mit such copy, the said clerk shall forfeit the sum of one hundred How recoverable. dollars, to be recovered on motion by the auditor of public accounts,

Commencement.

Offender to be punished with

petual banish

ment from the United States;

in the general court, upon thirty days notice thereof.

3. This act shall be in force from the passing thereof.

CHAP. 176.-An ACT to provide more effectually for the punishment of slaves, free negroes and mulattoes, found guilty of assaulting and beating, with intention to kill, a white person, and for other purposes.*

(Passed February 21st, 1823.)

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That if any slave, free stripes, and per- negro or mulatto, shall hereafter wilfully and maliciously assault and beat a white person, with an intention in so doing to kill such white person, every such slave, free negro or mulatto, so offending, and being thereof lawfully convicted, shall be adjudged and deemed guilty of felony, and shall be punished by stripes, at the discretion of a jury, where the party tried and convicted is a free negro or mulatto, or the judgment of the court, where the party tried and convicted is a slave; and shall moreover be adjudged to be transand such perported and banished forever from the United States; son shall be accordingly sold under the authority of the executive, in the same manner as is provided by law for the sale of slaves under And if such convict, whether bond or free, And with death, sentence of death.

if he return.

shall at any time after return into this commonwealth, he shall be apprehended, and upon conviction thereof, shall suffer death withOwner of slave to out benefit of clergy. And the owner of any slave sold and transbe paid his value. ported under this act, shall be paid in the same manner as is provided by law for slaves executed under sentence of death.

Commencement.

Reward for apprehending runaway

2. This act shall commence and be in force from and after the first day of May next.

CHAP. 177.-An ACT amendatory to the several acts for apprehending and

securing runaways.t
(Passed February 17th, 1823.)

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That any person who slaves in the states may apprehend any runaway slave in the state of Ohio, Pennsylof Ohio, Pennsylvania or Indiana, who may have eloped from any person residing

vania or Indiana

*Acts 1822-3, ch. 33, p. 36. By the act to amend the penal laws of this conmonwealth, ibid. ch. 32, p. 35, free negroes and mulattoes, previously punishable by law with imprisonment in the penitentiary for more than two years, were subjected to the punishment of stripes, at the discretion of a jury, to be sold as slaves, and transported and banished beyond the United States. By this act, slaves, free negroes, &c. are subjected to the same punishment for maliciously and wilfully assaulting and beating a white person with intent to kill; but by act of 1828, acts 1827-8, ch. 37, p. 29; also post. ch. 183, § 1 and 4, the punishment of free persons of colour is changed again to penitentiary confinement, and so much of all acts inflicting punishment of stripes, transportation, &c. upon free negroes, is repealed.

By the acts of 1824-5, ch. 45, p. 37, § 3, free persons who were banished by former laws, and who return into the state, shall suffer death without benefit of clergy; post. ch. 181, § 2. See acts 1831-2, ch. 22, § 6, p. 21; post. ch. 187, § 6. + Acts 1822-3, ch. 35, p. 37. For the laws concerning runaways confined in jails, see ante. ch. 175, note (a). Rewards for apprehending runaways in other states, and returning them to owners, 2 Rev. Code 1819, ch. 241, §8, p. 286. Penalties for enticing servants or slaves to runaway, and on masters of vessels for carrying them away, acts 1823-4, ch. 35, p. 37; post. ch. 179, § 1,2; search warrant allowed for runaway suspected to be harboured, § 3. See acts 1828-9, ch. 21, p. 25; post. ch. 184; by which act jailors are required to ascertain who are the owners of runaways confined in their jails, and to notify them of such confinement by letter.

Maine, New

within this commonwealth, and deliver such runaway slave either to the owner thereof, or to the keeper of any of the public jails within this state, shall be entitled to a reward of fifty dollars, and twenty cents per mile for travelling from the place where such runaway may be apprehended, to the residence of the owner, or the jail at which such runaway may be delivered. And any person who In the states of may in like manner apprehend any runaway slave in either of the Hampshire, Masstates of Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, sachusetts, Rhode Connecticut, New York or Vermont, or in either of the British cut, New York or provinces, and deliver such runaway to the owner thereof residing within this commonwealth, or to the keeper of any of the public jails of this state, shall be entitled to a reward of one hundred and twenty dollars.

