injury in his person or property, by reason of any defect or want of repair which has existed for the space of fifty-six hours in any public road, causeway, or bridge, in said county, he may recover from the said levy court the amount of damage sustained thereby.

PRIVATE ROADS.

SEC. 24. If any person shall desire any private road or way from his land, in said county of Washington, to a public road, and cannot agree therefor with the person through whose land such private road would pass, he may petition the levy court, which shall thereupon direct the surveyor of said county to view and survey such road, not exceeding sixteen feet wide, clear of ditches, and return a plat thereof within one month.

SEC. 25. The owners, or the duly authorized agents of owners of land through which such private road may pass, shall be notified to appear at a certain day named in said notice, before the levy court, to show cause against such petition; and upon hearing, the levy court may make such order respecting such private road as it shall think proper; and shall determine the compensation to be made to such owners by the petitioners.

SEC. 26. Upon the payment of such compensation, such road shall be deemed a private way, appurtenant to the land of said petitioner; to be kept open and repaired at the expense of the party using the

same.

SEC. 27. Nothing in this chapter contained shall authorize the making of any private road or way as aforesaid, through any garden, yard, orchard, or meadow, without the owner's consent.

PAUPERS.

SEC. 28. The levy court shall provide for the support of the paupers of the county of Washington, and to that end may make such contracts, from time to time, for their support, as shall be deemed proper.

SEC. 29. The levy court may purchase and hold any quantity of land, not exceeding fifty acres, and erect thereon a workhouse or almshouse, for the employment and accommodation of the paupers of said county. The said levy court may direct what paupers shall be received into any such house, and, from time to time, may make reasonable and proper rules and regulations for the government thereof, and of the dwellers therein.

SEC. 30. No person shall be deemed to have gained a legal settlement in said county, so as to become chargeable to it, unless such person shall have been placed on the list of the paupers of said county, and shall have received support or aid therefrom, or unless such person shall have been born therein, or shall have resided therein for one year at one time, and shall not since that time have gained a legal settlement elsewhere.

SEC. 31. If any pauper shall be found in said county whose last legal settlement shall not have been in said county, any justice of the peace therein, upon oath being made by any member or officer of the levy court, that he believes that such pauper will become chargeable to said county, may order such pauper to be brought before him; and if, upon a hearing, said justice shall see cause, he may, by warrant, order any such pauper, at the cost and charge of said county, to be removed, if it can be done without danger, to the place where he was last legally settled, unless he shall enter into bond, not exceeding five hundred dollars, payable to the levy court, with security to be approved by said justice, that he will not become chargeable to said county.

COUNTY LEVIES.

SEC. 32. At the first meeting of the levy court in March next, and every five years thereafter, the levy court shall appoint three freeholders, residents of said county, whose duty it shall be to assess, and value, and make return of, all real and personal property within said county of Washington subject to valuation and assessment. If a vacancy occurs in said board of assessors, the levy court shall, as soon as practicable, fill the same.

SEC. 33. The levy court may direct an additional assessment to be made and returned, by the board of assessors for any year during which no general assessment shall be made and returned, which said additional assessment shall include such real and personal property subject to valuation and assessment as has not been made and returned in any previous assessment.

SEC. 34. Every assessor shall, before entering upon the discharge of the duties of his office, take an oath, to be administered by any justice of the levy court, that he will well and truly execute the duty of an assessor, and will faithfully, justly, and impartially value all

real and personal property in said county subject to assessment and valuation, according to the best of his skill and knowledge.

SEC. 35. It shall be the duty of the assessors to make and return their assessment within such time as shall be directed by the levy court. In making and returning such assessment, the assessors shall be subject to such regulations, not inconsistent with the provisions of this chapter, as may be provided by said court.

SEC. 36. Every person, when so required by the assessors, shall give to such assessors a full and particular account of all the real and personal property subject to assessment belonging to him, or in his possession, or under his care and management, and the name of the person to whom the same belongs. The assessors may require any person producing such an account to make oath that the same is true, to the best of his knowledge and belief; which said oath may be administered by either of the assessors.

SEC. 37. The assessors shall inform themselves, by all lawful ways and means, of all real and personal property subject to valuation and assessment; and in making their valuation, they shall determine it agreeably to what they believe the same to be worth, in cash, at the time of said valuation.

SEC. 38. The levy court may hear and determine appeals from any party complaining of his assessment, or may appoint a board of appeals for that purpose, under such regulations as may be prescribed by said court.

