of debt that had been drawn in proof of a bargain entered into in its limits at any time between eight in the morning and six in the afternoon without the usual requirement of first obtaining judgment. The clerk was to record, in a book to be provided for the purpose, every bond, bill, or other writing passed in a sale, and if the amount represented in a bargain exceeded three hundred pounds of tobacco, his fee was to be four pounds, and if under that figure, one pound. Ground seems to have been assigned for the site of this market-place.[1]
In 1655, the Assembly determined to establish one or more market-places in each county, to be situated in the neighborhood of a river or creek, with a view to greater accessibility. Here all the trade of the country was to be concentrated; the articles imported from England or elsewhere were to be brought to these points from the ports prescribed by law; and if the owners of such articles disposed of them without having done this, they were to be punished as forestallers. They were, however, left at liberty to sell their goods in any one which they preferred. All were to be kept open on certain days, but there was to be no conflict between the days of adjoining markets. The court-house, the prison, the offices of the clerk and sheriff, and, as far as possible, the churches and ordinaries of each county, were to be erected in the circuit of its market. When merchandise had been in the country for a period exceeding eight months, the owner could dispose of it wherever he wished without exposing himself to punishment as a forestaller.
- ↑ Hening’s Statutes, vol. I, p. 362. See Ibid., vol. I, pp. 397, 414.
