CHAPTER 38. AN ACT to create and regulate the office of County Judge in the counties of Davidson, SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, That there shall be elected by County judge the qualified voters of Davidson, Shelby, Knox, Montgomery, and Williamson counties, a person learned in the law, to be styled the County Judge, who shall hold his office for the term of eight years from the date of his commission. SEC. 2. Be it enacted, That the first election for county judge shall be held at the same places, and by the same officers, that other county elections are held, on the first Saturday of March, 1858, and under the same rules and When elected. regulations that are prescribed for other county elections; all subsequent elections, (except for vacancies, which shall be held whenever they occur upon giving twenty days' notice,) shall be held on the first Saturday in March, every eight years thereafter. SEC. 3. Be it enacted, That the county judge shall be commissioned in the same manner as other judges of the Commissioned. State, and before entering upon the duties of the office, he shall take an oath to support the Constitution of the United States, and the constitution of Tennessee, and an oath faithfully to discharge the duties of said office. bolished. SEC. 4. Be it enacted, That the quorum court of said counties is hereby abolished, and the judge shall have and exercise all the jurisdiction and powers now belonging to said quorum court. He shall preside over the county Quorum count a court at its quarterly sessions, which shall be held as heretofore, and shall have and exercise the same powers, jurisdiction, and authority which now belong to or is exercised by the chairman of the county court, and shall perform the same duties as are required by said chairman, either in or out of said county court, whether in session or not. Court to sit. SEC. 5. Be it enacted, That the county court to be held by the county judge, shall hold its regular sessions on the first Monday of each month, provided that on the Mondays of the quarterly sessions of the county court all the business requiring the presence of all or any of the justices of the county shall be first disposed of; after which the coun ty judge shall dispose of such other business before the court as by the provisions of this act is directed to be attended to by him; and said court shall sit from day to day so long as the business thereof may require, and shall have power to keep order by imposing such fines as will effect that purpose. SEC. 6. Be it enacted, That all the jurisdiction and power of the present county court over administrators, executors, guardians, wards, trustees, wills, dower, and petition, sale or division of lands and negroes, and of all testamentary and administrative matters or subjects connected therewith, and questions of lunacy, are abolished, Powers. and the same are hereby transferred and given to the county court, to be held by the county judge, who shall have all jurisdiction, power, and authority now exercised or possessed by the county court over all these questions, and all other jurisdiction, power, and authority over all these subjects which may be necessary and proper in the exercise thereof: Provided, that either party may have the right of appeal from any judgment, order, decree or action, of said county judge, as is allowed now by the laws of this State in other cases. SEC. 7. Be it enacted, That the county clerk shall be and continue the clerk of the county court to be held by the county judge, and shall have all the powers, jurisdiction, and authority now possessed by him. Clerk duties. SEC. 8. Be it enacted, That the county judge shall be the accounting officer and general agent of the county, and as such shall have power, and it shall be his duty: 1st, to have the care and custody of all the county property, except such as is by law placed in the custody of other officers; 2d, to control all books, papers, and instruments pertaining to his office; 3d, to audit all claims for money against the county; 4th, to draw, and seal with county judge's the seal of the county court, all warrants upon the county treasury; 5th, to audit and settle the accounts of the county trustee and those of any other collector or receiver of county revenue, taxes, or income payable in the county treasury, and those of any other person entrusted to receive or expend any money of the county, and to require said officers or persons to render and settle their accounts as directed by law, or the authority under which they may act; 6th, to enter in a book, to be known as the warrant book, in the order of issuance, the number, date, amount, and name of the drawee, of each warrant drawn upon the treasury; 7th, to keep in a suitable book, an account of the receipts and expenditures of the county in such a manner as to show clearly the assets of the county, and the debts payable to and by it, balancing said account annually, and generally to superintend the financial concerns of the county; 8th, no money shall be drawn out of the county treasury except upon a warrant issued by the county judge; 9th, the duties directed to be performed by the clerk of the county court, in the administration of insolvent estates, shall be as heretofore, except that which is judicial in its character. SEC. 9. Be it enacted, That the county judge shall receive five dollars per day during the sitting of the monthly and quarterly courts, and the several quarterly Judge's compen courts are hereby authorized to make additional compensation to the judge, by appropriations for that purpose, to such amount as said quarterly court may deem right, and said judge