed five shillings a man, and the abatement of their Head and Horse, Troopers Pri­viledge wh [...], &c. which is only to be understood as to one single Country Rate) shall pay for their Heads and Horses to all publick Assessments as others doe, any Law, Custome or Usage to the con­trary notwithstanding: Provided, that such as listed themselves upon the account of that Priviledge hereby abated as to their head and horse only, shall have free liberty to dispose of their horses, and list in the Foot-Company again.

[Page 78]IT is Ordered by this Court and the Authority thereof, That there shall be an­nually chosen according to our Charter eighteen Assistants besides the Gover­nour and Deputy Governour, in manner following. The Constables of each Town shall give timely notice unto, and warn their Freemen to meet upon the second Tuesday in March yearly, who shall then put in their Votes in distinct Papers for such Persons being Freemen, and resident in this Jurisdiction, whom they desire to have chosen for Magistrates or Assistants at the next Court of Election, not exceeding the number of twenty, & all in one Lyst clearly distinguished: & no Freeman shall put in above one Vote for one person under the penalty of ten pounds for every offence. And the said Freemen so met, or the major part of them, shall then and there appoint One to carry their Votes sealed up unto their Shire Town upon the last Wednesday in March, Nomination & Election of Ma­gistrates, &c. at twelve of the clock, which Persons for each Town so assembled shall appoint two of themselves as Commissioners for each Shire, Hamshire only excepted, to carry them unto Boston the second Tuesday in April at nine of the clock in the morning, there to be opened and perused in the presence of the Governour or Deputy Governour, or so many Magistrates as please to attend it, otherwise by those Persons that brought them, at the Town­house in Boston, or such other place as the Commissioners for Suffolk shall ap­point. And all Lists that exceed twenty, or have one mans name more then once shall be thrown away, and those twenty six who have most Votes shall be the men (and they only) which shall be put to Vote at the Court of Election for Magi­strates or Assistants as aforesaid; and the said Commissioners of each Shire shall forthwith signifie to the Constables of the several Towns within their County, in writing under their hands, the names of those twenty six persons aforesaid, with the number of Votes for each, which the Constable of each town shall signifie to their Freemen, and as any have more Votes then others, so shall they be nomina­ted for Election, except such who were Magistrates heretofore, who shall have precedency of all others in Nomination on the Election day.

It is further Ordered, That the Constables of each Town shall call together their Freemen on the wednesday next before the Election day, from year to year, when and where such as please may put in their Proxies for Election, viz. of Go­vernour, Deputy Governour, and all other publick Officers in distinct Papers as formerly, and for twenty Assistants to be chosen out of the twenty six persons in Nomination, by Indian Corn, which Proxies shall be sealed up with the name of the Person written on the paper, and delivered to the Deputy of the said Town, or some other meet Person chosen by the Freemen, who shall bring the same to Boston on the Election day, when and where all the Freemen who have not voted by Proxy are required to appear at the Court house by eight of the clock in the morning, to bring in their Votes as aforesaid; where the Votes of the Governour and Deputy Governour are first to be opened and sorted, and the chosen pro­claimed, & then the Votes for the twenty six persons chosen by Corn to be opened and counted, and those eighteen who have most Votes are to be proclaimed Assi­stants for the year ensuing, and all other general Officers to be chosen as for­merly. Moreover, all the Votes that are brought in for Nomination and Election, shall be brought in by the person voting, or sent in by the Deputy or the Consta­ble of the Town where such person dwelleth, or otherwise lose their Votes: And if any person betrusted in this Order shall fail in discharge of his trust, he shall forfeit ten pounds.

It is further Ordered, That the Commissioners of each County before they open their Votes, and so all that are admitted to receive in sort, and count the Votes on the day of Election, shall be under Oath as the last year.

[Page 79] THis Court being sensible, that Persons who belong to other Colonies or Plantations doe by their bringing into this Colony, or selling to the Inhabitants thereof their Neat Cattle, Sheep Horses and Swine, thereby filling up our Market, and incapa­citating our own Inhabitants to sell what they breed and raise and pay Duties for, whereby much of our money is exported contrary to our Law, and no allowance is made to this Colony for such Cattel, Horses, Sheep, &c. for prevention whereof for the future,

It is Ordered by this Court and the Authority thereof, that henceforth for all that cattel, Horses, Sheep and Swine, which shal be brought into this Colony by any Inhabitant of the other Colonies, or by any [...] Colony going forth and buying any or all of the said kinds above mentioned, the said Persons shall pay by way of Rate in money to the Treasurer of this Colony for the time being, Cattle Rated. or his Order, these following Rates, viz. for all sorts of Neat Cattel, Two Shillings and six pence Per Head; for Swine of all sorts, One Shilling Per Head; for all Sheep or Lambs, Six pence Per Head, and for all Horse kind, two Shillings six pence Per Head. And for the true and well effecting thereof, It is Ordered by the Authority aforesaid. That all sorts of Persons whether Vendor or Buyer of any or all the kind, above expressed, shall, & are hereby obliged to make entry of all or any of the said kinds at the first Town of this Colony through which they shall or may pass, on the penaltyes hereafter expressed, viz. for all sorts of Neat Cattel not so entered, forty Shillings Per Head; Horses twenty Shillings Per Head; Sheep and Lambs five Shillings Per Head; Swine ten Shillings Per Head in money as abovesaid And it is further Ordered, That the Clerk of the Writts of every Town, or such whom the Treasurer of this Jurisdiction for the time being shall appoint in every Town, shall be the persons, and they only, for making of such Entryes, and for receiving said Rates, all which Entryes so made by any of the Persons so deputed, shall contain in them the number of each kind, a true Copy whereof they that give out to Vendor or Buyer under their hands, of any or all of the said kind, which alone shall be their security in passing through any of the other Towns of this Colony, without being liable [...] any or all the said kinds by any person or persons whatsoever. And all persons authori [...]d and im­powered, whether Clerk of the writts, or any other [...] the Treasurer of this Colony for the time being shall depute, shall make a true and just Entry of all such kind in a Book, and [...]nd obliged upon his or their Oathes to make a true Return to the Treasurer of this Colony twice in the year; and all Fees for their Entry shall be three pence for an Entry, and three pence for a Copy, and paid by the Party, and twelve pence in the pound out of the money received; and that every Informer upon any defect therein, prosecuting to effect, shall have one third to himself, the rest to be to the Country. And this law to be in force on the twen­tieth of November next.

FOr explanation of the Law, Tit. Cask, Cooper, Gauger, Packer, The Law for Cask is to be understood of all Cask dry as well as liquid: Explanation of the Law Tit. Cask, Cooper, Gager &c. and London Assize is to be understood, Butts, one hundred twenty six Gallons; Puncheons, eighty four Gallons; Hogsheads, sixty three Gallons; Terses, forty two Gallons; Bar­rels, thirty one and an half Gallons &c. And the inspection thereof shall be, and is hereby added unto the Gaugers Office of each Town, as he is and shall be from time to time under his Oath for the true performance of the same according to all the Particulars specified in the said Law.

IT is Ordered. Direction for Clerks of the Writts. That when any Clerk of the writts shall grant Attachment in a civil Action to any Plaintiff lying in Goal upon Execution for Debt, he shall require sufficient Security to answer the Defendants Costs, as in case of Strangers.