deem it necessary, he may order the summons of competent persons to serve as jurors in said court from any and all parts of Hamilton county, whose compensation shall be the same, and paid in the same manner, as jurors are paid by law.

SEC. 9. Be it further enacted, That any suit or suits now pending in the circuit court of Hamilton county may, by consent of parties, be transferred to the law court at Chattanooga: Provided, They are such as said court has jurisdiction, as has heretofore been provided for in this act.

SEC. 10. Be it further enacted, That the fines and forfeitures arising from, and growing out of, any business done in said court shall be disposed of as the fines and forfeitures which are collected in the circuit courts of Hamilton county.

SEC. 11. Be it further enacted, That the expense of erecting a court house, jail house, and all necessary public offices for said court shall be paid by the fourteenth civil district of Hamilton county, and the fourth civil district shall never be taxed to pay any portion of the expense of erecting any public building at Chattanooga; and the inhabitants of said fourth district shall never be taxed any more to pay the expenses of having said court at Chattanooga, than the inhabitants of the other civil districts of Hamilton county may be taxed,

SEC. 12. 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 January 26, 1858.

Speaker of the Senate.

chanics' lien.

CHAPTER 24.

AN ACT to give Mechanics' lien priority over mortgagees in certain cases.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, That, hereafter, when any mePriority of Mechanic or undertaker, by special contract with the mortgagor of any lot of ground or tract of land in this State, or his agent, shall upon the said lot or tract of land construct, build, or repair, either in whole or in part, or furnish materials, or any part of materials, in the construction, building, or repairing, of any house, fixture or

improvement, or shall do any work upon said house, either by finishing off the same, painting, ornamenting, or otherwise: Provided, The said work be done, or materials be furnished, with the knowledge and consent of the mortgagee of the said lot or tract of land, such mechanic or undertaker shall have and retain the lien, and be entitled to all the rights and remedies given by the act of 1846, chapter 118, and shall be entitled to priority of payment over the lien of the mortgagee.

SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That the provisions of this act shall apply to all cases of the sale of land where the bargainor executes a deed retaining the lien or executes

a title bond thereby retaining the lien, in as full a manner Notice to mortas if a mortgage had been formally executed: Provided, gagee. This knowledge and consent of the mortgagee or bargainor, with lien retained shall be established and concluded by notice in writing, given to such mortgagee or bargainor, he or they not objecting within ten days after receipt of such notice in writing.

DANIEL S. DONELSON,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.

JOHN C. BURCH,

Passed January 26, 1858.

Speaker of the Senate.

CHAPTER 25.

AN ACT to enforce the resumption of specie payments by the suspended banks; and to offer for their acceptance certain amendments to their charters, and for other purposes.

Banks to resume

ter July 1, 1858.

lars not after 1st

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, That it shall be, and is hereby specie payment, made the duty of the several banks in this State, which 1st Nov. 1858. have suspended specie payments, to resume the payment of Notes less than specie on all notes issued by them, on or before the first day $5 not to issue af of November, 1858; and, from and after the first day of July, 1858, no such bank in this State shall issue, emit, Less than ten dolpay out or circulate, any note of a less denomination than Jan., 1859. five dollars; and from and after the first day of January, 1859, no note of a less denomination than ten dollars; and from and after the passage of this Act, no bank, agent, person, or corporation, licensed or chartered to do a banking or brokerage business in this State, shall be permitted to pay out for circulation, the note of any corporation or association of individuals, which has not been chartered

Not to pay divi

pension.

by the State of Tennessee. A violation of this provision shall be a misdemeanor; and any person, as aforesaid, or corporation convicted thereof, shall be fined not less than five hundred dollars, and not more than two thousand dollars; nor shall any bank pay out the notes of any bank chartered by this State, except its own or branches, and then only as provided in the seventh section of this act; and no bank in this State shall, directly or indirectly, sell or dispose of gold or silver, or sell or dispose of the notes of any bank whatever, for any premium or discount whatever; and it is hereby expressly declared that the traffic or trade in the legal currency, or in uncurrent bank notes, is not a dends during sus privilege intended to be, or granted to the banks by their charters. No bank in this State shall pay over any dividends or profits to any stockholders, or owners of stock, during the time of its suspension of specie payments, except the profits arising from the Bank of Tennessee, or the dividends to which the State is entitled from the stock owned by it in the Union and Planters' Banks, which are to be paid to the State as directed by existing laws. No bank shall, hereafter, pay interest, or any consideration whatever, for money of any kind deposited with them, whether such money be in gold or silver, bank notes or paper currency of any kind. No bank in this State, while Exchange not to suspended or failing to redeem it notes in gold and silver, during suspen- shall be permitted by itself, its officers or agents, to sell exchange upon any place in the United States for a higher premium than two per cent.

be over 2 per cent

sion.

SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That any bank in this State which has suspended specie payment of its notes be, and is hereby required to file its acceptance, in writing, with the Comptroller of the State, to the several limitations and provisions contained in the first section of this act, within forty days from the time of its passage, as an amendment to, and a part and parcel of its charter. On the failure of such bank, last aforesaid, to file its acceptance of the provisions of the first section of this act, as an amendment to its charter, within the time above prescribed, the Attorney General of the judicial circuit in which said bank is located, on being notified of the non-acceptance by it of the provisions of the first section of this act, shall proceed, in the name of the State and at her suit, to institute all legal and proper steps to have such nonaccepting bank's charter pronounced forfeited and annulled, for violation of its charter by suspension of specie payment, or other cause or causes, and its affairs wound up, as in such cases is prescribed by law. It shall be the duty of the Comptroller to inform the Attorney General

Cause of forfeit

General.

of any non-acceptance. Any bank accepting the provisions of the first section of this act as an amendment to its charter, and after such acceptance failing to comply with such provisions, such failure shall be, and is, declared cause of forfeiture of charter. All contracts made by it ure. after the time when it shall have failed to comply with the terms of the first section of this act, are hereby declared null and void, and no suit in law or equity shall be maintained by any such bank or banks, upon any contract or demand so made. And it is hereby made the duty of the Governor, on satisfactory information being given to Governor to di him that any such accepting bank or banks as aforesaid rect the Attorney have failed to comply with the provisions of the first section of this act, to direct the Attorney General for the judicial circuit in which such offending bank may be located, to take all legal steps, in the name and at the suit of the State, to have the charter of said bank declared forfeited and annulled by judicial sentence, for non-compliance with the provisions of the first section of this act, before accepted by it as aforesaid. If, on the trial, it shall appear that such accepting bank, after its acceptance, has failed to comply with the provisions of the first section of this act, judgment of forfeiture shall be entered against it, and thereon, said bank shall go into liquidation, by the appointment of a Receiver, to be made by the court rendering such judgment; and it shall be the duty of such court to take bond and ample security from said Receiver, conditioned to faithfully collect all the debts of such bank, to take safe and proper care of its effects and assets of any kind, to render a true account of the same. Said Receiver to apply the effects of such bank: first, to the ed. payment of its note or bill-holders; secondly, to the payment of its depositors and other creditors, pro rata. If, after payment of all the liabilities of such bank, and all the costs of its liquidation, there remain any surplus, then the same shall be paid to the stockholders of the bank, or those entitled to the same.

Receiver appoint

Officers.

SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, That any president, cashier, teller, clerk, agent, or employee of any bank, who shall knowingly violate its charter, or amendments thereto, or shall remove or secrete the effects of such bank, or in any way conceal the debts, liabilities, or assets of the Penalty of Bank bank, for the purpose of avoiding or defeating any judg ment of the courts, or for the purpose of defrauding any of the creditors of the bank, the person so offending shall be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor, and on conviction, shall be fined in a sum not less than two thousand dollars, said fine to go to the use of the common school

repealed.

Not to increase its

circulation.

fund; and also shall be imprisoned at the discretion of the court, not less than one nor more than six months.

SEC. 4. Be it further enacted, That an act, passed on Act of Feb. 12 the 12th of February, 1852, entitled, "An act to authorize and regulate the business of banking," be and the same is hereby repealed, so far as to prohibit and take away all right, after the passage of this act, for any individual, or association of individuals, to avail themselves of the provisions of said act, or any one amendatory of it, for the purcapital stock or pose of creating any new banking company, bank or association, not now in existence. Said act is also repealed so far as to prohibit any bank now in existence, under said acts, to increase its capital stock or circulation. All free banks may have the power to reduce their circulation to $50,000, by depositing with the Comptroller their issues, and they are allowed to draw bonds equal to the amount they may deposit with the Comptroller; and it shall be the duty of the Comptroller to burn all such bills; Provided, Any bank accepting the benefit of this clause surrender its brokerage privilege; And provided, That no bank which has failed to deposite the second call of ten per cent. additional bonds, shall withdraw more than eighty per cent. in bonds to the amount of notes withdrawn from circulation, and deposited with the Comptroller.

Quarterly reports

SEC. 5. Be it further enacted, That it is hereby required of the several banks in this State to make quarterly reports to the Comptroller, verified by the oath of the president and cashier thereof, of the true condition of said bank, its assets and liabilities, stating particularly the capital stock, the amount of such capital actually paid in to said bank in gold and silver, and when paid, and how much of its capital stock paid in, not in gold and silver; and in such case, to show when, how, and in what paid, and whether such payment, to its full extent, is then, at the time of the statement, of the value of specie, and if not, how much less in their best judgment. Such statement shall also show the then liabilities of the bank, the amount of specie of its own on hand, and the then amount of its Comptroller to notes in circulation. It is hereby made the duty of the Comptroller to cause said statement to be published in one of the leading newspapers in the city of Nashville, and also in one paper in the county or town where such bank is located, if any there be, and if not, in the nearest newspaper to such bank, at the cost of the bank whose statement is so published; said statement, and all bank statements required under this section, shall be sworn to, as true at the time made, which shall be at the hour of two o'clock in the day on which made out. Banks accepting

publish bank

statements.