MARTIN, François-Xavier (1762-1846, Editor)

A Collection of the Private Acts of the General Assembly of the State of North-Carolina, from the Year 1715, to the Year 1790, inclusive, now in Force and Use.

Newbern, North Carolina: François-Xavier Martin, 1794. 4to. (10 x 8 inches). First edition. [X3] A-3R2. [6] [1]-249 [3]. 258 pp. Extract from the Journal of the General Assembly, Letterpress Title, Editor's Preface, Private Acts, Appendix, Table. Two woodcut printer's ornaments.

Half-calf bound to style over French marbled paper boards, calf ruled gilt, five raised bands forming six gilt-ruled compartments with gilt-lettered black morocco lettering-piece in second and date at bottom, on laid paper

A rare and colorful collection of private acts in North Carolina from its time as a Royal Colony and then Province, published to supplement the Iredell edition of the new state's laws. Herein are six acts to emancipate individual enslaved people and several to establish significant towns such as Charlotte.

Martin's publication starts with a 1715 act on behalf of King George I to incorporate a town in Bath County and to secure a public library at St. Thomas's Parish in Pamplico, and ends with a 1788 act to allow a debtor named John Colson back into North Carolina to settle his affairs. In between are myriad small legal actions taken by the General Assembly, the accrual of which created the foundation for the North Carolina we know today. In their specificity and minutiae the acts are both telling and diverting, a window onto the human dramas and history encoded into law prior to North Carolina's statehood. Some, like the acts freeing individual enslaved people, are moving: "Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of North-Carolina, that from and after the passing of this act, the aforesaid negro woman Phillis, shall be emancipated and forever discharged from her bondage, in as full and ample manner as if she had been born free; any law, usage or custom to the contrary notwithstanding: and the said negro woman shall forever hereafter be known by the name of Phillis Freeman." Others, like those establishing such towns as Charlotte, are momentous: "Be it therefore enacted, by the Governor, Council, and Assembly, and by the authority of the same, that the said three hundred and sixty acres of land, so laid off by the commissioners or trustees as aforesaid, be and the same is hereby constituted, erected, and established, at town and town common, and shall be called by the name of Charlotte." And several, like an act for "destroying wolves, wildcats, panthers, bears, crows and squirrels," regrettable. OCLC records only seventeen copies of this rare book of legal acts in libraries worldwide.

ESTC w239. Evans 27419. McMurtrie 199. OCLC 183885822. Sabin 55602. Weeks 99.

Item #29625

Price: $4,500.00