MILITIA LAWS OF NEW YORK AS COLONY & STATE 1775-1783

"An Act for the better regulating the Militia of the Colony of New York." [Passed, April 1, 1775.] Whereas a due and proper regulation of the Militia of this Colony tends not only to the Security and Defence thereof, but likewise to the Honor and Service of his Majesty, Be it therefore Enacted by his Honor the Lieutenant Governor, the Council and the General Assembly, And it is hereby enacted by the Authority of the same, That from and after the First Day of May next every Person from Sixteen to Fifty Years of Age, residing within this Colony not already inlisted shall within one Month after he Arrives at the Age of Sixteen, and every Sojourner above the same Age having resided within this Colony above three Months shall inlist himself with the Captain, or in his Absence with the next Commanding Officer either in the Troop of Horse or Independent Companies in the City or County, or in such Company of Foot where he dwells or resides under the Penalty of Five Shillings, and Three Shillings for every Month that such Person shall remain unlisted, and all Captains of Troops of Horse and Companies of Foot in the several Cities, Manors, Boroughs, Townships, Precincts or District within this Colony are hereby commanded to take due Care to Inlist all Inhabitants and Sojourners from Sixteen to Fifty Years of Age not already inlisted, which Age in Case of doubt is to be proved by the Oath of the Person whose Age is in question or the Oath of his Parent, or some other credible Witness to be taken by the Officer before whom the dispute shall happen to be, who shall administer the same in the words following I A. B. do Swear upon the Holy Evangelists of Almighty God, that C. D. Summoned before Captain E. F. In order to be Inlisted is Years old and no more, according to the best of my Knowledge so help me God, which Oath being duly Administred by the Captain or other Officer who hath Summoned such Person before him in order to be inlisted, and it appearing that he is under Sixteen he shall be for that Time dismissed, and if any dispute shall arise about Elder Persons and it appearing that he or they are above the Age of Fifty such Persons shall be exempted at all Times thereafter. . . . [page 100] Always provided, That all the Members of his Majestys Council, Members of the General Assembly and the Officers of the same, Justices of the Peace, High Sheriffs, Coroners and other Officers of his Majestys Government and all Persons that have held any Civil or Military Commission in this Colony and all other Officers of Courts, Ministers of the Gospel, Physicians, Surgeons, School-masters, all Firemen within this Colony, One Miller to a Grist Mill, and one Ferryman to every Public Ferry, All Supervisors, One Founder and six Men to every Furnace and six Men to every Forge, all Colliers and their necessary Servants employed in burning of Coal and all bought Servants during their Servitude shall be free from being listed in any Troop or Company within this Colony. And be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That no Commission Officer of the Militia of this Colony legally superseded, shall afterwards be obliged to do the Duty of a private Soldier unless he be Casheered for Cowardice or other Misdemeanor, nor shall it be In the Power of any Commission Officer to throw up or quit his Commission unless he is Superseded in his Rank until he has served in Commission Fifteen Years at the least, any Thing in this Act to the contrary thereof notwithstanding. Provided always, That if any Officer shall die or be removed by the Commander in Chief or shall be Casheered for Cowardice or other Misdemeanor in either of which Cases, if the Officer next in Rank shall refuse to be promoted to the Rank such Officer held he shall nevertheless be obliged to serve in the Rank he holds altho' a Junior [page 104] Officer or any other person should be promoted over him. Provided always, that no Senior Officer shall be obliged to continue to serve in any Regiment of Militia or Independant Company or Troop over whom a Junior Officer or any other person is promoted (unless in the Case before mentioned) and unless by his own Consent. Provided also And be it further Enacted by the same Authority, That in Case any Officer or Officers shall die, or be removed, That then the Governor or Commander in Chief for the Time being shall appoint another or others within the same County to serve in his or their Stead And be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That no Military Commission Officer as well of Foot Companies or Troops of Horse, whether Regimented or Independent, as likewise the Troopers in the City and County of New York and Albany shall be liable or subject to serve as Constable though chosen, any Law or Usage to the contrary notwithstanding. Provided nevertheless That a Commission obtained by any Person after he is elected a Constable, shall not entitle him to the exemption above mentioned. . . . [page 105] . . . if any Person be wounded or disabled upon any Invasion, Insurrection or Rebellion he shall be taken Care of, and provided for by the Public during the Time of such Disability. . . . [page 106] Provided always and be it Enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all Persons above the Age of Fifty, and not exceeding Sixty Years of Age, shall in Case of Alarm, Invasion or Insurrection be obliged to appear under Arms under the Captain, or the Commanding Officer of the District where they dwell or reside, any Thing herein contained to the Contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding. . . . [page 