Island, Connecti

Vermont.

before whom such

2. Be it further enacted, That for the better securing such re- Duties of justices wards to the persons apprehending such runaway slaves, it shall be runaways may be the duty of any justice of the peace within this commonwealth, brought. before whom such runaway be brought, to examine such evidence as the taker-up may offer, as to the place where the slave was apprehended; the distance travelled where mileage is allowed; to give a certificate ascertaining the sum due to the taker-up; and if » the owner is not present to receive such slave, and to pay the amount so ascertained, to commit such slave to the jail of his county, there to remain until reclaimed by the owner, and the reward and expenses fully paid, or until such slave is otherwise disposed of, as by law is directed.

allowed, &c. to

hended.

3. Be it further enacted, That the rewards hereby allowed, or Rewards hereby any reward offered by advertisement by the owner, shall operate operate as a lien as a lien on the slave so apprehended; and the keeper of the jail on slave appreto which such slave may be committed, shall be liable to the taker- Responsibility of up for the payment of the same, on the release or delivery of the jailor. slave to the person entitled thereto; or such reward and expenses shall be paid out of the proceeds of the sale of such slave, if not reclaimed within the time prescribed by law; but if the reward of Provision where fered by the owner, exceeds the sum allowed by law, the taker-up owner exceeds the shall not be entitled to receive both.

reward offered by

sum allowed by

law.

ed at a place not

4. Be it further enacted, That if any runaway slave shall be Where the runaapprehended within any of the states herein before mentioned, bor- way is apprehenddering on this commonwealth, at any place not more than twenty more than twenty miles distant from the plantation or place from which such slave miles distant from may have eloped, the person apprehending shall only be entitled to eloped. a reward of twenty-five dollars, and the mileage herein before provided.

that whence he

5. This act shall be in force from and after the passage thereof. Commencement.

CHAP. 178.-An ACT to amend an act, entitled, "an act to reduce into one act, the several acts concerning slaves, free negroes and mulattoes," and for other purposes."

(Passed March 5th, 1824.)

demned to be exe

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That whenever a slave, How slaves concondemned to be executed, shall have made his or her escape from cuted, who shall jail, before the day appointed for his or her execution, and shall have escaped from jail before day of have been afterwards retaken, it shall be the duty of the jailor of execution, and

been retaken, shall

Acts 1823-4, ch. 34, p. 36. The second section of this act is omitted, it pro- be identified. viding simply for the disposition of Sam, a negro slave, condemned to death, and who had made his escape; directing him to be sold and transported.

court to be carried

into effect.

the county or corporation, by whose court the said slave shall have been condemned, on receiving him or her into his custody, forthwith to give notice to a justice of the peace for said county or corporation, who shall issue his warrant, directed to the sheriff or sergeant thereof, to summon a court, in like manner as is prescribed by law for the trial of slaves charged with felony, for the purpose Sentence of former of identifying such criminal; and upon such identity being proven, to carry into effect the sentence of the former court. The court, thus summoned, shall order such further day for the execution of Provision in case the said convict, as to them shall seem proper; and if the said court shall fail to meet, such proceedings shall be had concerning the proof of the said convict's identity, and the appointment of a day for his or her execution, at the next term of the county or corporation court aforesaid, as would have been proper and legal at the court summoned as herein before directed. Such court shall have power to adjourn the proceedings aforesaid, from term to term, for good cause shewn. (a)

the court sum

moned, fail to

meet.

Proceeding may

be adjourned from

term to term.

Penalty on owners

of slaves of unsound mind, &c.

port.

3. Be it further enacted, That every master or owner of a slave of unsound mind, or aged or infirm, who shall permit such slave permitting them to to go at large, without adequate provision for his or her support, so go at large without adequate sup- that such slave must be dependent on charity, trespass or theft for support, shall forfeit and pay for every such offence a fine, not exceeding fifty dollars and moreover it shall be the duty of the overseers of the poor of any county or corporation where such slave shall be found, to provide for the maintenance of every such slave, Recovery against to charge the master or owner with a sum, quarterly or annually, such owner of mo-sufficient for that purpose, and to recover the same by motion in any court of record having jurisdiction thereof on ten days notice. 4. This act shall be in force from and after the passage thereof.

ney sufficient for

that purpose.

