Maryland 1798.

Virginia, 1658.

pective lot shall be numbered, marked and bounded, in suek manner as shall be directed by the said commissioners; and the land reserved as aforesaid, and the said respective lots, shall be located, distinguished and numbered, upon the said plot, and distinct certificates of their respective bounds and quantities shall be likewise annexed and subscribed by the said surveyor; and if the said commissioners, or a majority of them, shall deem it necessary, they shall direct the surveyor to lay off, mark and bound, a road not exceeding thirty feet wide through the said land, in such direction as they shall order and direct, and the same to note upon the plot, and when so laid off shall be deemed and taken as a public road.

"SEC. 10. And be it enacted, That it shall not be lawful for the said Indians to sell, grant, lease, or otherwise dispose of, the lands to be reserved to them by virtue of this act or any part thereof, for any estate, or in any manner whatsoever; and if any person or persons, after the completion of the contract and agreement aforesaid, shall presume to purchase, lease, or in any manner take, the said lands, or any part thereof, of the said Indians, or any of them, contrary to this act, such person or persons shall forfeit and pay the sum of two hundred dollars, to be recovered by presentment and indictment in the county court of Dorchester, and his, her or their estate therein shall be void and of no effect, and the party or parties shall be trespassers, and for such tresspass, and for every other tresspass in any manner committed upon the said reserved lands, the party or parties shall be liable to be sued in the name of this state, and, on conviction, double damages shall be recov ered, and the costs of suit."

VIRGINIA.-1658.

Indians to be first served with lands.

Be it enacted by this present Grand Assembly, That there be no grants of land to any Englishman whatsoever, (de futuro) until the Indians be first served with the proportion of fiftie acres of land for each bowman; and the proportion of each particular towne to lie together, and to be surveyed, as well woodland as cleared ground; and to be layd out before pattented, with libertie of all waste and unfenced land, for hunting for the Indians.

And be it further enacted, Thet, where the land of any Indian or Indians be found to be included in any attent allredie granted for said land at Rappahannock, or the parts adjacent, such pattentee shall either purchase the said land of the Indians, or relinquish the same, and be therefore allowed

satisfaction by the English inhabitants of the said places, the said satisfaction to be proportioned equally between them.

Confirmation of Indians' land.

WHEREAS many complaints have bin brought to this Assem- Virginia blie, touchinge wrong done to the Indians, in takeing away 1658. their land, and forceing them into such narrow streights and places, that they cannot subsist, either by planting or hunting; and for that it may be feared, they may be justly driven to despaire, and to attempt some desperate course for themselves; which inconveniences, though they have bin endeavoured to be remedied by former acts of Assemblie made to the same purpose, yet, notwithstanding manie English doe still intrench upon the said Indians' land; which this Assemblie conceiving to be contrary to justice, and the true intent of the English plantation in this country, whereby the Indians might, by all just and faire waies, be reduced to civillity, and the true worship of God, have therefore thought fitt to ordaine and enact, and bee it hereby ordained and enacted, That all the Indians of this collonie shall and may hold and keep those seates of land which they now have; and that no person or persons whatsoever, be suffered to intrench or plant upon such places as the said Indians claime or desire, untill full leave from the Governour and Councill, or Commissioners for the place; yet this act not to be extended to prejudice those English which are now seated with the Indians' former consent, anless, uppon further examination, before the Grand Assemblie, cause shall be found for so doeing. And the said Commissioner shall be accomptable before the Governour and Couneill, and the Grand Assemblie, if any wrong or injurie be done to the Indians, contrary to the intent of this act..

And be it further enacted, That the Indians, as either now or hereafter, shall want seates to live on, or shall desire to remove to any places void or uptaken upp, they shall be assisted therein, and order granted them, for confirmation thereof; and no Indians to sell their lands but at Quarter Courtes: And that those English which are lately gone to seat near the Pamunkies, and the Chicominyes, on the north side of Pa munkie river, shall be recalled, and such English to choose their seates elsewhere; and that the Indians, as by a former act was granted them, shall have free liberty of hunting in the woods without the English fenced plantations; these places excepted, between Yorke river and James river, and between Black water and the Manakin towne, and James river; and no pattent shall be adjudged valid, which hath lately passed, or

1

Virginia 1758.

1660.

1665.

shall pass, contrary to the sense of this act, nor none to be of force, which shall intrench uppon the Indians' lands, to their discontent, without express order for the same.

1660.

WHEREAS the Indians of Accomack have complained that they are very much straightened for want of land, and that the English seate so near them, that they receive very much damage in their corne. It is ordered that the Right Honourable the Governour give commission to two or three gentlemen, with a surveyor living on this side of the bay, (that have no relation to Accomack) to go over thither, and lay out such a proportion of land for the said Indians, as shall be sufficient for their maintenance with hunting and fishing excluded; and that the land soe laid out, to be so secured to the Indians that they may have no power to alienate it, or any part of it, hereafter, to the English.

1665.

An act concerning Indians.

