LAWS OF MARYLAND.— 1839.

fifty-seven, may in their discretion sentence them to be con-
fined in the said penitentiary for a period not less than eighteen
months, any law to the contrary notwithstanding.

AN additional SUPPLEMENT to the Act of eighteen hundred and thirty-one,
chapter three hundred and twenty-three, entitled, an Act relating to
Free Negroes and Slaves.— 1839, ch. 320.

2343

SEC. 1. Be it enacted, by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That after the passage of this act, no free negro or mulatto,
belonging to or residing in any other state, shall come into this
state, whether such free negro or mulatto intends settling in
this state or not, under the penalty of twenty dollars for the

No negro
permitted
to come
into the
slate.

first offence ; and no free negro or mulatto shall come into this
state a second time where he or she has been arrested under
the provisions of this act, under the penalty of five hundred
dollars, the one-half of the said sum of five hundred dollars to
the informer, and the other half to the sheriff, for the use of
the colonization society of the state of Maryland, to be reco-
vered on complaint and conviction before the county court of
the county, or during the recess, the orphans court of said
county in which he or she shall be arrested ; and any free ne-
gro or mulatto refusing or neglecting to pay said fine, shall be

Penalty for
first offence.
Second
offence.

committed to the jail of the county, and shall be sold by the
sheriff at public sale, to the highest bidder, whether a resident
of this state or not, first giving ten days notice of such sale, to
serve in the character and capacity of a slave ; and the said
sheriff, after deducting prison charges and a commission of ten
per cent, shall pay over one-half of the net proceeds to the
informer, and the balance he shall pay over, if sold in a county
on the eastern shore, to the treasurer of said shore, or if sold
in a county on the western shore, to the treasurer of the
western shore, for the use of the colonization society of the
state of Maryland ; and for all sums of money so received by
the said sheriff, his bond shall be answerable on his failure to
pay the same over, in an action at law in the name of the state
of Maryland, for the use of the parties entitled to receive the
same by this act ; and all sheriffs and constables are hereby re-
quired to arrest any free negro or mulatto, who may come into
this state contrary to the provisions of this act, and all other
persons are authorized to arrest any such free negro or mu-
latto ; and such sheriff, constable, or any other person as may
arrest any free negro or mulatto, who shall have come once
into the state contrary to the provisions of this act, shall be
entitled to the penalty of twenty dollars hereby inflicted, to be
recovered on complaint and conviction as before stated, and
such free negro or mulatto shall pay the said penalty of twenty
dollars, and all jail fees and expenses incident to his or her

Or to be
sold as a
slave.