Commencement.

Penalty for enti

or advising any

runaway; or,

ing a runaway servant or slave.

CHAP. 179.-An ACT concerning servants and slaves."

(Passed February 25th, 1824.)

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That any cing, persuading free person or persons, his, her or their aiders or abettors, who shall servant or slave to be convicted before any justice of the peace, or any county or corknowingly em. poration court, or any superior court of law for any county or corploying or harbor- poration within this commonwealth, of enticing, persuading or advising any servant or slave away from home, or from the employment of the owner or person properly in possession of such servant or slave, or of employing any servant or slave knowing the same to have been so enticed away, or of harboring or employing any runaway slave or servant, knowing the said slave or servant to be a runaway, shall each of them, upon such conviction, be condemned to pay forthwith a sun not exceeding twenty, nor less than ten dollars, one half for the informer and the other half for the literary fund, and upon failure so to pay the same, shall thereupon receive on his, her or their bare backs, not more than twenty nor less than ten lashes, and the person or persons so convicted shall also pay Liability also, to the costs of the trial; and shall moreover be liable to the party inperson injured for damages. jured for damages therefor.

(a) For the mode prescribed for the trial of slaves charged with felony, see 1 Rev. Code 1819, ch. 111, § 32, 33, 34, 35. Former provision for the identification of slaves condemned and retaken after escape, ibid. § 36.

*Acts 1823-4, ch. 35, p. 37. Former laws on the subject of runaways, ante. ch. 175, 177.

skippers of ves

2. Nothing in this act contained, shall in any manner take away Penalties imposed or impair any of the penalties imposed on masters and skippers of on masters and vessels by the act passed on the second of March, eighteen hun- sels, by former law, not taken dred and nineteen, entitled, "an act to reduce into one the several away or impaired acts concerning slaves, free negroes and mulattoes," and every by this act. penalty incurred or to be incurred by any master or skipper of a vessel, under the thirtieth, thirty-first, fifty-second and eighty-fourth sections of that act, may be recovered in the manner prescribed by

the eighty-sixth section of the same act; nor shall any thing in this Farther proviso. section be construed to take away or impair any other penalty imposed by the before recited act, except that imposed by the sixtyninth section thereof; or to take away or impair any penalty imposed by any other act or part of an act in relation to slaves. (a)

lowed for runaway

nate plantation,

search is to be

owners of slaves

county or corpora

3. And be it further enacted, That if any person shall make Search warrant aloath before a justice of the peace for any county or corporation, slave suspected to that he has good cause to suspect, and verily believes that a runa- be harboured. way slave is harboured within said county or corporation, such justice shall thereupon issue a warrant to the person so applying for the same, authorizing a search for said slave; and if such slave shall be found and apprehended, he or she shall be dealt with and disposed of as is directed by an act, entitled, "an act to reduce into one act the several acts for apprehending and securing runaways:" Provided always, That all warrants which may issue in Warrant to desigvirtue of this act, shall designate the plantation or lot, and the &c. in which house or houses, in which the search is intended to be made.(b) made. 4. Be it further enacted, That whenever the master or owner of How masters or any slave shall desire to confine him in the jail of any county or may have them corporation within this commonwealth, it shall be lawful for any confined in the justice of the peace, in such county or corporation, upon the appli- tion jail. cation of such master or owner or his agent, to grant a warrant to the jailor, authorizing him to receive such slave into his custody and to confine him in said jail; provided such justice be of opinion that such slave may be so confined without public inconvenience: it shall thereupon be lawful for the jailor to receive such person into his custody, and to keep him in the jail aforesaid, until he shall be released by lawful authority from his master or owner, until the public convenience shall require his discharge: Provided, however, Proviso. That no slave so committed, shall be confined at any time in the same apartment with any free white person, or with any prisoner charged with a criminal offence, and that if any injury be done to the jail by any slave confined under the authority of this act, or any prisoner be aided in his escape by any slave so confined, or any injury to the health of the prisoners be produced by the confinement of such slave, or any other mischief, public or private, result therefrom, the jailor, owner or master of the slave, and all other persons concerned, shall be amenable therefor to public prose

