20. In any case of goods or chattels which an officer shall distraiu or levy upon, otherwise than under an execution or order issued by a justice, or under an attachment, and in any case of goods or chattels which he may be directed to sell by an order of a court or judge, unless such order prescribes a different course, he shall fix upon a time and place for the sale thereof, and publish notice of sale at least ten days (or if the goods and chattels be mules, work oxen or horses at least twenty days,) by posting the same at the door of the court house of his county and some other conspicuous place near the residence of the owner, if he reside in the county. At the time and place so appointed, the officer shall sell to the highest bidder for cash, except as hereinafter provided, the said goods and chattels, or so much thereof as may be necessary.

21. If such goods and chattels be mules, work oxen, or horses, they shall be sold at the court house of the county or corporation, between the hours of ten in the morning and four in the afternoon. The sale shall be on the first day of the term of the circuit or county court thereof next succeeding the publication of notice of sale, as aforesaid, except when the parties shall, in writing, authorize the officer to dispense with the provisions of this section, in which case the sale shall be according to the preceding section.

22. When there is not time on the day appointed for any such sale to complete the same, the sale may be adjourned from day to day, until it shall be completed. Before any such sale shall be made, if the judgment debtor, his agent or attorney, or in their absence, his wife so desire, the property to be sold shall be appraised by separate items, by two disinterested householders of the district in which the levy is made, or where the debtor resides, if he reside in the county, one to be selected by the judgment debtor, his agent or attorney, or in their absence, his wife, and the other by the judgment creditor, his agent or attorney, or in their absence by the of ficer in whose hands the execution, order of sale or other process is, who, after being duly sworn, for the purpose, shall appraise, at its fair cash value, each item of property to be sold, reduce their appraisement to writing, and sign the same, and deliver it to the officer whose duty it is to make the sale. If they disagree as to the value of any item of property to be sold, the said officer shall, on his official oath, act as umpire in the case, and his decision and that of one of said appraisers shall determine the value of such item. Such appraisement shall be returned by the officer, with the execution, order of sale or other process. Each item of property so appraised shall be sold separately, if the appraised value thereof be more than five dollars; and if, when offered for cash, the highest bid therefor amount to two-thirds or more of its appraised value, the sale thereof shall be for cash. But if no bid be made therefor amounting to two thirds of said appraised value, the same shall then be offered for sale, one-half on a credit of four months, and the residue on a credit of eight months, the purchaser giving his notes

with good security, bearing interest from date for the purchase money; and if, when so offered, a greater sum be bid therefor than was offered in cash, the sale shall be made on credit, as aforesaid; otherwise, the cash bid shall be received therefor. The notes so taken on such sale when made on credit, shall, if not paid to the officer when due, be returned by him to the office of the clerk of the court from which such execution, order of sale or other process issued, who shall endorse thereon the date of such return, and from that day they shall have the force of judgments and executions may be issued thereon by the court upon five days' notice in writing to the person who executed the same, or their personal representatives, if they or any of them be dead. But this section shall not apply to sales for taxes, levies, fines or forfeitures to the state, or to a sale made under any process or order of sale in favor of the state. All moneys paid to such officer on any such note shall be regarded as so much money received by him on the execution, order of sale or other process under which the sale was made, and the officer shall endorse the same on the execution, order of sale or other process, whether the same has been returned or not, at the time such payment is made.

OF PERSONAL ESTATE EXEMPT FROM DISTRESS OR LEVY.

23. Any husband or parent residing in this state, or the widow, or the infant children of deceased parents, may set apart and hold personal property to the value of not exceeding two hundred dollars, to be exempt from execution or other process, except as hereinafter provided. And any mechanic, artisan or laborer residing in this state, whether he be a husband or parent, or not, may hold the working tools of his trade or occupation to the value of fifty dollars exempt from forced sale or execution. Provided, That in no case shall the exemption allowed any one person exceed two hundred dollars.

