Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1802).djvu/200

186 were veſted with the abſolote dominion of the entailed ſubject.

Bills of exchange, being proteſted, carry, 10 per cent. intereſt from their date.

No perſon is allowed, in any other caſe, to take more than five per cent. per annum ſimple intereſt for the loan of monies.

Gaming debts are made void, and monies actually paid to diſcharge ſuch debts (if they exceed 40 ſhillings) may be recovered by the payer within three months, or by any other perſon afterwards.

Tobacco, flour, beef, pork, tar, pitch, and terpentine, muſt be inſpected by perſons publickly appointed, before they can be exported.

The erecting iron-works and mills is encouraged by many privileges; with neceſſary cautions however to prevent their dams from obſtructing the navigation of the water-courſes. The general aſſembly have on ſeveral occaſions ſhewn a great deſire to encourage the opening the great falls of James and Potowmac rivers. As yet, however, neither of theſe have been effected.

The laws have alſo deſcended to the preſervation and improvement of the races of uſeful animals, ſuch as horſes, cattle, deer; to the extirpation of thoſe which are noxious, as wolves, ſquirrels, crows, blackbirds; and to the guarding our citizens againſt infectious diſorders, by obliging ſuſpected veſſels coming into the ſtate, to perform quarantine, and by regulating the conduct of perſons having ſuch diſorders within the ſtate.

The mode of acquiring lands, in the earlieſt times of our ſettlement, was by petition to the general aſſembly. If the lands prayed for were already cleared of the Indian title, and the aſſembly