ACTS OF TENNESSEE 1803, CHAPTER 70:

"An Act to erect the counties of Davidson and Williamson into three separate and distinct counties."

SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE, That the counties of Davidson and Williamson be divided by a line as follows:  Beginning on the Williamson line, on the extreme height of the ridge dividing the waters of Mill Creek from those of Stone's River; thence with that ridge a southwardly direction to the eastern boundary line of said Williamson County; thence with said line south to the south boundary of this state; thence with the boundary of the state, east to the corner of Wilson County; thence with the Wilson County line north to the corner of said county; thence with the line of said county north sixty one and a half degrees west to the southwest corner of said Wilson County; thence a direct course to the mouth of Sugg's Creek; thence a direct line to the beginning.  And the county so laid off on the east and southeast on the waters of Stone's River, agreeably to the above described lines, be known and distinguished by the name of Rutherford.

SECTION 2. BE IT ENACTED, For the due administration of justice, that the court of said county of Rutherford shall be held by the justices of said county on the first Mondays in March, June, September and December; and the justices of said county are hereby authorized and empowered to hold the first court for the same, at the house of Thomas Rucker; and all subsequent courts for said county on the days above mentioned, for holding courts therein, at any place to which the said justices shall from court to court adjourn, until a court house shall be built for said county of Rutherford; and then all causes, matters and things depending in said court, and all manner of process returnable to the same, shall be adjourned to such court house; and all courts held in and for said county, shall be held by commission to said justices in the same manner and under the same rules and restrictions, and shall have and exercise the same power and jurisdiction as are or shall be prescribed for the courts of the several counties in this state.

SECTION 3. BE IT ENACTED, That the said county of Rutherford be and is hereby declared a part of the district of Mero, in the same manner and for all purposes, civil and military, as it did previous to a division: PROVIDED, that nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to prevent the sheriff or collector of the taxes of Davidson or Williamson counties from collecting the same within the limits of the said county of Rutherford, which are at this time due, in the same manner as if this act had not been passed.

Passed on October 25, 1803