106] Be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That this Act shall be in Force from the first Day of May next until the first Day of May which will be in the year of our Lord one Thousand seven Hundred and Seventy eight. [page 107] (LAWS OF THE Colony Of New York, - Passed in the Years 1774 and I775. KEPT [&] PUBLISHED UNDER DIRECTION OF FREDERICK COOK, Secretary Of State, Pursuant To Chapter One Hundred And Seventy-one, Laws or Eighteen Hundred And Eighty-eight. Chapter 10, Laws of 1775, [Chapter LXII). ______ AN ACT for regulating the militia of the State of New-York Passed the 3d of April, 1778. Be it therefore enacted by the People of the State of New-York represented in Senate and Assembly, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same. That every able bodied male person Indians and slaves excepted residing within this State from sixteen years of age to fifty (except such persons as are herein after excepted) shall immediately after the passing of this act tender himself to be enrolled as of the militia to the captain or in his absence the next commanding officer of the beat wherein he shall reside who shall inrol him accordingly and in case of delay, or neglect to make such tender as aforesaid the said captain or commanding officer shall cause such person to be enrolled and to be duly warned thereof. In order that the militia may receive augmentation from the annual increase of the number of inhabitants of this State that every captain or other commanding officer of a company shall from time to time enter on the said roll every male person able bodied and free (except as herein before and after excepted) who shall from time to time arrive at the age of sixteen years or come to reside or sojourn within his beat and without delay notify such inrollment to each person so inrolled respectively, by some inferior officer of the company who on oath shall be a competent witness to prove such notice. That if any dispute should arise with respect to the age or ability to bear arms of any person it shall be determined by the captain or commanding officer of the company, with right of appeal to any person who may conceive himself aggrieved, to the colonel or commanding officer of the regiment whose determination in the case shall be final. That every person so inrolled and notified shall within twenty days thereafter respectively furnish and provide himself at his own expence with a good musket or firelock fit for service a sufficient bayonet with a good belt, a pouch or cartouch box containing not less than sixteen cartridges suited to the bore of the musket or firelock each cartridge containing a proper quantity of powder and ball or in lieu of such pouch or cartouch box and cartriges with a quantity of powder and ball respectively disposed of in a powder horn and shot bag and wadding equivalent to such cartriges, and two spare flints a blanket and a knapsack and shall appear, so armed accoutred and provided when called out to exercise or duty as herein after directed except that when called out to exercise only he may appear without blanket or knapsack. And if any such person shall appear to the captain or commanding officer to be too poor to arm accoutre and provide himself in manner aforesaid he shall be supplied for the purpose out of the monies to arise from the fines from time to time to accrue in the regiment to which he shall belong; and in case of deficiency thereof out of the public magazines of stores of this State by order of the person administring the government of this State for the time being. . . . [page 62] That every person in the militia whether officer or private, when called Pay and out into actual service either to act separately or in conjunction with ratlons the troops of the United States of America shall from the time of his receiving due notice thereof from his commanding officer until he be properly discharged from that Service, if and as long as he shall perform the same and until properly discharged or dismissed be allowed pay and rations, according to the continental establishment; and on every wilful neglect or refusal to march after such notice as aforesaid shall be dealt with as a deserter, or having marched out on such notice, and before his proper discharge or dismission shall commit any offence or shall before such discharge or dismission desert from the corps to which he shall belong, or from his post shall for every such offence be subject to the rules and articles established by the continental congress for the better government of the troops raised or to be raised and kept in pay by and at the expence of the United States of America which shall be put in execution against the offender by the militia orders and authority in like manner as the same are put in execution in the continental army, against offenders therein by proper orders and authority thereof, and that in all such cases the governor or commander in chief for the time being and all militia officers subordinate to him shall and may enjoy and exercise [page 67] all the powers by the said rules and articles of war given to the commander in chief of the army of the United States and the several officers subordinate to him in the said army. . . . [page 68] That every private shall be allowed to substitute on detachments an able bodied private in his stead who shall nevertheless take his own tour of duty in the order wherein it shall have been fixed as aforesaid; and that in case by sickness or unavoidable accident an officer or private shall be prevented from taking his tour of duty on any detachment, the next to him on the