THE REVISED STATUTES OF THE 200 STATE OF MICHIGAN, PASSED AND APPROVED MAY 18, 1846. Printed and published in pursuance of an Act of the Legislature, approved May 18, 1846, under SANFORD M. GREEN. ADVERTISEMENT. During the session of the legislature which commenced on the first Monday of January, in the year 1844, the attention of that body was directed to the condition of the general laws of the state, and an inquiry was instituted into the propriety of their revision and consolidation The former revision had been amended and modified by successive legislatures, until scarcely a single chapter remained as originally passed, and the numerous general statutes enacted in addition to, or amendatory of the revised statutes, had undergone so many mutations as to produce that state of confu sion and uncertainty in the laws, which is always a most fruitful source of vexation and ruinous litigation. These considerations, with other cogent reasons, which were set forth in the report of the committee to whom the subject was referred, induced the legislature to provide for a revision and consolidation of the general laws of the state. In pursuance of the act to provide for consolidating and revising the general laws of the state of Michigan, approved March 2. 1844, and the act amendatory thereof, approved March 12, 1844, the undersigned was, on the 13th of that month, appointed by nor, a commissioner, to prepare the revision therein provided for. The work was completed and reported to the legislature, printed in bill form, with marginal notes and references, at its anuual session in 1846, during which it was acted upon and passed as one entire act, with such alterations as the legislature thought proper to make, and was approved by the governor on the 18th day of May In pursuance of the act to provide for the publication of the revised statutes (published on page 759 of this volume) the undersigned was, on the 19th of May last, appointed by the governor, a commissioner, to superintend the publication of the revised statutes, together with the other matter specified in said act, and to prepare marginal notes to the sections, and an exact and copious index to the whole. This volume is now published in pursuance of that commission, and is the result of the enactments and labors above mentioned. The rapidity with which this work has progressed from its first inception to its final publication, occupying in all only about two years and nine months, when considered in connexion with the indispensable labor of examining and fully and deliberately investigating the reasons of every provision, whether new or old, proposed to be incorporated into it, with reference not only to its probable, but also to its possible effect, will afford an apology for any defects or imperfections which may be found to exist in it. The several parts of the report of the revisor were referred to committees as they were reported; but a considerable portion of it was taken up and acted upon, before those committees were prepared to report it back During the progress of the revision through the forms of legislation, from its first reading to its final passage, the legislature was also occcupied with the other bu siness of the session, including several matters of great importance, and absorbing interest. This state of things, so unfavorable to the perfection of the details of a code of laws intended to be per manent, has resulted in producing several incongruities and discrepances, which it will require fu. ture legislation to harmonize and correct. The following note indicates the principal alterations which were made by the legislature to the reviser's report, and is inserted as a matter of justice between the reviser and the legislature, that the labors of the one may not be credited or charged to the other; and also, as being calculated to afford some aid in determining the objects and intentions of the legislature, in cases where embarrassing doubts might otherwise arise as to the true meaning and intent of the makers of the law. Where words have been found in the enrolled copy which were evidently superfluous, they have been printed in italics. Where one word has evidently been mistaken for another, the mistaken word has been retained, and the word supposed to have been intended has been inserted imme diately after it, in italics, and in parenthesis; and when a word has been found necessary to sustain the sense of the context, it has been supplied, and enclosed within brackets. References have been made in the margin to the session laws, upon the same subjects treated of in the revised statutes, under the proper head; but the former revised statutes, having been made the principal basis of the new revision, are not so referred to. Numerous adjudicated cases have been referred to, arising under similar provisions of statutes in other states, and some few cases decided in the supreme court of this state, although at the time this volume was printed, no reports of decisions in that court had yet been published. DECEMBER, 1846. SANFORD M. GREEN. NOTE. CHAPTER 1. Sec. 10, as reported, provided for the payment of the expense of the notice of reception, and of the transportation of the laws, by the county. SEC. 11 contained a provision, requiring the secretary of state to publish a notice for three weeks in the state paper, when the laws were ready for distribution, which was struck out. CHAP. 2 contained three sections, providing for giving notice of applications to be made to the legislature for acts of incorporation, &c., which were stricken out CHAP. 3. SEC. 2, was so altered as to provide for the election of county judges, instead of associate judges. CHAP. 5 was amended so as to reduce the board of inspectors from four to three, and so as to require but one ballot box to be kept, and one ballot to be voted at the general election. That chapter also contained the substance of the law of 1841 (p. 185) for preserving the purity of elec. tions, requiring the