Acts of 1806 Chapter 21

WHEREAS the large extent of the counties of Anderson and Claiborne, renders it grievous and burthensome to many of the inhabitants thereof to attend courts, general musters, elections, and other public meetings therein.  For remedy whereof:

SECTION 1.  That the following described bounds be, and the same are hereby erected into a new and distinct county by the name of Campbell, to wit:  Beginning at a point to be ascertained by running a direct line from the town of Burrville, in Anderson county, north forty-five degrees east eleven miles, and running from thence north forty-five degrees, west to the Kentucky state line, or the northern boundary line of the state of Tennessee, from thence east, with the said boundary line, to a point on the same, from whence a line to be run at the angle of forty-five degrees, south east, shall cross Powell's Valley, at or near the house where James Davis formerly lived in said Valley, leaving said house in Campbell county not more than fifty poles, thence the same course continued, to the line of Grainger county, on the right bank of Clinch, thence down the said river of Clinch, agreeably to its various meanders, to a certain point that shall intersect the lines of Anderson and Claiborne counties, immediately on the said right bank of Clinch river, thence crossing said river, and running southwardly with the line that divides the counties of Anderson and Grainger, to the Chestnut Ridge, thence along the extreme height thereof, to a point from whence a line shall be run at the angle of north forty-five degrees, west to the point the place of beginning.

SECTION 2.  That James Grant, William Hancock, Jacent Cloud, Robert Glen, Richard Linville, Sampson David, and John Inglish, or a majority of them, be, and they are hereby appointed commissioners, and authorized to fix on and lay out a place the most suitable and convenient in said county, for the purposes of erecting a court house, prison and stocks.

SECTION 3.  That the aforesaid commissioners are hereby authorized and required, as soon as may be, after agreeing on the place whereon the said court house, prison and stocks are to be erected in said county, they shall proceed to purchase any quantity of land, not exceeding forty acres, for which they shall cause a deed or deeds to be made to themselves, or successors in office, on which they shall cause a town to be laid off, with necessary streets and alleys, reserving one acre as near the center as may be, on which the court house, prison and stocks shall be erected, which shall be known by the name of Jacksborough; and when the town shall be thus laid off, the aforesaid commissioners are further requested to advertise for sale to the highest bidder, at a credit not exceeding twelve months, the lots of said town giving sixty days previous notice thereof in the public papers printed at Knoxville, and shall take bonds with sufficient securities, to themselves or successor in office, and shall make titles to the purchasers, and the proceds (sic) of the sales of said lots, shall go towards defraying the expence [sic] of the public buildings in the same, and contract and agree with suitable workmen for erecting and building at the place aforesaid, a court house, prison and stocks, for the use and benefit of said county, and shall, after advertising the same at least sixty days in the public papers, and at six of the most public places in the county, proceed to let the building of the same to the lowest bidder, and take bond and security from such undertaker, in the sum of five thousand dollars, for the fulfillment of his or their contract.

SECTION 4.  And the better to enable the commissioners aforesaid to carry this act into effect, that a tax of twelve and a half cents on each hundred acres of land; a tax of twenty-five cents on each town lot; a tax of twenty-five cents on each slave between the age of twelve and fifty years; and a tax of twenty-five cents on each white male, between the age of twenty-one and fifty years, shall be collected in the said county for two years, by the sheriff or collector of the same, and accounted for and paid to the said commissioners, at the same time, and in the same manner, and under like penalties and restrictions, as is or may be directed for collecting, accounting for, and paying public taxes.

SECTION 5.  That before the said commissioners shall take into their hands any of the monies directed to be collected by this act, they shall enter into bond in the sum of five thousand dollars, payable to the governor and commander in chief, for the time being, conditioned for the faithful discharge of the trust reposed in them.

SECTION 6.  And for the due administration of justice in said county, that the court of the said county of Campbell shall be held regularly by the justices of said county, on the first Mondays in December, March, June, and September, in every year; and the justices for said county of Campbell, are hereby authorized and empowered to hold the first court for the same, at the house of Richard Linville, and all subsequent courts for said county, on the days above mentioned for holding courts therein, at any place to which the said justices shall from court to court adjourn themselves, until a court house shall be built for said county of Campbell; and then all causes, matters and things, depending in said court, and all process returnable to the same, shall be adjourned to such court house, and all courts held in and for said county of Campbell, shall be held by commission to the said justices, in the same manner, and under the same rules and restrictions, and shall have and exercise the same power and jurisdiction, as are or shall be prescribed for the courts for the several counties in this state.

SECTION 7.  That the aforesaid county of Campbell, shall be, and is hereby declared to compose a part of the district of Hamilton, in the same manner, and for all purposes civil and military, as the said counties of Anderson and Claiborne did previously to this county be taken off of them; and the said county of Campbell shall furnish two jurors to the superior courts of law and equity, for the district of Hamilton aforesaid.

SECTION 8.  That Jeffe Roysden, and Walter Evans, be appointed commissioners, who are authorized to run the dividing lines, and boundary lines, of and between the said counties of Campbell, Anderson and Claiborne, and designate the boundaries of said Campbell county, as herein before directed and described; that is, where the said line or lines are not already run or particularly pointed out by natural boundaries; for which services the said commissioners shall be allowed the sum of two dollars each per day, and the marker one dollar per day, the expense to be paid by the said county of Campbell.

SECTION 9.  That the present sheriffs and collectors of the counties of Anderson and Claiborne, be authorized to collect all arrearages of public taxes, which by law they were authorized to collect, in the same manner that he might or could do, before the said sectional parts, that now compose the county of Campbell, were taken off of said counties of Anderson and Claiborne.

SECTION 10.  That in future the courts of Claiborne county shall be held on the fourth Mondays of November, February, May and August, in each and every year, and all suits, causes, indictments, matters, and things, of what nature and kind soever, now pending in said court, shall, after the rise of the present term, of said court, be adjourned over, and continued till the fourth Monday of November next, to all intents, constructions, and purposes; and in case the clerk of said court shall issue any writ or writs of capias ad respondendum, writs of capias ad satisfaciendum, writs of fieri facias, or any other writ or process whatsoever, returnable to any other day than the fourth Monday of November next, the same shall be returned on the said fourth Monday of November, and shall be as good and as valid in law, as if the same had been made returnable on the said fourth Monday of November; any law, usage or custom to the contrary notwithstanding.

Passed:  September 11, 1806.