respective rolls of detachment without regard to classes with respect to privates shall fill his place and the person so prevented shall in return take the proper next tour of duty on detachment, of him so filling his place; and all classings as aforesaid shall go on in rotation in the several numerical orders abovementioned, as long and as often as the public service shall require the same. . . . [page 69] That all persons under the age of fifty five years, who have held civil or military commissions and are not or shall not be reappointed to their respective proper ranks of office and all other persons between the ages of fifty and fifty five years who have not associated and elected their officers, and shall associate themselves in manner herein after mentioned, shall be exempted from serving as part of the enrolled militia and within eight weeks after the passing of this act form themselves into voluntary associated regiments or companies according to their number in each respective county and recommend their own officers; and that all such associated regiments or companies whether already associated or hereafter to associate shall make returns thereof respectively to the governor or commander in chief for the time being1 [edit] without delay after the said term of eight weeks, who with the advice of the council of appointment shall issue commissions to them accordingly. In default of which returns they shall respectively do duty in the ranks with the militia of the beat within which they shall respectively reside until they shall respectively associate as aforesaid. That the substance of such associations shall be, that the associators will severally on all occasions obey the orders of their respective commanding officers and will in cases of invasion or incursions of the enemy or insurrections march to repel the enemy or suppress such insurrection, in like manner as the enrolled militia are compelled to do: So as that they shall not when called out in detachments be annexed to any other regiment or company or be under the immediate command of any other than their own officers. That the lieutenant-governor, members of the senate members of the assembly and their several clerks and all judicial officers, the secretary of this State, and two of his deputies, the treasurer, the auditor-general, and the attorney-general of this State, the commissioners for defeating conspiracies the clerks and registers of courts and the county clerks and sherifs and their respective deputies not exceeding one and the coroners not commissioned in the militia and all ministers of the Gospel and all physicians and surgeons except in their several and respective professions and callings and the actual occupant of every grist mill, and all ferrymen licensed by the governor or commander in chief for the time being shall notwithstanding their being respectively able bodied above sixteen and under sixty years of age and all such persons in the service or employ of the United States or of this State or engaged or employed in any manufacture or business so that it would be for the good of the public that they should be exempted, who shall procure special exemptions from the commander in chief of the militia for the time being under his hand shall respectively be exempted from training and doing duty in the militia. But shall nevertheless be armed accoutred and provided as above mentioned. That all those male persons between the ages of sixteen and fifty five years who in judgment of law are or shall be of the people called Quakers shall be exempted from all personal military service whatsoever to which they would respectively be subject by this law were they not respectively of the people called Quakers. And for such exemption shall yearly and every year severally pay the sum of ten pounds in lieu of all military service whatsoever required by this law except services on detachments and calling out the militia for actual service by virtue of this law in which cases each of them shall annually pay the sum of ten pounds [page 70] and for the purpose of levying the said annual sums the captain of every beat shall annually return to the supervisors of the district wherein he shall reside a list of such Quakers as aforesaid residing within his beat. . . . [page 71] (Laws of the State of New York Passed at the Sessions Of The Legislature, Held in the Years 1777. 1778, 1779, 1780, 1781, 1782, 1783 and 1784, inclusive. Albany: James B. Lyon, State Printer. 1894. Volume 1. Session 1, Chapter 33). ______ AN ACT further to amend an act entitled An act for regulating the militia of the State of New York, and other purposes therein mentioned. Passed the 9th of October, 1779. Whereas experience and the present exigences have shewn the said law to be defective in many instances which require a remedy. Be it therefore enacted by the People of the State of New York represented in Senate and Assembly and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, as follows, that is to say. . . . [page 157] Seventhly. Whereas by the above mentioned law it is provided that none of the militia of this State shall be compelled to do duty out of the same for a greater space of time than forty days; and on special emergencies such time may prove too short, the said commander in chief is hereby authorized and impowered to require any number of the militia not exceeding the third part of the militia of this State, for either of the purposes in the said law mentioned to do duty out of this State for any space of time not exceeding three months together, all of whom so to be required shall respectively be subject to the respective pains and penalties prescribed by the said law for any refusal or neglect of duty, desertion and other offences respectively which shall be committed during such space of time any thing therein contained to the contrary hereof in any wise notwithstanding. . . . Ninthly -- That in such case as last aforesaid the said commander in chief shall be authorized to call into actual service such proportion of the corps of associated exempts as he deem necessary. . . . [page 159] (Laws of the State of New York from the Year 1777-84. Albany: James B. Lyon, State Printer. 