CHAP.
IX.
No Duty
payable by
Inhabitants,
or new Settlers
on Importation
of
their own
proper domestic
Slaves.
But they shall
be entered
with the Naval
Officer,
and Security
given not to
be disposed of
for 3 Years,
&c.
If sold by an
Executor,
&c. within
that Time,
Duty shall be
paid.
Who shall be
deemed Inhabitants. |
all Negroes, for raising a Fund for the Use of the Public Schools
within the several
Counties of this Province, an Imposition was laid of Twenty Shilling
Current
Money per Poll on all Negroes imported into this Province. But forasmuch
as it hath been represented to this General Assembly as an Aggrievance
and
Hardship, that any the Inhabitants within this Province, having Estates
in
any of the neighbouring Colonies, cannot have the Liberty of removing their
Negroes from their Plantations in any the neighbouring Colonies, to work
upon
their Lands and Plantations in this Province, without paying the Impositions
mentioned in the aforementioned Acts; and likewise that it very much
tends to the hinderance and preventing of many considerable Families from
coming into and settling in this province, that upon their coming they
must
be obliged to pay the impositions as aforesaid, for all their domestic
Slaves:
For Remedy whereof, it is prayed that it may be Enacted;
II. And be it
Enacted, by the Right Honourable the Lord Proprietary, by
and with the Advice and Consent of his Lordship's Governor, and the Upper
and
Lower Houses of Assembly, and by the Authority of the same, That from
and after
the End of this present Session of Assembly, no Person or Persons now inhabiting,
or that shall hereafter import themselves with their Families to settle
and inhabit within this province, and shall have Occasion to bring into,
or
import with them, any Negro or Negroes, being their own proper and domestic
Slaves, and designed to be kept and employed by them in their own Service,
shall be liable to pay the Imposition Money laid on all Negroes imported
into this Province by the aforementioned Acts: Provided the Owner
of such
Negroes, shall, within Two Days after the importation of such Negro or
Negroes, repair tot eh Naval Officer of the respective Port whereunto such
Negroes shall be imported into this Province, and make due Entry of such
Negro or Negroes by their proper Names, as their proper domestic Slaves;
and likewise give Bond, with one good Security, to be taken in his Lordship's
Name, by such Naval Officer, in the Sum of Five Hundred POunds Current
Money, that such Owners shall not sell or dispose of any such Negro or
Negroes,
for and during the Space of Three Years after such Entry made as aforesaid:
And the Naval officer, upon making such Entry and taking Bond
as aforesaid, is hereby enjoined to give such Owners a Certificate of their
having made due Entry of such Negroes, and giving Bond. Which Certificate
shall be a sufficient Justification and Exemption to the Owner of such
Negroes, from paying the Impositions on Negroes aforementioned: And
such
Owner is hereby obliged to pay the Naval Officer for every such Entry,
Bond
and Certificate, the usual Fees allowed them by Act of Assembly.
III. And forasmuch
as it may so happen, that upon the Death of the
Owners of Negroes entered and exempted from paying the Duties as aforesaid,
such Negroes may fall into the Hands of the Executors or Administrators,
within the Time above limited, who may be under a Necessity of selling
and disposing of such Negroes, that then, in every such Case, such Executor
or Administrator, first paying to the Naval Officer of the said Port the
Imposition Money of Twenty Shillings Sterling, and Twenty Shillings Currency,
laid on Negroes by the aforementioned Acts, and taking a permit from
such Naval Officer, may, within the Time by this Act limited, sell and
dispose
of such Negroes; any thing in this Act to the contrary notwithstanding.
IV. And for
removing any Doubts or Disputes that may hereafter arise
concerning the Persons who shall be taken for, and deemed Inhabitants of
this Province, so as to reap the Benefit and Advantage of the several Laws
as
Inhabitants; It is hereby Declared, That
no other person is hereby intended,
but such as have actually lived and inhabited within this Province for
the
full Term of Three Years; and that they only shall reap the Benefits and |
