instructed to appropriate all leather that was badly tanned or curried, and all boots, shoes, and bridles manufactured from defective material. Six persons were appointed as inspectors and they were required to perform their duties in open court. Acceptance of bribes, or the exaction of a larger amount than was sanctioned by the law, exposed them to a fine of twenty pounds sterling. If they refused to place their stamp on leather of good quality, they were mulcted forty shillings. Five pounds sterling constituted the penalty for declining to accept the office of inspector. Under the provisions of this law, leather consisted of the skin of the ox, steer, bull, cow, calf, deer, goat, and sheep.[1]
The first Act interdicting the exportation of hides from Virginia was passed in 1632. It was designed to apply to the skins of deer as well as to the skins of all sorts of domestic animals. The same provisions were shortly reënacted, furs, such as those of the beaver and otter, for example, being excepted from its scope.[2] In 1645, a prohibition was laid upon the shipment of raw hides and leather, together with a variety of other articles specified in the same statute.[3] In the succeeding year, this regulation was repealed. Seventeen years later, the exportation of hides as well as of wool and iron was strictly forbidden, the penalty incurred in violating the law falling only upon the buyer. At the following session of the Assembly, the penalty was extended to the seller, this penalty amounting to one thousand pounds of tobacco. In the Act passed in the course of this year,
- ↑ Hening’s Statutes, vol. III, pp. 75-80. An instance of the seizure of defective leather will be found in Records of York County, vol. 1690-1694, p. 271, Va. State Library. See, for appointment of viewers, Records of Middlesex County, original vol. 1680-1694, orders March 1, 1691-1692; Feb. 6, 1692-1693; purchase of seal, Ibid., orders Dec. 4, 1693.
- ↑ Hening’s Statutes, vol. I, pp. 174, 199.
- ↑ Ibid., p. 307.
