LAWS OF MARYLAND.— 1796.

843

which shall be intended to take place in future, 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 gain a suffi-
cient livelihood and maintenance, 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 re-
side, 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 of the respective county courts within this state shall, im-
mediately upon the receipt of such instrument, endorse the time
of his receiving the same, and shall well and truly enrol such
deed or instrument in a good and sufficient book, in folio, to be
regularly alphabeted in the names of both parties, and to remain
in the custody of the said clerk for the time being among the
records of the respective county courts ; and that the said clerk
shall, on the back of every such 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.

SEC. 30. And be it enacted. That a copy of such record, duly
attested under the seal of such office, shall at all times hereafter
be deemed, to all intents and purposes, good evidence to prove
such freedom.

A copy
good evi-
dence, &c.

SEC. 31. And be it enacted, That an act passed at April
session, seventeen hundred and eighty-three, chapter twenty-
three, entitled, an act to prohibit the bringing of slaves into this
state, and an act passed at November session, seventeen hun-
dred and ninety, chapter nine, entitled, an act to repeal certain
parts of an act, entitled, an act to prevent disabled and superan-
nuated slaves being set free, or the manumission of slaves by
any last will and testament, and of a supplementary act thereto,
and for certain other porposes, and an act passed at November
session, seventeen hundred and ninety-one, chapter fifty-seven,
entitled, a supplement to the act, entitled, an act to prohibit the
bringing slaves into this state, and to alter and amend parts of
the said act, and an act passed at November session, seventeen
hundred and nine-one, chapter seventy-five, entitled, an act

Several acts
repealed.