24. When a debtor claims personal property as exempt under the provisions of this chapter, he shall deliver to the officer holding the execution or other process, a list by separate items with the value of each item, according to the belief of the debtor, of all personal property and estate owned or claimed by him, including money, bonds, bills, notes, claims and demands, with the residence of the person against whom said bonds, bills, notes, claims and demands are, and shall verify such list and valuation by affidavit, which affidavit shall also show that the debtor is entitled to such exemption, and shall specify the character in which he claims to be so entitled, as for example, "that he is a husband." If the value of the property named in said list exceeds, as stated therein, two hundred dollars, the debtor shall state at the fort thereof what part of said property he claims as exempt, as aforesaid; but if such value does not exceed two hundred dollars, as so stated, the claim of exemption shall be held to extend to the whole thereof without more saying; and if no appraisement thereof be demanded, as hereinafter provided,

the property so claimed shall be set apart to the debtor as exempt as aforesaid. If the husband be absent, or incapable of acting, or neg lect or decline to act, the claim may be made, the list delivered and the affidavit made by the wife with the same effect as if made by the husband. The officer shall immediately, upon receipt of the list, exhibit the same to the creditor, his agent or attorney. If the creditor, his agent or attorney, demand an appraisement thereof, within five days after the delivery of the list to the officer, two disinterested householders of the neighborhood shall be chosen, within twenty-four hours of such demand, one by the debtor, his agent or his attorney, or in their absence or failure to act, by his wife, and the other by the creditor, his agent or attorney, and these two, if they cannot agree, shall select a third; but if either party fail to chose an appraiser, or the two fail to select a third, or if one or more of the appraisers fail to act, the officer shall fill the vacancy. 25. The appraisers shall forthwith proceed to make a list by separate items, of the personal estate selected by the debtor, to the value of two hundred dollars, as near as may be, affixing to each item the value they may agree on, and annexing to the list their affidavit to the following effect: "We solemnly swear that, to the best of. our judgement, the above is a fair cash valuation of the property therein described;" which affidavit shall be signed by two appraisers at least, and be certified by some person authorized to administer oaths. The list shall be delivered to the officer holding the execution, order of sale or other process, and be by him annexed to and made part of his return; and the property therein specified shall be exempt from levy and sale, and the other personal estate of the debtor remain subject thereto. The officer shall also annex as part of his return the list specified in the twenty-fourth section. When an attachment or suggestion has been served on a person owing a claim or demand to the debtor which is by him exempted as aforesaid, the officer shall upon request release such claim or demand by giving the debtor, his wife, agent or attorney, a written certificate of such exemption, which certificate shall be delivered to the person owing the claim or demand, who shall thereupon be entitled to pay the same to the debtor. And any officer who shall sell any property so claimed as exempt, after the provisions of the twentyfourth section have been complied with by the debtor, his agent, attorney, or wife, shall forfeit to such debtor double the value of the property so sold, which forfeiture may be recovered from the officer and his sureties in his official bond in any court having jurisdiction in the case. And any officer failing to release any money or property in his control which shall have been exempted as aforesaid, or fail to deliver the same if in his possession, to the debtor, his agent, attorney or wife, upon request, shall forfeit to the debtor five dollars for each day such failure may continue, which forfeiture may be recovered from the officer and his sureties in an action upon his official bond in any court having jurisdiction. In an action on such bond

or on an indemnifying bond taken by such officer, defense may be made on the ground that the debtor was not entitled to exemption as stated in the affidavit accompanying his list.

26. The appraisers shall each be entitled to fifty cents, to be paid by the creditor if it appear that the property claimed by the debtor, as exempt, did not exceed two hundred dollars in value; otherwise to be paid by the debtor.

