1851.

CHAPTER XXX.

CURRENCY.

§ 1. It shall not be lawful to make, offer to pay, or pass, or offer to pass any note, bill, order, or other thing passing by delivery, as a circulating medium in lieu of or as the representative of money, unless it be the note or bill of some banking institution, legally incorporated, in the United States.

If a note, bill, order, or other such thing, be of the denomination of two dollars, or under that amount, it shall be presumed to have been made, paid, or passed in violation of this section, unless the contrary be proved.

§2. Every party to any such note, bill, order, or other thing, and every person passing the same, shall be liable to the holder for the amount thereof, with treble costs, and ten per cent. on the amount, by way of dam

ages.

§3. Every person who shall make, pass, circulate, or in any way aid in making, passing, or circulating any such note, bill, or order, or other thing, shall be imprisoned not more than six months, or fined not less than ten dollars and not more than five hundred dollars, or both so fined and imprisoned.

§ 4. One-fourth of the fines recovered by indictment under this act, shall be for the benefit of the attorney of the common wealth.

§ 5. The attorney for the commonwealth may, by petition in chancery, supported by affidavit, without surety, obtain an injunction or restraining order against any person or corporation, for an apprehended violation of this act, who may be violating or preparing to violate it, and the court shall enforce obedience to its order by fine and imprisonment.

He may obtain a like order against any person or corporation in this state, acting as the agent of any foreign company or corporation for the redemption of its bills or notes within this state, so as to facilitate their circulation here; and every person or corporation, so acting as such agent, shall be fined for each offense, from one hundred to one thousand dollars.

§ 6. Certificates of deposit, or of stock, issued in such form or manner as to pass by delivery, or to circulate from one to another like money or bank notes, shall be deemed to be within the prohibition of this act.

§ 7. No corporation, not expressly authorized thereto by law of this state, shall loan money, discount any evidence of debt, or deal in the buying and selling of exchange for profit.

Every person, acting as an officer, servant, or agent of a corporation, who shall aid such corporation in a violation

of this section, shall, for every such offense, be fined from
fifty to five hundred dollars.

All contracts made in violation of this section shall be
void, and all money paid by way of interest, discount, or
for difference of exchange, in violation thereof, may be re-
covered back by the party paying, or his creditor.

§ 8. Nothing in the last section shall preclude any corporation from receiving notes, bonds, or bills, in payment of pre-existing liabilities, or as collateral security for any debt, or preclude any corporation, chartered by this state, from purchasing exchange for remittance in the regular course of its proper business, or from selling it when so received.

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§1. Except the captain, all the officers and hands, and owners of hands employed on board a steamboat, or any ship, brig, schooner, or sloop, shall have a lien on the boat or vessel, her engine, tackle, furnishing, and apparel, for their wages, whether contracted for or earned in or out of the state, with a preference or priority therefor over any other debt due froin the owner of the boat or vessel, and over all other liens thereon.

Mechanics, tradesmen, and others shall also have a like. lien for work, supplies, materials, stores and provisions, done or furnished on or towards the building, repairing, fitting, furnishing, or equipping the boat or vessel in this state, with a preference or priority therefor over any other debt of the owner, except to the officers and hands, and over all other liens thereafter created. When so done or furnished out of the state, there shall be a like lien therefor, which shall have precedence next after that given when done or furnished in this state; but if done or furnished out of the state subsequent to that done or furnished in this state, the liens shall be joint and equal.

§2. A steamboat, or other vessel in the last section named, and owner, shall also be liable to indemnify the party injured, for any damage unlawfully done by her to any other boat, vessel, or river craft, or to any other property, through the willful or negligent conduct of her officers or crew, and for any other damage willfully or negligently committed by her officers or crew, whilst acting for her as such.

Who may have a lien on boats.

A boat liable for conveying a

state.

§3. A steamboat, or any other boat or vessel, shall also be liable to indemnify the owner of any slave, for any slave out of the damage he may sustain by reason of the conveying or attempting to convey the slave thereon out of the state, or from one part of the state to another, without the consent,

1851.

enforced by attachment.

in writing, of the owner of the slave, or unless the owner or person having the rightful control of the slave be also a passenger on the boat or vessel. This section shall also apply when the slave is taken on board of the boat or vessel at any place out of this state.

The captain and owner of the boat shall also be personally liable to the owner for such slave.

The captain, or other officer of a boat or vessel, who shall permit a slave to be so carried on board thereof, or any other person employed on the boat or vessel who shall assist in secreting a slave on board, for the purpose of being so carried, shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars, or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.

§ 4. The damage sustained by the owner shall be ascertained in any proceeding in chancery, under the second or third section, by a jury impanneled in the court where the proceeding is instituted.

§ 5. The lien given in the first section, and the liability Lien may be mentioned in the second and third sections, may be enforced by attachment out of chancery, in any county where the boat or vessel may be found at the time of the issuing or service of the process. The attachment of the boat, or of any of her furniture, tackle, or apparel, taken from on board of her by the officer serving the attachment, shall stand in lieu of all service of process, or other notice, to the owner of the boat.

given in case of 1.en.

