MARL BEDS.

Sec. 699 (3796). Marl beds, failure to enclose.

If any person shall open any marl bed without surrounding it with a lawful fence, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined not exceeding fifty dollars or imprisoned not exceeding thirty days: Provided, this shall not apply to any person whose marl bed is enclosed inside his own enclosure.

1887, cc. 235, 268.

MARRIAGE.

Sec. 700 (3368). Marriage with female under fourteen.

If any person shall marry a female under the age of fourteen years, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

Code, s. 1083; R. C., c. 34, s. 46; 1820, c. 1041, ss. 1, 2.

Sec. 701 (3369). Miscegenation.

All marriages between a white person and a negro, or between a white person and a person of negro descent to the third generation inclusive, are forever prohibited, and shall be void. And any person violating this section shall be guilty of an infamous crime, and punished by imprisonment in the county jail or state's prison not less than four months nor more than ten years, and may also be fined, in the discretion of the court.

Code, s. 1084; Const., Art. XIV, s. 8; R. C., c. 68, s. 7; 1834, c. 24; 1838-9,

c. 24.

Sec. 702 (3370). Miscegenation; register of deeds; minister; justice.

If any register of deeds shall knowingly issue any license for marriage between any person of color and a white person; or if any clergyman, minister of the gospel, or justice of the peace shall knowingly marry any such person of color to a white person, the person so offending shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

Code, s. 1085; R. C., c. 34, s. 80; 1830, c. 4, s. 2.

Sec. 703 (3372). Marriage ceremony; performing, without license.

If any minister or officer shall marry any couple without a license being first delivered to him, as required by law, or after the expiration of such license, or shall fail to return such license to the register of deeds within two months after any marriage cele

brated by virtue thereof, with the certificate appended thereto duly filled up and signed, he shall be guily of a misdemeanor.

Code, s. 1817; 1871-2, c. 193, s. 8; R. C., c. 68, s. 5.

A private citizen who personates an ordained minister and, with the consent of the parties, solemnizes a marriage between a man and woman is not guilty of any criminal offense known to the common or statute law. Brown, 119-825.

A marriage to be valid, must be acknowledged in the manner and before some person prescribed by sec. 1812 of The Code. Wilson, 121–650.

HOW MARRIAGE PROVEN.-Marriage may be proven by the admission of the defendant. Melton, 120-591; Wylde, 110-500.

The record of the book of marriages for the county is competent evidence of marriage. Melton, 120-591.

An eye-witness of the ceremony can testify as to the marriage. Wylde, 110-500.

Admissions of a marriage in a foreign country are sufficient evidence of such marriage, without proving it to have been celebrated according to the law of the country where it is stated to have taken place. Wylde, 110—500. Marriage may be proven by admissions or by circumstantial evidence. Wylde, 110-500.

Marriage and cohabitation are public acknowledgments of the relation of husband and wife, and do not come within the nature of confidential relations. Melton, 120-591.

Owing to the peculiar status of slave marriage our statute, The Code, sec. 1842, provides that consent, followed by cohabitation constitutes a legal marriage as to persons who were formerly slaves. Melton, 120-591.

HOW DIVORCE PROVEN-ADMISSIONS.-A divorce may be shown by the admissions of the defendant. Misenheimer, 123-758.

REGISTER NOT INDICTABLE.-A register of deeds who issues a license for the marriage of a female under the age of fifteen years is not indictable. The statute not only creates the offense but fixes the penalty that attaches to it and prescribes the method of enforcing it, and the rule of law is that wherever a statute does this, no other remedy exists than the one expressly given, and no other method of enforcement can be pursued than the one prescribed. Snuggs, 85-541.

MERIDIAN MONUMENTS.

Sec. 704 (3743). Meridian monument; injuring, or failing to discharge duty in reference thereto.

If any person shall in any manner injure, deface, remove or destroy any meridian monument or tablets, or any part thereof, or shall fail, neglect or refuse to do and perform any act, matter or thing by law required of him to be done in connection with such monuments or tablets, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall pay a fine or be imprisoned, or both, at the discretion of the court.

1899, c. 665, s. 3; 1893, c. 282, s. 4.

MILITARY COMPANIES-NATIONAL GUARD.

Sec. 705 (3536). Injuring military property.

If any person shall wantonly or willfully injure or destroy any arms, equipment or other military property of this state, and refuse to make good such injury or loss, or shall sell, dispose of, secrete or remove the same with intent to sell or dispose thereof, he shall be fined not more than one hundred dollars, or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.

Code, s. 3274; 1876-7, c. 272, s. 19.

Sec. 706 (3537). Member of national guard failing to return property of state.

If any member of the North Carolina national guard shall willfully fail to return any property of the state or the United States to the armory or other place of deposit, when notified by competent authority so to do, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and fined not exceeding fifty dollars, or imprisoned not exceeding thirty days.

Sec. 707 (3538). Organizing company without authority.

If any person shall organize a military company, or drill or parade under arms as a military body, except under the militia laws and regulations of the state, or shall exercise or attempt to exercise the power or authority of a military officer in this state, without holding a commission from the governor, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

1893, c. 374, s. 38.