1894. Volume 1. Session 3, Chapter 13). ______ AN ACT to provide the troops of this State in the service of the United States, with clothing and other necessaries. Passed the 11th of March, 1780. Be it enacted by the People of the State of New York represented in Senate and Assembly, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That troops shall be raised for the defence of the frontiers of this State for the ensuing campaign whenever the congress of the United States shall have declared that the said troops shall be paid and subsisted at the expence of the said United States: That the commanding officer of each regiment of militia shall cause just and exact lists to be made and returned of all the male inhabitants (slaves excepted) of the age of sixteen years and upwards resident within the district of the regiment. That the said commanding officer together with the other field officers of the regiment shall within one week after such returns shall be made meet together at such time and at such place within the district of each regiment as the commanding officer thereof shall appoint. That at this meeting the field officers or the major part of them shall divide the regiment agreeable to such return thereof into classes each class to consist of thirty five names, and if there should be a surplus of names after the regiment shall be so divided into classes the majority of the said field officers shall add the persons of which such surplus shall consist to the several classes and in such proportion to each class as they shall think proper so that the several classes shall with respect to estate and ability be as nearly equal as may be. That the commanding officer of the regiment shall cause to be delivered to a militia officer or to some other reputable person belonging in each class a list of the class. That each class shall after the expiration of fifteen days from the delivery of such list furnish and deliver to the commanding officer of the regiment at such time and at such place within the district of the regiment as he shall from time to time appoint, notice whereof shall be given to the person to whom the list shall be delivered, one able [page 232] bodied man to be provided with a good musket or firelock cartouch box or pouch capable of containing seventeen charges of ammunition, a knapsack or havesack and a good blanket, to serve in the corps to be raised by virtue of this act for the defence of the frontiers until the first day of December next, unless sooner discharged. That if any class shall omit or neglect to furnish and deliver a man to be accoutred and provided as aforesaid, within the time or times for that purpose to be appointed as aforesaid, the commanding officer of the regiment shall thereupon convene the assessors of the ward town manor district or precinct wherein such class shall be at such time and place as the said commanding officer shall appoint. That the said commanding officer shall lay before the said assessors^ a list of the names of the persons belonging to such delinquent class--That the said assessors or a majority of them which shall be so convened shall thereupon assess upon such class a sum equal to double the amount of the highest bounty which shall then have been given by any class in the regiment for a recruit to be raised in pursuance of this act, and shall apportion the said sum to and among the several persons composing such delinquent class in such manner as the assessors shall deem reasonable, due regard being had to the circumstances and ability of each respective person. . . . [page 233] That the following persons shall be exempted from the draft persons. to be made jn pursuance of this act and their names shall be omitted out of the lists herein before mentioned, that is to say all ministers of the gospel, all persons who have heretofore precured others to inlist in either of the Continental battalions raised under the direction of this State, according to law and who shall produce certificates thereof so as the time for which the respective persons so procured did engage to serve .shall not have expired at the time when the said lists shall be respectively made, all physicians, surgeons and surgeon's mates belonging to the general hospital of the United States, and all such persons who in Penalty for judgment of law are or shall be of the people called Quakers.-- . . . [page 234] (Laws of the State of New York from the Year 1777-84. Albany: James B. Lyon, State Printer. 