§ 6. Before issuing an attachment under this act, bond, with good surety, shall be given to the "owners of the boat," by that designation, to indemnify the owners for all damages and costs incurred thereby, if it shall appear that the attachment has been wrongfully obtained; on which bond suit may be brought, and recovery had by any person injured by the attachment. But nothing herein shall vitiate a bond taken in any other mode.

§7. The boat, vessel, or other property attached under this act, may be replevied by bond with good surety, to the complainant, in a penalty to be named in the order for the attachment, conditioned to have the property attached forthcoming, if the court shall so order, or otherwise perform the decree of the court.

§ 8. All persons having liens under this act against any boat or vessel, may unite in a suit to enforce the same; and any person having a lien, who is not so united, may, by petition filed with leave of court, become a co-complainant in any suit pending to enforce a lien, without the issuing of any other or additional process on such petition.

§ 9. The liens given by this act shall not be enforced Notice to be against a purchaser, without actual notice thereof, unless suit be instituted within one year from the time the cause of action accrued, or unless notice thereof be indorsed on, or attached to, the enrollment of the boat or vessel.

§ 10. Any person finding any boat, vessel or water craft gone or going adrift, or lodged, after having been adrift in any river, may take up and secure the same. He shall, within six days thereafter, cause her and her contents to be viewed and valued by three housekeepers, not related to himself, who shall certify, over their signatures, a full description, with the value thereof; which certificate he shall, within six days of its date, deliver to some justice of the peace of the county, who shall, within fifteen days thereafter, after entering it in his stray book, deliver the same to the clerk of the county court, to be retained by him, and entered in the county stray book.

§ 11. The taker up of such boat, vessel, or water craft, shall, in addition to the cost of entering the certificate of appraisement, be entitled to the following compensation : For each steam boat, ship, brig, schooner, or sloop, twenty dollars; for each horse boat, six dollars; for each flat boat, if full, or more than half loaded, fifteen dollars; if half, or less than half loaded, ten dollars; and if unloaded, five dollars; for each barge or keel boat, loaded in whole or in part, ten dollars; if unloaded, five dollars; for each wood Hat, three dollars, and ferry flat, two dollars; for each skiff, canoe or pirogue, seventy-five cents; for each raft of logs, timber, or plank, one dollar for each platform thereof.

The taker up shall also be entitled to a reasonable compensation, by the day, to be ascertained by a justice of the county, for taking care of the same.

§ 12. If the appraised value of the thing so taken up does not exceed two dollars, and the owner does not appear within two months, from the time of taking up, and pay, or tender to the taker up what he is entitled to, the right to the thing shall vest in the taker up. If the value exceed two dollars, and the owner does not appear within the two months, and pay, or tender to the taker up what he is entitled to, then the thing shall be delivered to some constable of the county, who, after ten days' notice, by advertisements posted at the court house door and two other public places in the county, shall sell the same to the highest bidder. The constable shall, out of the proceeds of sale, after deducting his own commission, first pay the claim of the taker up, and the residue pay over, within ten days, to the clerk of the county court. If the owner do, within one year from the sale, appear and establish his claim, to the satisfaction of the clerk, the proceeds of sale shall be paid over to him, otherwise they shall be paid to the taker up.

§ 13. Whoever, without consent of the owner, shall take away any boat or vessel, shall pay the owner seven dollars, in addition to the amount of damage the boat or vessel may thereby sustain, and the costs of the owner in bringing her back.

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Boats adrift.

Compensation for taking up such.

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Navigation.

§ 14. The first and second sections of the act of 20th December, 1794, entitled, "an act concerning boatmen," are repealed.

15. To avoid collision between steam boats in a river, the following rules shall be observed:

1. In ordinary stages of water, and where there is room enough, the descending boat shall generally keep the middle of the channel, and leave room for the ascending boat to pass on either side.

2. The ascending boat shall, in all stages of water, generally keep to the bar or shore nearest to her at the time of meeting another boat, until they shall have cleared each other, and shall not attempt to cross the channel in front of the descending boat, so as to endanger her by collision.

3. If there be apparent danger of collision, the descending boat shall keep her position, wherever that may be at the time of meeting, stop her engine, and permit the ascending boat to do whatever may be necessary to avoid the collision.

4. If the danger of collision be imminent, both boats shall back their engines.

5. If either boat be out of its proper position, that shall not justify the other in running against her, if by reasonable care and vigilance on the part of such other boat, the collision can be avoided.

6. When two boats meet in the night, in fog, or in narrow channels, the descending boat shall keep the middle of the channel, and stop her engine until the following signals have been given and answered, and the boats have cleared each other:

First. The ascending boat shall, as soon as the other boat is in sight and hearing, toll her bell once if she wishes to pass on the side of the channel to her right, or twice if she wishes to pass on the left side. This signal the descending boat shall answer, by one stroke of the bell. If not so answered, the bell of the ascending boat shall be tolled repeatedly, at short intervals, until answered.

Second. If the ascending boat make no such signal in proper time, the descending boat may make it.

Third. Should a signal be given, which cannot be safely complied with, a negative answer shall be immediately given, by ringing the bell five or six times, in quick succession.

Fourth. When such negative answer is given, the descending boat shall stop her engine, and the ascending boat reduce her speed, so as merely to keep her headway, until the boats have cleared each other.

Fifth. When a channel is too narrow to pass with safety, the boat first in it shall have the preference,