inspectors to interrogate persons challenged, on oath, in regard to their quali fications, which was struck out. CHAP. 7, SEC. 10, as reported, which required the canvassers to publish their determination in a newspaper, was struck out. CHAP. 12. SEC. 1. provided for a salary of two thousand dollars a year to the governor, which was reduced to fifteen hundred. SEC. 3, provided for the appointment of an assistant librarian during the sessions of the legisla ture, and that the pay of the librarian and private secretary to the governor should not exceed three dollars a day SEC. 6, provided a salary of one thousand dollars a year for the secretary of state, which was reduced to eight hundred. SEC. 25, provided a salary of $1500 a year for the auditor general, which was reduced to $1000. SEC 27, provided for the appointment of three regular clerks, and that the extra clerks should receive not exceeding five hundred dollars a year. Eight hundred dollars a year was the salary provided by that chapter for the attorney general. CHAP. 14 The proviso in section 24, was added by the legislature. Sec. 49, was altered so as to provide for the election of a county judge, and second judge, instead of associate judges, and other corresponding alterations were made in the same chapter. In section 70, line one, after the word appoint, the words one or more were stricken out, and four inserted. CHAP 16 SEC. 8 provided for the election of two assessors, without any condition, and three commissioners of highways. Sec 12, was added by the legislature. Sec. 80, as reported, required the attendance of constables at elections and township meetings, but was struck out. Sec. 85 was amended by adding the provision requiring accounts of township officers to be verified by affidavit in all cases, and so as to reduce their compensation from one dollar and twenty five cents a day to one dollar. CHAP. 17 was amended so as to substitute the township boards in the place of the supervisors and directors of the poor, to make a settlement on the division of a township. CHAP. 18. In sec 22, shall was stricken out after township in the first line, and may inserted. Sections 23 and 24, as reported, were struck out. CHAP. 20. Sec. 129, was added by the legislature. CHAP. 21, was so altered as to increase the tax on banks from one, to one and one half per cent.. and to reduce the tax on rail road, canal, and turnpike stock, from one to three-fourths of one per cent., and also, to reduce the tax on brokers and exchange dealers, from two and a half, to one and a half per cent This chapter also contained provisions for taxing distillers of ardent spirits, one hundred and fifty dollars a year, which were struck out. CHAP. 22 Five entire sections were struck out of this chapter, and other essential alterations made therein. CHAP. 24. Sec. 16, as reported, required the supervisor to lay the lists returned to him by the overseers, before the board of supervisors, and that the board should cause the arrearages of labor, at the rate of eighty cents a day, to be levied on the lands returned. Sec. 16, as it now stands was substituted therefor. CHAP. 25, as reported, contained provisions for laying out private roads, which were struck out; and the system of laying out public roads, and assessing the damages, as reported in that chapter, was very much changed by the legislature. This chapter as reported, also provided for an appeal from the determination of the commissioners of highways, to the judge of probate and associate judges of the county, which provisions were so altered as to authorize an appeal to the township board of the township. CHAP 26 Sec 12, as reported, was stricken out, and sec. 12, as it now stands substituted, and several other important alterations'were made in the same chapter. CHAP. 29, as reported, provided for licensing ferries by the associate judges and judge of probate of each county, and the board of supervisors was substituted for the judges CHAP. 30, as reported, was nearly the same as the corresponding chapter of the former revised statutes, and was revised by the legislature. CHAP 31. Sec. 14, as reported imposed a forfeiture of twenty dollars upon every person refusing or neglecting to have his weights and measures tried and sealed as required by that chapter, but this section was struck out Sec. 18 was amended by adding clover seed, dried apples and dried peaches to the other articles enumerated therein. CHAP. 34. Sec. 3, as reported, authorized parties to stipulate for the payment of ten per cent. interest, only in cases of money loaned, but the restriction was struck out. CHAP 36, as reported contained provisions prohibiting the practice of physic or surgery by per sons not authorized as therein required, and rendering them incapable of collecting charges incur. red by such practice, which provisions were struck out. Sec. 37, of the same chapter was added y the legislature. CHAP 40. Sec 2, which contained provisions requiring magistrates, &c. to endeavor to prevent unlawful racing, was struck out. CHAP. 41. Sec's. 29, 30, 31 and 32, were added by the legislature. Sec's 31 and 32, which provide the mode of collecting penalties for violations of that chapter, and for the application of the proceeds thereof, appear to be in conflict with the provisions of chapter 128, and it may perhaps be difficult to perceive why any such special provisions were deemed to be necessary, as applicable to penalties incurred under the provisions of this chapter. CHAP. 42. Sec. 11, as reported, which contained provisions for compelling the mother of a bastard child to appear and testify, in cases where such child is chargeable, or likely to become chargeable to the county for support, was struck out by the legislature. CHAP. 55. Sec. 25, was substituted by the legislature for the last section of that chapter, as reported by the reviser. CHAP 57, as reported, provided for continuing the support of the university heretofore established, and the succession of the