454 Assembly Proceedings, July 10-August 8, 1729.

Session
Laws
p. 2

And forasmuch as it hath happened, that the first in Commission
of the said Council, thro' Sickness, or other Means, could not attend
the Court of Appeals, by reason whereof, some Inconveniencies and
Delays to Business have been,
Be it Enacted, by the Right Honourable the Lord Proprietary, by
and with the Advice and Consent of His Lordship's Governour, and
the Upper and Lower Houses of Assembly, and the Authority of the
same, That in Case the Governour, and first in Commission of His
Lordship's Council, be absent from the Court of Appeals, the Senior
Councillor then present in Court, shall preside; and the said Court
shall and may hear and determine any Matter before them, whether
in Law or Equity, in the same Manner they might by the said Acts
have done, in Case the Governour, or first in Commission, was ac-
tually present: And that the Judgment of those who shall be present,
shall be as effectual, as if it were given by the Governour, or first
nominated in His Lordship's Commission: Provided, there be Five
Members of the said Court present
And be it further Enacted, by the Authority aforesaid, by and
with the Advice and Consent aforesaid, That Appeals from the
Court of Chancery, to the Court of Appeals, shall be subject to the
same Regulation and Limitation, as to the Prosecution of them, as
Appeals from the Courts of Common Law are: Any Law, Statute,
Usage, or Custom to the contrary, notwithstanding.

Chap. IV

An Act for the more effectual Punishing of Negroes, and other
Slaves; and for taking away the benefit of Clergy from certain
offenders.

Whereas several petit Treasons, and cruel and horrid Murders,
have been lately committed by negroes which Cruelties they were in-
stigated to commit, and hereafter may be instigated to commit with
the like Inhumanity, because they have no Sense of shame or Appre-
hension of future Rewards or Punishments. And that the Manner
of executing Offenders, prescrib'd by the Laws of England, is not
sufficient to deter a People from committing the greatest Cruelties,
who only consider the Rigour and Severity of Punishment :
Be it therefore Enacted, by the Right Honourable the Lord Pro-
prietary, by and .with the Advice and Consent of His Lordship's
Governour, and the Upper and Lower Houses of Assembly, and the
Authority of the same, That when any Negroe, or other Slave, shall
be convict, by Confession or Verdict of a Jury, of any Petit-Treason,
or Murder, or wilfully burning of Dwelling-Houses; it shall and
may be lawful for the Justices before whom such Conviction shall
be, to give Judgment against such Negroe, or other Slave, to have
the right Hand cut off, to be hang'd in the usual Manner, the Head
severed from the Body, the Body divided into Four Quarters, and