1894. Session 3, Chapter 53). ______ AN ACT for regulating the militia of the State of New York. Passed the 11th of March, 1780. . . . XXIX. That all persons, under the age of sixty years, who have held civil or military commissions, and are not or shall not be re-appointed to their respective proper ranks of office; and all other persons, between the age of fifty and sixty years, who have associated and elected their officers, or shall hereafter associate themselves, shall be exempted from, serving as part of the enrolled militia. That all such persons, who have not yet associated, shall form themselves into voluntary associated regiments, or companies, according to their number in each respective county, and recommend their own officers, and that all such associated regiments, or companies, shall make returns thereof respectively to the commander in chief for the time being, without delay, who with the advice of the council of appointment shall issue commissions to them accordingly in default of which returns, they shall respectively do duty in the ranks with the militia, of the beat within which they shall respectively reside, until they shall respectively associate as aforesaid. That the substance of such associations shall be, that the associators will sev- [page 244] erally on all occasions, obey the orders of their respective commanding officers, and will in cases of invasion or incursions of the enemy, or insurrections, march to repel the enemy or suppress such insurrections, in like manner as the enrolled militia are compelled to do, so that they shall not, when called out in detachments, be annexed to any other regiment, or company, or be under the immediate command of any other than their own officers, but be deemed and considered as a seperate and distinct corps, and that when such associated exempts shall be called into actual service they shall be subject to the orders and command of any and every officer of superior rank to such officer of associated exempts. XXX. That every person, an inhabitant of this State, subject by this in case of act to military duty in the militia, who shall remove out of the limits of the regiment or corps in which he shall be commissioned, associated, or enrolled, and sojourn, or be within the limits of any other regiment, or corps, shall be subject to drafts, and be obliged to do duty in the regiment, or corps, within the limits of which he shall so happen to be, unless he shall give a satisfactory account to the commanding officer of the said regiment, or company, that he has not absconded from the corps to which he belong's in order to avoid being drafted or performing other military duty. XXXI. That the lieutenant governor, members of the senate and assembly, and their several clerks, and all judicial officers, the secretary of this State and two of his deputies, the treasurer, the auditor general, training, and the attorney general of this State, the clerks and register of courts and the county clerks, and sheriffs and their respective deputies not exceeding one, and the coroners not commissioned in the militia, all county treasurers and all ministers of the gospel, and all physicians and surgeons except in their several and respective professions, and callings, all public school masters actually engaged for twelve months, all collectors, all ferry men licenced by the governor or commander in chief for the time being, all post masters, and post riders shall notwithstanding their being respectively able bodied, above sixteen and under sixty years of age, and all such persons in the service or employ of the United States, or of this State, or engaged or employed in any manufacture or business, so that it would be for the good of the public that they should be exempted, who shall procure special exemptions from the commander in chief of the militia of this State for the time being, under his hand, shall respectively be exempted from training and doing duty in the militia, but shall nevertheless be armed accoutred and provided as above mentioned. XXXII. That all those male persons, between the ages of sixteen and sixty years, who are or shall be of the people called Quakers, upon producing a certificate from one of their quarterly meetings that he or they is or are of the society called Quakers, shall be exempted from all military service whatsoever, to which they would respectively be subject by this act, were they not respectively of the people called Quakers: And for such exemption, shall yearly and every year, severally pay the sum of eighty pounds, in lieu of all military service whatsoever, required by this act, except services on detachments and calling out the militia for actual service by virtue of this act in which cases each of them shall annually pay the sum of one hundred and sixty pounds. . . . [page 245] XXXVIII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That if any person be Wounded or disabled upon assisting in repelling any invasion or an incursion of the enemy, or suppressing an insurrection, or any subsisted, other legal military service, he shall be subsisted and provided for at the expence of the State, during such disability, exept such persons whose cases are already provided for by the several acts of the congress of the United States of America, making provision for persons that may become disabled while in the service of the United States. That each person who hath been, or shall hereafter be so wounded or disabled, and whose cases shall not be provided for as aforesaid, shall be entitled to such partial or permanent allowance, as shall be adjudged by the field officers of the regiment (not exceeding the allowances granted by the acts of congress aforesaid) and which adjudication, being confirmed by the commander in chief for the time being, he shall thereupon issue duplicate warrants under the privy seal of the State, upon the treasury for the payment of the sum or sums so to be adjudged to the person so wounded or disabled; and the treasurer upon being served with one of the said duplicates, shall out of any monies which may then be in the treasury, pay to the several persons in whose favor such warrants shall be issued, the sum or sums to be specified, and in such manner as shall be directed by the said warrants respectively. XXXIX. