Grand Jury, to issue their Warrant against such Master, Mistress, Owner
or
Owners of such Slave or Slaves, and to cause such master, Mistress,
Owner
or Owners of such Slave or Slaves, to appear before them; and if upon
Examination
in a summary Way, it shall appear to such Court, that such Master,
Mistress, Owner or Owners of such Slave or Slaves, did not provide
necessary
Food and Cloathing, or did suffer such Slave or Slaves to depart and
wander,
contrary to the Intent and Meaning of this Act, such Court is hereby
directed
and impowered to cause such Master, Mistress, Owner or Owners of
such Slave or Slaves, to enter into Recognizance, in the Penalty of
Four
POunds Current Money, to be taken to, and in the Name of, the Right
Honourable
the Lord Proprietary for the Time being, and his Successors, for the
Use of such County; with Condition, That such Master, Mistress, Owner
or
Owners of such Slave or Slaves, his, her, or their Executors or Administrators,
shall provide sufficient Food and Cloathing for such Slave or Slaves,
during
the Continuance of this Act, and shall not suffer such Slave or Slaves
to depart
or wander, contrary to the Intent and Meaning of this Act. Provided,
That if any Slave or Slaves shall run away or abscond from the Service
of
his or her Master, Mistress, Owner or Owners, contrary to the Will
of such
Master, Mistress, Owner or Owners, such Running away and Absconding
shall
not be construed, deemed, or taken to be a departing and wandering
within
the Intent and Meaning of this Act.
V. And to
the End that hereafter there may be an uniform and regular
Manner of granting Freedom to Slaves; Be
it likewise Enacted, That where
any Person or Persons, possessed of any Slave or Slaves within this Province,
who are or shall be of healthy Constitutions, and sound in Mind and Body,
capable by Labour to procure to him or them sufficient Food and Raiment,
with other requisite Necessaries of Life, and not exceeding Fifty Years
of
Age, and such Person or persons possessing such Slave or Slaves as
aforesaid,
and being willing and desirous to set Free or Manumit such Slave or Slaves,
may, by Writing under his, her, or their Hand and Seal, evidenced by Two
good and sufficient Witnesses at least, grant to such Slave or Slaves,
his, her,
or their Freedom: Any that and Deed or Writing, whereby Freedom shall
be given or granted to any such Slave, which shall be intended to take
place,
in futuro, shall be good to all Intents, Constructions, and Purposes
whatsoever,
from the Time that such Freedom or Manumission is intended to commence
by the said Deed or Writing, so that such Deed and Writing be not in
Prejudice of Creditors, and that such Slave, at the Time such Freedom or
Manumission shall take place or commence, be not above the Age aforesaid,
and be able to Work, and gains a sufficient Livelihood and Maintainance,
according
to the true Intent and Meaning of this Act; which Instrument of
Writing shall be Acknowledged before One Justice of the Peace of the County
wherein the Person or Persons, granting such Freedom, shall reside; which
Justice shall endorse on the Back of such Instrument, the Time of the Acknowledgment,
and the Party making the same; which he, or they, or the
Parties concerned, shall cause to be entered among the Records of
the County
Court where the Person or Persons granting such Freedom shall reside, within
Six Months after the Date of such Instrument of Writing: And the
Clerk
or Clerks of the respective County Courts within this Province, shall,
immediately
upon the Receipt of such Instrument, endorse the Time of his receiving
the same, and shall well and truly enroll such Deed or Instrument in
a good and sufficient Book in Folio, and be regularly Alphabeted in the
Names
of both parties, and to remain in the Custody of the said Clerk or
Clerks,
for the Time being, among the Records of the respective County Courts;
and that the said Clerk or Clerks shall, on the Back of every Instrument,
in a full legible hand, make an Endorsement of such Enrolment, and also
of the Folio of the Book in which the same shall be enrolled, and to
such
Endorsement set his Hand, the Person or Persons requiring such Entry, paying
the usual and legal Fees for the same.
|
CHAP.
I.
and obliged
by the Court
to give Security,
&c.
Proviso, with
regard to
Slaves running
away,
or absconding.
Slaves may
be set Free by
Writing under
Hand
and Seal, &c.
so that such
Deed be not
in Prejudice
of Creditors,
nor the Slaves
be above 50
Years of Age,
nor incapable
of Maintaining
themselves
by Labour.
Such Deed to
be Acknowledged,
and Recorded
in 6 Months. |
