Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1802).djvu/203

Rh by three gentlemen, and reported; but probably will not be taken up till a reſtoration of peace ſhall leave to the legiſlature leiſure to go through ſuch a work.

The plan of the reviſal was this. The common law of England, by which is meant, that part of the Engliſh law which was anterior to the date of the oldeſt ſtatutes extant, is made the baſis of the work. It was thought dangerous to attempt to reduce it to a text: it was therefore left to be collected from the uſual monuments of it. Neceſſary alterations in that, and ſo much of the whole body of the Britiſh ſtatutes, and of acts of aſſembly, as were thought proper to be retained, were digeſted into 126 new acts, in which ſimplicity of ſtyle was aimed at, as far as was ſafe. The following are the moſt remarkable alterations propoſed:

To change the rules of deſcent, ſo as that the lands of any perſon dying inteſtate ſhall be diviſible equally among all his children, or other repreſentatives, in equal degree.

To make ſlaves diſtributable among the next of kin, as other moveables.

To have all public expenſes, whether of the general treaſury, or of a pariſh or county, (as for the maintenance of the poor, building bridges, court-houſes, &c.) ſupplied by aſſeſſments on the citizens, in proportion to their property.

To hire undertakers for keeping the public roads in repair, and indemnify individuals through whoſe lands new roads ſhall be opened.

To define with preciſion the rules whereby aliens ſhould become citizens, and citizens make themſelves aliens.