Bee it Enacted by this Generall Assembly and the Authority of the Same that all persons That have or hereafter shall have any Estate of Goods Chattels or Lands in their Possession belonging to any That are under age shall once Every yeare Exhibit an Inventory and Account of the Said Estate to the Respective Court of Sessions in whose Jurisdiccon [sic] Such Estate Lyeth And in Case any person or person which have such Estate in their hands doe not At the time and place aforesaid present the Inventory and account of such Estate as aforesaid that then the party soe neglecting Shall be sued for such his neglect And if noe good improvement have beene made on the Same Estate it shall be in the Power of the Court before Whom the Accon is brought to Compell the Said person in whose hands the Said Estate remayneth to give in Good Security for the better improvement and management of the Same or otherwise to remove it into the hands of some other person or persons as the Court shall thinke meet and Convenient.

Laws of the Colony of New York Albany: James B. Lyon, State Printer, 1896. Page 154.

An Act for the Relief of Parishes and other Places from such Charges as may arise from Bastard Children born within the same.

WHEREAS the Laws now in being are not sufficient to provide for the securing and indemnifying Parishes and other Places, from the Great Charges frequently arising from Children begotten and born out of lawful Matrimony, for Remedy thereof.

Be it Enacted by his Excellency the Governor, the Council and the General Assembly, and it is hereby Enacted by the Authority of the same, That from and after the passing hereof, if any Single Woman shall be delivered of a Bastard Child, which shall be chargeable, or likely to become chargeable to any Parish or Place, or shall declare herself to be with child, and that such Child is likely to be born a Bastard, and to be chargeable to any Parish or Place and shall in either of such Cases, in an Examination to be taken in Writing upon Oath before any one or more Justice or Justices of the Peace of any County, City, Borough or Place, wherein such Parish or Place shall lie, charge any Person with having gotten her with Child, it shall and may be lawful to and for such Justice or Justices upon Application made to him or them by the Overseers of the Poor, of such Parish, or by any one of them, or by any Substantial Householder of such Place to issue out his or their Warrant or Warrants for the immediate apprehending such Person so charged as aforesaid, and for bringing him before such Justice or Justices or before any other of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace of such County, City, Borough, Parish or Place, and the Justice or Justices before whom such Person shall be brought is, and are hereby Authorized and required to commit the Person so charged as aforesaid, to the common Goal or House of Correction of such County, City, Borough, Parish or Place, unless he shall give Security to indemnify such County, City, Borough, Parish or Place or shall enter into a Recognizance with sufficient Surety, upon Condition to appear at the next General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace to be holden for such County, City, Manor or Place, and to Abide and Perform such Order or Orders as shall be made in Pursuance of an Act passed in the Eighteenth Year of the Reign of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth concerning Bastards begotten and born out of lawful Matrimony.

Provided nevertheless, And be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That if the Woman so charging any Person as aforesaid, shall happen to die or be married before before she shall be delivered, or if she shall miscarry of such Child, or shall appear not to have been with Child at the Time of her Examination, Then and in any of the said Cases, such Person shall be discharged from his Recognizance at the General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace, to be holden for such County, City, Borough or Place, or immediately released out of the Custody by Warrant under the Hand and Seal, or Hands and Seals of any one or more Justice or Justices of the Peace residing in or near the Limits where such Parish or Place shall lie.
Provided also, And be it Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That upon Application made by any Person who shall be committed to any Goal [sic] or House of Correction by Virtue of this Act, or by any Person on his Behalf to any Justice or Justices residing in or near the Limits where such Parish or Place shall lie, such Justice or Justices is and are hereby authorized and required to Summon the Overseer or Overseers of the Poor of such Parish or one or more of the Substantial Householders of such Place to appear before him or them at a Time and Place to be mentioned in such Summons to shew Cause why such Person should not be discharged and if no Order shall appear to have been made in Pursuance of the said Act of the Eighteenth Year of the Reign of her Majesty Queen Elizabeth within six Weeks after such Woman shall have been delivered, such Justice or Justices shall and may discharge him from his Imprisonment, in such Goal or House of Correction, to which he shall have been committed.

Provided always, And be it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That it shall not be lawful for any Justice or Justices of the Peace to send for any Woman whatsoever, before she shall be delivered and one Month after, in order to her being examined concerning her Pregnancy or supposed Pregnancy or to compel any woman before she shall be delivered to Answer to any Questions relating to her Pregnancy any Law, Usage or Custom to the contrary notwithstanding.

And Whereas the putative Fathers and lewd Mothers of the Bastard Children run away out of the Parish or Place and sometimes out of the County, and leave the said Bastard Children upon the Charge of the Parish or Place where they are born, although such putative Father and Mother have Estates sufficient to discharge such Parish or Place Be it therefore Enacted by the Authority aforesaid, that it shall and may be lawful for the Church Wardens or Overseers of the Poor of such County, City, Manor, Parish or Place where any Bastard child shall be born, to take and seize so much of the Goods and Chattels and to receive so much of the Annual Rents or Profits of the Lands of such putative Father or lewd Mother, as shall be ordered by any two Justices of the Peace, for or towards the Discharge of the Parish or Place to be confirmed at the Sessions for the bringing up and providing for such Bastard Child, and thereupon it shall be lawful for the Sessions to make an Order for the Church Wardens or Overseers for the Poor of such Parish or Place to dispose of the Goods by Sale or otherwise or so much of them for the Purposes aforesaid as the Court shall think fit, and to receive the Rents and Profits, or so much of them as shall be Ordered by the Sessions as aforesaid of his or her Lands.

The Colonial Laws of New York Albany: James B. Lyon, State Printer. 1894. Pages 689-692.