Chap. 154.—An ACT to amend the Charter of The Richmond Male
Orphan Society.

Approved March 18, 1876.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That an act en-
titled an act incorporating the Richmond male orphan society,
passed March the ninth, eighteen hundred and forty-seven,
and the acts amendatory thereof, be amended and re-enacte
so as to read as follows: ) , :

§ 1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That the Rich-
mond male orphan society, instituted for the relief of dis-
tressed males and the support and education of destitute male
children, be and they are hereby incorporated by the name
and under the style of The Richmond Male Orphan Society ;
that by that name they shall have perpetual succession, a
common seal, a power to take and hold property, real and
personal, or to make conveyances of the same for the benefit
of the association ;, that they may sue and be sued, implead
and be impleaded, and make such by-laws for the regulation
of the said association, not contrary to the laws of this com-
monwealth or of the United States, as the said society may
think proper to establish.

§ 2, And be it further enacted, That the said society shall
have power, conformably to their regulations, to bind out
such poor orphan children as they may have taken under
their care, and also that they may bind such children as may
be committed to their care by their pargnts—the indentures
of apprenticeship to be executed by the trustees hereinafter
mentioned, or either of them, on behalf of the society: pro-
vided, that the court of hustings of the said city of Richmond
shall have the same superintendence over the conduct of the
persons to whom such children shall be bound, and over said
apprentices, as is given by law in other cases of apprentices.
And the society shall have power annually to appoint two ®r
more trustees in aid of such association who shall bind out
children under care of said association at their request. The
said trustees shall also, at the end of every year, inspect the
accounts of said association. Should any vacancies happen in
the said office of trustees, by death, resignation, or otherwise,
such vacancies are to be filled by the said society.

§3. When a child is received into the asylum of the said
Richmond male orphan society, or after it is received therein,
the father, or if there be no father, the mother of said child,
or if the father and mother have deserted said child, or if he
be an orphan who is a proper object for the care of the over-
seers of the poor, then an overseer of the poor of the city,
or a member of the committee or board having superintend-
ance of the poor of the city of Richmond, shall sign a writ-
ing relinquishing his, her, or the city’s right to the possession
of the said child; and thereupon, the said Richmond male
orphan society, shall be entitled to the possession of such
child, for the purpose of maintenance and instruction accord-
ing to their constitution and by-laws, and with power to bind
him out, as provided in the second section of their charter.

2. This act shall commence and be in force from the passage
thereof.