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the act now in force, entitled, "An act for regulating the militia of the State of New York," passed on the third day of April one thousand seven hundred and seventy eight, the act entitled " An act, to amend an act, entitled An act, for regulating the militia of the State of New York" passed the thirtieth day of June one thousand seven and seventy eight, and the act, entitled "An act, farther to amend an act, entitled An act, for regulating the militia of the State of New York, and other purposes therein mentioned," passed the ninth day of October, one thousand seven hundred and seventy nine, shall be, and are hereby respectively continued in full force, until the third day of April next, any thing contained in in this act notwithstanding. . . . [page 247] (Laws of the State of New York from the Year 1777-84. Albany: James B. Lyon, State Printer. 1894. Session 3, Chapter 55). ______ AN ACT to Regulate the militia.PASSED the 4th of April, 1782. XXI. That whenever any sherif his deputy or any other ministerial officer in any of the counties of this State shall receive any legal process commanding him or them to apprehend any person or persons therein charged with any crime or offence against the laws of this State, and such sherif his deputy or other ministerial officer shall have been forcibly resisted or shall have good grounds to suspect that by force and arms he will be obstructed or resisted in the execution of such process by the said offender or offenders, and his or their aiders and abettors, such sherif his deputy or other ministerial officer shall represent the circumstances of such resistance or the reason of such his apprehension to the brigadier general or other commanding officer of the militia of the county in which such process is to be served; and if it shall appear to the said brigadier or other commanding officer that there are just grounds for such suspicion, that then and in every such case it shall be lawful for the said brigadier general or other commanding officer to order out such detachment of militia as to him shall appear necessary to aid the said sherif, his deputy or other ministerial officer to execute such process and which said detachment shall act under the directions and orders of such sherif, his deputy or other ministerial officer. That such brigadier or other commanding officer shall from time to time report to the commander in chief such application and orders he shall issue in consequence thereof. . . . [page 446] XXIX. That every private shall be allowed to substitute on detachments an able bodied private in his stead who shall nevertheless take his own tour of duty in the order wherein it shall have been fixed as aforesaid -- That in case of sickness or by unavoidable accident any officer or private shall be prevented from taking his tour of duty on any detachment, the next to him on the respective rolls of detachments without regard to classes with respect to privates, shall fill his place, and the person so prevented shall in return take the proper next tour of duty on detachment of him so filling his place; and all classing as aforesaid shall go on in rotation, in the several numerical orders above mentioned, as long and as often as the public service shall require the same. [page 448] XXXIII. That the lieutenant governor, members of the senate and Persons assembly, the clerks of the senate and assembly, all judicial officers, the secretary of this State, and one of his deputies, the attorney general of this State, the treasurer of this State, the auditor of this State, the clerks of courts of law, the county clerks the clerk of the court of probates all ministers of the gospel, all post masters and post riders, all sherifs, and one gaoler to every gaol, notwithstanding their being respectively able bodied above sixteen and under sixty years, and all such persons who shall procure special exemptions from the commander in chief of this State for the time being, shall respectively be exempted from training and doing duty in the militia, but shall nevertheless be armed accoutred and provided as by this act is directed--That it shall and may be lawfull to and for the commanding officer of every regiment to grant exemptions in writing to such physicians, surgeons, school masters, millers and ferrymen, as he shall in his judgment deem it would be more prejudicial to the common weal to take out with the militia, than to permit them to remain at home; provided no such exemption shall from time to time be given for a longer term than thirty days from the date of the permit.-- . . . [page 449] XXXV. That this act or any thing in the same contained shall not in cases of drafts or detachments of the militia affect any person who has furnished heretofore, a sufficient able bodied man for service in one of the regiments raised under the direction of this State, unless the time of such service shall have expired.-- [page 450] XLIX. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid That this act shall not take effect until the first day of June next and that the said act entitled " An act for regulating the militia of the State of New York," passed the eleventh day of March one thousand seven hundred and eighty be and is hereby revived and shall be in full force until the said first day of June next, and no longer. . . . [page 456] (Laws of the State of New York from the Year 1777-84. Albany: James B. Lyon, State Printer. 1894. Session 5, Chapter 27).