SEC. 39. All property, real and personal, within said county, not expressly exempted therefrom, shall be subject to assessment and taxation in the manner provided by law.

SEC. 40. The following property shall be exempt from assessment and taxation:

First. All property belonging to the United States, or to the county of Washington.

Second. The personal property of all literary, benevolent, charitable, and scientific institutions, incorporated within said county, and such real estate belonging to such institutions as shall be actually occupied for the purposes for which they were incorporated.

Third. Public schoolhouses, public hospitals, asylums, poorhouses, and other charitable or benevolent institutions for the relief of the indigent and afflicted, whether incorporated or not, and the land thereto appurtenant, with all their furniture and equipments.

Fourth. Houses of public worship, with their furniture and equipments, and the land appurtenant thereto and used therewith, so long as the same shall be used for that purpose only, or for public schools. Fifth. Cemetaries and grave-yards, set apart and used for the purpose of interring the dead.

Sixth. Public libraries, and the real or personal property belonging to or connected with the same.

Seventh. The household furniture of every head of a family, where the same does not exceed in value the sum of two hundred dollars. Eighth. The crop and produce of land in the hands of persons producing the same, and provisions necessary for the use and consumption of the person to whom they belong, and of his family, for

a year.

Ninth. Wearing apparel, farming utensils, and the working tools of mechanics and manufacturers, actually used by them.

Tenth. Goods, wares, and merchandise, kept for sale, and all manufactures in the hands of the manufacturers.

Eleventh. All money, stocks, or debts.

SEC. 41. Real and personal property shall be assessed to the owner thereof, if he be known.

SEC. 42. Where real estate is subject to a mortgage or deed of trust, the mortgagor or grantor in the deed of trust shall, for the purposes of assessment and taxation, be deemed the owner, until the mortgagee shall take possession, or a sale be made in pursuance of the deed of trust, after which the mortgagee or vendee shall be deemed the

owner.

SEC. 43. Where personal property is mortgaged or pledged, it shall, for the purposes of assessment and taxation, be deemed the property of the party who has the possession.

SEC. 44. The real estate of any deceased person shall be charged to his estate, until it can properly be charged to the heir, devisee, or grantee; and the personal estate of a deceased person shall be likewise charged to his estate, until the same is disposed of.

SEC. 45. The assessors shall return to the levy court, at the time. appointed by said court, a certificate, in writing, containing the particulars of all the real and personal property in said county subject to assessment, and the value of the same, and the names of the owners thereof, alphabetically arranged, and according to such regulations and forms as may be prescribed by the said levy court.

SEC. 46. The levy court may, for the purpose of meeting and defraying the proper charges and expenses of said county, annually lay and collect a tax upon all the real and personal property in said county subject to assessment, not exceeding forty cents in the hundred dollars' value of said real and personal property, according to the last corrected assessment.

SEC. 47. The levy court may allow a discount of such sum as to said court may appear proper, to such persons as may make payment of taxes charged to them, within such periods of time as may be prescribed by said court.

SEC. 48. Every collector of taxes appointed by the levy court shall, before he acts as such, take an oath to discharge faithfully the duties of his office, and shall give bond to the levy court, in the sum of ten thousand dollars, with security to be approved by the said court, conditioned for the faithful performance of the duties of his office.

SEC. 49. The collector of taxes may appoint one or more deputies, and may take such bond and security from them as he may deem necessary; but in all cases he shall be held liable, with his sureties, for the proceedings and misconduct of such deputies.

SEC. 50. It shall be the duty of the clerk of the levy court to make out and deliver to the collector a tax list within two months after any tax shall have been laid by the levy court.

SEC. 51. If any person or estate shall refuse or neglect to pay any tax lawfully imposed by the said levy court, the collector shall proceed to collect the same by distress and sale of the goods and chattels of such person or estate, if any be found in said county.

SEC. 52. Before any personal property shall be seized, distrained, or sold, and before any real estate shall be sold for said tax, the collector shall deliver to the person chargeable therewith, if a resident, or leave at his last place of abode, a particular account of his assessment, the rate of tax imposed, and the amount of said tax.

SEC. 53. No sale of personal property for taxes shall be made unless ten days' previous notice thereof shall be given in some newspaper published in this District.

SEC. 54. No sale of real estate for taxes shall be made for any taxes due upon the same, except when the owner or tenant has not sufficient personal property in said county out of which the payment of such taxes could be enforced.