shall be paid his compensation quarterly out of the county treasury upon the judge's own warrant. SEC. 10. Be it enacted, That the justices shall be paid for their necessary attendance at the quarterly courts, two dollars and fifty cents per term. SEC. 11. Be it enacted, That hereafter it shall be the duty of the clerk of said county courts to keep a docket of all the cases to be tried in said courts, as are now kept by the clerks of the circuit courts. SEC. 12. Be it enacted, That it shall be the duty of said clerks to enter upon said docket all suits, motions, and actions, that may come before said court for trial, and that no suit, motion, or action, before said court shall be tried except it appears on said docket; and all suits, motions, and actions, shall be tried in order as they appear on said docket. SEC. 13. Be it enacted, That the county judge shall have power at any time, whether in term or vacation, to appoint an agent or attorney to take care of the public property, and that he may allow and pay a reasonable compensation for their services; and that when he audits. claims he shall issue his warrant upon the trustee for the same in the manner laid down in the 8th section of this act. SEC. 14. Be it further enacted, That said county judge biny practice in shall not be precluded from practicing in the supreme, chancery, circuit, and criminal courts in this State, but shall not be permitted to act as counsel in any case going up from his own court. SEC. 15. Be it further enacted, That whenever it shall so happen, from sickness or other cause, that the county Governor to ap judge is unable to attend his court, then the Governor shall appoint some suitable person to hold the court until the disability is removed. DANIEL S. DONELSON, Speaker of the House of Representatives. JOHN C. BURCH, Speaker of the Senate. Passed February 18, 1858. CHAPTER 39. AN ACT to amend the several laws now in force in this State, authorizing judgments by motion against collecting officers. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, That in all cases where motions are or may be pending, in any of the courts of this State, against any sheriff, coroner, or constable, and his securities, and said sheriff, coroner or constable, or either of his said securities, shall die during the pendency of said motion, said motion may be revived against the administrators or executors of said sheriff, coroner, constable, or either of their said securities, in the same manner that suits are now revived against administrators and executors in other cases. SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect from and after its passage. DANIEL S. DONELSON, Speaker of the House of Representatives. JOHN C. BURCH, Passed February 20, 1858. Speaker of the Senate. CHAPTER 40. AN ACT for the relief of Spencer Henry, Tax Collector for Blount county, and for the benefit of Jailors in this State. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, That Spencer Henry, Tax Collector for Blount county, be allowed the further time of one year cach, for the years 1855 and 1856, for collecting the railroad taxes for Blount county. Provided, That this act shall not operate so as to release the said Spencer Henry and his securities or either of them, from any liabilities which they are now under by law to pay over said taxes when collected. SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That where prisoners are removed from the jail of one county to the jail of another county for safe keeping, the jailor in such county may prove the costs to which he may be entitled in the circuit court in the county where the jail may be located, the Attorney General certifying the same, the clerk of the court shall forward the same, by mail or otherwise, to the county where the cause is tried, and the same shall be taxed in the bill of costs, as other costs are taxed. DANIEL S. DONELSON, Speaker of the House of Representatives. JOHN C. BURCH, Passed February 22, 1858. CHAPTER 41. Speaker of the Senate. AN ACT in relation to the assessment and taxes on hired slaves. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, That where slaves were assessed in the possession of hirers in the year 1856, and which assessment was made for the year 1857, the hirers of such slaves, shall not be required to pay taxes on them for the year 1857, provided said slaves were returned to their owners, and were not in the possession of said hirers of the year 1857. And the same exemption shall extend to the hirers of slaves for the year 1857, which has been provided above for hirers during the year 1856. It being the true intent and meaning of this section, that hirers shall tax only white only be required to pay taxes on slaves for the year, or hired slaves are years in which they may have had such hired slaves their possession. Provided further, That nothing in in this act shall be construed so as to release both the owners and hirers from paying the taxes on said slaves; but when it shall appear that either of them have paid said taxes for any year, and the other is charged with taxes for the value of said slave for the same year, he shall be released therefrom. Mirers to pay in their possession. SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That A. M. Craven, Tax Collector for the county of Hardin, be allowed until the 1st day of October next, to collect and pay over onehalf the State tax for the year 1857, for said county of Hardin. Provided, That nothing in this act shall be so construed, as to release the securities of said Collector; and Provided further, That before said Collector shall avail himself of the benefit of this act his securities shall file |