27. After the death of a husband or parent residing in this state, his widow or minor children, or such of them as there may be,' may select personal estate of the deceased, not exceeding two hundred dollars in value, and hold the same exempt from any debts or liabilities of the husband or parent, contracted or incurred by the deceased in his lifetime. But the personal representative or any creditor of the deceased may have the personal estate so selected appraised as prescribed in the last three sections, and with like effect; and no greater amount than two hundred dollars of the personal estate of the deceased shall be exempt by virtue of this and the four preceding sections; and, if during his lifetime, he had himself set apart personal estate to be exempt from execution and other process, the same shall be subject thereto after his death, so far as it is not selected as · aforesaid by his widow and minor children, or such of them as there may be.

28. No exemption claimed under the five preceding sections, or any of them, shall affect or impair any claim for the purchase money of the personal estate in respect to which such exemption is claimed, or any proceeding for the collection of taxes, or county or district levies.

29. The circuit court of the county, or judge thereof in vacation, on motion of any person aggrieved, may set aside any appraisement made as aforesaid, and order a new appraisement to be made and returned, and appoint appraisers for that purpose, and make such order respecting the costs as may be deemed just.

HOMESTEADS.

30. Any husband or parent residing in this state, or the infant children of deceased or insane parents may hold a homestead of the value of one thousand dollars, subject to the provisions of section forty-eight of article six of the constitution of this state, upon complying with the provisions of the next section of this chapter.

31. Every husband or parent, and every guardian or curator of any infant child or children of deceased or insane parents, desiring to set apart such homestead, may do so by a writing executed and acknowledged in the same manner that deeds are executed and acknowledged, in the following form or to the following effect: "This is to certify that I have set apart as a homestead for my own use, (or for the use of the infant child, or children, of deceased, or who is insane, for whom I am guardian, or curator, as the case may be,) the following real estate,

to-wit: All that certain piece or parcel, (or lot, as the case may be,) of lands situate in the county (or counties as the case may be) of - —, and bounded and described as follows, to-wit: [Here insert such description of the tract or parcel or lot of land as will clearly identify the same,] together with the premises and appurtenances thereunto belonging.

"Witness the following signature and seal, this

18-.

day

[Seal.]"

Such writing, when executed and acknowledged as aforesaid, shall be presented to the clerk of the county court of the county in which such real estate or the greater part thereof may be and the same shall be recorded by said clerk in a book to be provided by the county court and kept by him for that purpose. But no tax shall be charged or paid upon such writing.

32. The real estate so set apart as aforesaid shall from the time such writing as is mentioned in the next preceding section is, or has been, delivered to said clerk for record, be exempt from all debts and liabilities thereafter contracted and incurred, except debts incurred for the purchase money thereof, or for the erection of permanent improvements thereon, and claims for taxes due thereon. But it shall not be exempt from liens and all other debt and liabilities contracted and incurred prior to the delivery of such writing for record as aforesaid. But nothing herein contained shall affect or impair any right acquired under chapter one hundred and ninetythree of the acts of one thousand eight hundred and seventy-two and

three.

33. If the homestead so set apart as aforesaid shall not be of greater value than one thousand dollars, at the time of the execution and recordation of said writing, the same shall not be affected by any increase in the value thereof afterwards, unless such increase is caused by permanent improvements made thereon. But any creditor of the person owning said homestead may file his bill in equity, alleging that the value thereof at the time of the execution and recordation of said writing, was more than one thousand dollars, or that by reason of permanent improvements made thereon since such execution and recordation, the said homestead is of greater value than one thousand dollars, and if the court shall be satisfied, from the proofs in the cause, that the allegations of said bill are true, it shall make such order or decree as may be necessary to subject such excess of value above the sum of one thousand dollars to the payment of the debt or demand of such creditor. And if more than one creditor shall join in said bill, and their debts or claims be of equal priority, the said excess shall be paid pro rata upon the debt or claim of each.

34. In case of the death of a husband or parent owning such homestead, the benefit thereof shall descend to his or her minor children, and shall be held and enjoyed by them as such homestead,