(a) 1 Rev. Code 1819, ch. 111, § 30, 31, p. 428, § 52, pp. 432, 433, § 84, p. 443, § 86, pp. 443, 444. The 69th section referred to declares it a misdemeanor for a free person to harbour a slave, to be punished as in other cases of misdemeanors, and be liable to the party for damages; and inflicts corporal punishment on slaves for the same offence. The first section of this act provides for the case embraced in the 69th section of the revised act, and extends its provisions. Further provisions, acts 1826-7, ch. 26, p. 23; post. ch. 182. (b) See 2 Rev. Code 1819, ch. 241, pp. 284-287.

Commencement.

Punishment of rape of a white woman by a free

cution, and private action, in the same manner, as if this act had never passed.(c)

5. This act shall commence and be in force from and after its passage.

CHAP. 180.-An ACT to amend the act, entitled, "an act to reduce into one act the several acts declaring the punishment in case of rape."'*

(Passed January 6th, 1825.)

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That if any free negro or mulatto do ravish a white woman, married, maid or other, where negro or mulatto. she did not consent before nor after; or shall ravish a white woman, married, maid or other, with force, although she consent after; the person so offending shall be adjudged a felon, and shall suffer death, as in case of felony, without benefit of clergy; any law, custom or usage, to the contrary notwithstanding.

Commencement.

Punishment of free negroes, &c. for petit larceny.

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

CHAP. 181.-An ACT to amend the act, entitled, "an act farther to amend the penal laws of this common wealth."t

(Passed February 18th, 1825.)

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly, That if any free negro or mulatto, after the first day of March next, shall feloniously take, steal and carry away any goods or chattels, under the value of ten dollars, or any other thing under the value of ten dollars, the stealing whereof is made felony by law, he or she so offending, shall be deemed guilty of petit larceny, and shall in all respects be subject to the same proceeding, trial, conviction, sentence and punishment, as are now prescribed by law, for free persons guilty of petit larceFor grand larceny. ny;(a) and, if after the said first day of March, any free negro or mulatto shall feloniously take, steal and carry away any goods or chattels to the value of ten dollars or upwards, or any other thing to the value of ten dollars or upwards, the stealing wherof is made felony by law, he or she so offending, shall be deemed guilty of grand larceny, and, being thereof duly convicted, shall be punished by stripes, sale, transportation and banishment, in the manner prescribed by the third section of the act, passed on the twentyfirst of February, eighteen hundred and twenty-three, entitled, "an act farther to amend the penal laws of this commonwealth."(6) 2. Be it further enacted, That if any person banished from this commonwealth, under the provisions of this act, or of the aforesaid act, passed the twenty-first day of February, eighteen hundred and twenty-three, shall, after such banishment, and after the first day of April next, voluntarily return within the limits of this state, or vo

For returning into the state after banishment.

(c) See ante. ch. 145, § 11-13, p. 205; ch. 146, p. 206.

Acts 1824-5, ch. 23, p. 22. Former law punished this offence on the part of a slave with castration, I Rev. Code 1819, ch. 158, § 4, p. 585. By the acts of 1822-3, ch. 34, p. 37, § 3. a slave guilty of the attempt to ravish a white female is adjudged guilty of felony, and punishable by hanging; the section is inserted elsewhere in this supplement to preserve, if possible, the acts entire, By the second section of the same act, slaves are punished by stripes at the discretion of the court, or a magistrate, for trespasses upon private property, or injuries to public buildings, grounds and appurtenances, ibid. § 2.

Acts 1824-5, ch. 45, p. 37.

(a) Amended, acts 1831-2, ch. 22, § 9, p. 22; post. ch. 187, § 9.

(b) The section referred to, is found acts 1822-3, ch. 32, § 3, p. 35, but it is repealed by acts 1827-8, ch. 37, p. 29; post. ch. 183, § 1 and 4.