WHEREAS, at a Grand Assemblie, held at James City, September 10th, 1663, it was provided that where any murther was committed by the Indians upon the English, the nexte turne of the Indians was, to use their utmost endeavours for discovering the actors and doers thereof, and in regard the said act was only lymited upon the northern Indians: This Grand Assembly have thought fit to enact, and it being enacted, That the said law be a generall law against all Indians whatsoever, and where any murthers be committed upon the English, the next turne is to use all their care and diligence in finding the doers and actors of the said murthers

And be it further enacted, That if any Englishmen is murthered, the nexte turne shall be answerable for it with their lives or liberties to the use of the publique, and that the Right Honourable the Governour, be humbly requested forthwith to empower such persons as His Honour shall think fitt, in each county on such occasions for putting the said law into immediate execution, and that it be made known to all Indians whatsoever by these persons soe commitimated within two months after the said law is in force.

And be it further enacted by this Grand Assembly, That the said Indians shall not have power within themselves to elect or constitute their owne werowance or Chiefe Commander, but the present Honourable Governour, and his successors from time to time shall constitute and authorize such persons in whose fidelity they may finde the greatest cause to repose

a confidence, to be the Commander of the respective townes, Virginin and in case the Indians shall refuse their obedience to, or mur- 1665. ther such persons, then that nation of Indians soe refusing or offending to be accompted enemies and rebels and to be proceeded against accordingly.

And whereas the careless manner of the English, in going unarmed into churches, courts, and other publique meetings, may probably in time invite the Indians to make some desperate attempt upon them,

It is further enacted, That the Honourable the Governour, be requested to issue his commands to the officers of the malitieo to take care to prevent the same.

And it is further enacted, That any person or persons that shall harbour, entertaine, or employ any Indian, shall be fined five thousand pounds of tobacco, or suffer one year's imprisonment without baile or maineprise, unless such as shall give sufficient security to the county courts, and upon such security, obteyne a certificate from the said court, and upon that certificate a lysence from the Governour.

And whereas by the former articles of agreement, it was provided, that no Indians which are seated on the South side of James river, should come over the Black water or the Southerne branches thereof,

It is hereby enacted, That the said bounds, from the head of Black water to the Apamatack Indian towne, and thence eross to the Monikon towne, be the bounds of the Indians on the South side of James river,

1705.

An act for prevention of misunderstandings between the tributary Indians and other her Majesty's subjects of this colony and dominion, and for a free and open trade with all Indians whatever.

1. For prevention of all manner of animosities, jealousies, fears, misunderstandings, and differences, whatsoever, between the tributary Indians and other her Majesty's subjects of this eolony and dominion; as, also, the several revenges and mischiefswhich may thereupon be sought after, and ensue,

2. Be it enacted by the Governour, Council and Burgesses, of this present General Assembly, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That it shall not be lawful for an Indian king, or any other of the said tributary Indians whatsoever, to bargain and sell, or demise to any person or persons; other than to some of their own nation, or their posterity, in fee, for life, or for years, the lands laid out and appropriated for the use of the said Indians, or any part or pár

1705.

Virginia 1705.

1776.

cel thereof; or to bargain and sell, as aforesaid, any other land whatsoever, now actually possessed or justly claimed and pretended to by the said Indians, or any of them, by virtue of the articles of peace made and concluded with the said Indians the twenty-ninth day of May, one thousand six hundred and seventy-seven, or by virtue of any other right or title whatsoever; and that every bargian, sale, or demise, hereafter made, contrary to this act, as aforesaid, shall be, and is hereby declared to be, null and void, to all intents, constructions, and purposes, whatsover.

3. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any person or persons (other than the Indians and their posterity) shall, from and after the publication of this act, presume to purchase or obtain any deed or conveyance is fee, or any lease for years, from any of the tributary Indians, of any lands, tenements, or hereditaments, laid out or appropriated, or now actually possessed, or justly claimed and pretended to, by the said Indians; or shall occupy or tend any of the said lands, by permission of the said Indians, or otherwise, every person or persons so offending, and being thereof lawfully convicted in any court of record within this colony, shall forfeit and pay the sum of ten shillings current money for every acre of land so purchased, leased or occupied: and for every year during the continuance of the possession or occupation of any lands, by virtue of such purchase or lease, the person or persons so offending shall forfeit and pay the sum of ten shillings current money, for every acre of land so possessed or occupied, as aforesaid; one moiety of which said forfeitures shall be to our sovereign lady the queen, her heirs and successors, for and towards the better support of the government of this her majesty's colony and dominion, and the contingent charges thereof, and the other moiety to the informer; to be recovered by action of debt, bill, plaint, or information, wherein no essoin, protection, or wager of law shall be allowed.

1776.

Extract from the constitution or form of Government, agreed to, and resolved upon, by the Delegates and Representatives of the several counties and Corporations of Virginia.

ART. 21. The territories contained within the charters erec ting the colonies Maryland, Pennsylvania, North and South Carolina, are hereby ceded, released, and forever confirmed to the people of those colonies respectively, with all the rights of property, jurisdiction, and government; and all other