regents, &c., which was entirely stricken out, and the chapter contain. ed in the former revision, entitled "of the university and its branches," providing for the original organization of a university, the appointment of a board of regents, and their classification at their first meeting, the erection of university buildings, and the procuring of a plan therefor, &c., was adopted entire in the place thereof. CHAP 58. In sec. 15, all after the word meeting, in line three was added by the legislature. Secs. 22, 23, 59, 77, 78, 86, 87, 95 and 107, of the same chapter, were also materially altered, and sec's 121 and 141, as reported, were struck out, and the last section of that chapter was added, and the word fire wherever it occurred in the chapter in reference to the ages of scholars, was struck out, and four inserted in its place. CHAP 60. The proviso contained in section 22 was added by the legislature. This chapter, as reported, was also amended so as to reduce the price of the primary school and salt spring lands from five to four dollars per acre, and the price of state building lands from twelve to eight dollars per acre, and so as to change the time for the payment of interest on the purchase of university and primary school lands, from the first day of March, to the first day of January, in each year. Sec. 52, was added, and sec. 59, as reported, was struck out. Sec's. 68, 69 and 71, were also materially amended. CHAP. 61, as reported, contained 50 sections, and was a consolidation and revision of the laws in force regulating the internal improvements of the state. CHAP. 63. The fourth clause of section eleven was amended, and the fifth clause added by the leg. islature. CHAP. 65. Sec. 7, as reported, provided that "every grant of lands shall be absolutely void, if, at the time of the delivery thereof, such lands shall be in the actual possession of a person claiming the same under a title adverse to that of the grantor." This sec., together with sec. 8, was struck out, and sec. 7, as it now stands, inserted by the legislature. CHAP 66. Sec. 21 was amended by inserting the words of which her husband died seized, after the word state in line 4. In sec. 23, the words six months in the last line were struck out, and one year inserted; and in sec 30, line 2, between the words lands and the, the words and shall have issue born alive which might inherit the same, were struck out. CHAP. 67, as reported, was amended by giving the widow a life estate in the real property of the husband, in default of issue. CHAP 68. Sec. 1, as reported, was amended by adding thereto all after the word debts, in line 7, sec. 7 was amended by substituting two in the place of three, in line 3. CHAP. 79. Sec 9, was amended by adding the provision authorizing the defendant in an execu. tion to direct which parcel of land should be first sold. Sec. 13 was amended by striking out a provision fixing the rate of interest upon redemption, at ten per cent a year. CHAP. 81, as reported, contained provisions requiring chattel mortgages to be filed in the office of the register of deeds of the county, which were so modified as to require them to be filed in the township clerk's office. CHAP 83. Sec. I was amended by substituting eighteen in line 2, in the place of seventeen, and sixteen in line 3, in the place of fourteen. CHAP. 84, as reported, provided for a proceeding for divorce, only by a bill in the court of chan cery, and was amended so as to authorize a suit to be instituted by petition, as well as by bill, and so as to authorize suits for divorce to be prosecuted, either in the circuit courts or in the court of chancery. Clause 4, of sec. 6 was also amended by substituting two in the place of five, before the word years. Clause 5, of the same sec. was also amended by inserting the words or wife after the word husband Sec. 5 was amended by striking out three before years, in line 4, and inserting two. In the last line of sec. 34, husband was struck out after as, and man inserted. CHAP 85. Sec's. 25, 26 and 27 were added by the legislature. CHAP. 88, as reported, provided for the organization of a supreme court, to consist of five judges with a general original jurisdiction in all cases,except where exclusive jurisdiction was given to other courts. The amendments to this chapter change entirely the organization and character of the court, and are too numerous to be specified. CHAP. 89, as reported, provided for the organization of a circuit court for each county, to be holden by a justice of the supreme court, for the trial of all issues to be joined in the supreme court, or in any other court, and brought into the supreme court, or such circuit court, to be tried, with original jurisdiction in all criminal cases triable within the county. This chapter was changed in almost all its important features. CHAP. 90. as reported, provided for the continuance of the court of chancery as heretofore or ganized, with some modifications intended to render the system more simple and perfect. The legislature amended this chapter, by abolishing the court of chancery, and conferring its jurisdiction upon the several circuit courts, to be exercised within the respective counties, and by numerous modifications in the details of the system. CHAP. 92, as reported, provided for a continuance of the district courts for the counties of Wayne, Oakland, Washtenaw and Jackson; and was struck out by the legislature; and the chapter entitled "Of the County Courts," incorporated in its place. CHAP- 93. Sec. 2, as reported, provided that justices should not have cognizance of actions for disturbance of a right of way or other easement, nor of actions of replevin, or for assault and battery, or false imprisonment, actions against executors or administrators as such, nor against corpo. rations; all which provisions were struck out. All after the word attachment in line 3 of sec. 10, and also sections 11 and 12, were added by the legislature. Sec. 29 was amended by adding all af |