Sec. 708 (3539). Placing name on muster roll wrongfully.

If any officer of the militia of the state shall knowingly or willfully place, or cause to be placed, on any muster roll the name of any person not regularly or lawfully enlisted, or the name of any enlisted man who is dead or who has been discharged, transferred, or has lost membership for any cause whatsoever, or who has been convicted of any infamous crime, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

1893, c. 374, s. 33.

Sec. 709 (3540). Refusing to deliver public arms to officer on demand. Every commissioned officer of the militia, whenever and whereever he shall see or learn that any of the arms or accoutrements or other military property belonging to the state is in the possession of any person other than in whose hands they may be placed for

safe-keeping, under the provisions of the law, shall make immediate demand for the same personally or in writing; and should such person refuse to deliver them to the officer he shall be guilty in like manner, and punished in like manner as for selling or embezzling public arms.

Code, s. 3558; R. C., c. 89, s. 10; 1831, c. 45, s. 7.

Sec. 710 (3541). Selling accoutrements.

If any person shall sell, dispose of, pawn or pledge, destroy or injure, or willfully retain after demand made, any public property issued for the purpose of arming or equipping the militia of the state, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

Code, s. 3274; 1893, c. 374, s. 30.

Sec. 711 (3542). Selling public arms.

If any person to whom shall be confided public arms or accoutrements, shall sell, or in any manner embezzle the same, or any part thereof, or if any person shall purchase any of them, knowing them to be such, the person so offending shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Code, s. 3556; R. C., c. 89, s. 8; 1831, c. 45, s. 5.

MILLER TO KEEP GATES.

Sec. 712 (3383). Streams; failure of owner of dam to keep gates, etc. If any owner or keeper of a mill, whose dam is across any stream, shall fail to build a gate and slope therein, or thereafter to keep and maintain the same as required by commissioners to lay off rivers and creeks, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

Every water grist-mill, steam-mill, or wind-mill, that shall grind for toll, shall be a public mill.

Code, s. 1846; R. C., c. 71, s. 1; 1777, c. 122, s. 1.

Where a grantor of land reserves the right to back water upon it from his mill-dam, the mere cultivation of the soil by the grantee is not an act of possession adverse to the owner of the easement. Suttle, 115-784.

Where a grantor of land reserves an easement and subsequent conveyances do not mention such reservation, the easement is not affected by such omission. Suttle, 115-784.

The rights to an easement may be acquired or lost by an adverse user, but in either case the user must be of such a nature as to expose the claimant under it to an action at any time for twenty years. Suttle, 115-784.

Section 1 of chapter 173, Acts of 1895 which applies only to certain counties, makes it unlawful "to sell or purchase mill logs in quanties of 1,000 feet or more without their being inspected and measured by a sworn inspector," while section 6 provides that "no mill owner or his employee shall have or cause to have mill logs cut by the 1,000 feet without their being inspected and measured by a sworn inspector." The only penalty prescribed for a violation of the act is in section 8 which provides that "any violation of this act either by seller or purchaser shall be fined not less than $20 nor more than $40 for each offense, at the discretion of the court": Held, (1) that the penalty prescribed by the act applies only to the offense forbidden by section 1, of which a justice has jurisdiction; (2) that as no penalty is prescribed for the violation of section 6 it is a misdemeanor unlimited as to its punishment, and, therefore, not within the jurisdiction of a justice of the peace. Addington, 121–538.

The term "mill logs" or "saw logs" does not include "standing timber" within the meaning of section 1, chapter 173, Laws of 1895. Addington, 121-538.

A proprietor of a mill who cuts a canal across a public road, whereby the passage along the highway is obstructed, and those who are in possession of the mill, claiming under him and using the canal, are liable to an indictment for such obstruction, the one for creating and the other for continuing the nuisance. But if a bridge is erected over a canal already cut neither is indictable for simply suffering the bridge to be out of repair. Yarrell, 34 (12 Ired.), 130.

The term "mill seat" means the mill house, dam and appurtenances used for operating the mill by water power and the ground upon which they stand. Sutton, 139-574.

Sec. 714 (2120). Grind according to turn; toll taken.

All millers of public mills shall grind according to turn, and shall well and sufficiently grind the grain brought to their mills, if the water will permit, and shall take no more toll for grinding than one-eighth part of the Indian corn and wheat, and one-fourth part for chopping grain of any kind; and every miller and keeper of a mill making default therein shall, for each offense, forfeit and pay five dollars to the party injured: Provided, that the owner may grind his own grain at any time: Provided further, that owners of public mills in Person county, when operated by gasoline, steam or any other motive power, may charge as toll oneseventh part of wheat and Indian corn.

Code, s. 1847; R. C., c. 71, s. 6; 1777, c. 122, s. 10; 1793, c. 402; 1905, c. 694.

Sec. 715 (2121). Measures kept, toll by weight.

All millers shall keep in their mills the following measures, namely, a half-bushel and peck of full measure, and also proper toll-dishes for each measure; but the toll allowed by law may be