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LAWS OF MARYLAND.— 1838.

it be made before a justice of the peace in any other county

than that in which the transfer of stock is proposed to be made,

the clerk of the county court of the county where the said jus-

tice resides, shall certify under the seal of the said court that the

said justice at the time of said acknowledgment was duly

commissioned and sworn.

CHAPTER 63.

AN ACT to provide for the Recapture of Fugitive Slaves.

Escape

SEC. 1. Be if enacted, by the General Assembly of Maryland,

made
felony.

That from and after the passage of this act, any negro slave

who shall escape from this state into the District of Columbia,

or into any of the states of this Union against the will and con-

sent of his master or owner, with a view to escape from such

servitude, shall upon sufficient evidence of such facts be deemed

guilty of felony.

On convic-

SEC. 2. And be it enacted. That upon conviction of the

tion thereof.

offence prescribed in the first section of this act on an indict-

ment by the grand jury of the county or city from which such

slave shall have escaped, the said slave shall be sold, after ten

Sale di-

days' notice, by the sheriff of such county or city, to the highest

rected.

bidder, and after deducting the necessary expenses for arrest,

Proceeds to

detention and conviction of such slave, the balance shall be

be paid over

delivered to the master, mistress, or owner of such slave.

On evi-

SEC. 3. And be it enacted, That upon evidence of the fact

dence of
the fact of
escape.

of such escape afforded either by affidavit, before any person
authorized to administer the same in this state or by indictment

Governor
shall de-
mand such

by any grand jury of this state, being furnished to the governor
of this state, by the master, mistress or owner, or any person

slave from
such state

duly authorized by them to make such claim, it shall be the

as a fugitive

duty of the governor |o demand such slave from the proper

from justice

authority in the District of Columbia, or from the governor of

the state into which such slave may have escaped as a fugitive

from justice.

Purchaser

SEC. 4. And be it enacted, That the purchaser of such slave,

of such slave

under the provisions of the second section of this act, shall be,

ahall bond
to remove

and he is hereby required to file in the office of the clerk of the

him from
the state,
&c.

county or city in which said slave* shall be made, a bond to
the state of Maryland, in the penalty of the sum for which said

(*sale)

slave shall be sold, to remove him or her from the state of

Maryland, and in default of the execution of such bond by the

first purchaser, the said slave shall be again exposed to sale,

and shall not be delivered out of the custody of the sheriff,

until such bond shall have been filed by the party purchasing.