LAWS OF MARYLAND.— 1805.

509

applying for his or her certificate of freedom as aforesaid ; and
the said clerk or register shall keep a registry of each and every
certificate granted by them, or either of them, to any negro or
negroes to whom such certificate have been granted.
See 1807, ch. 164, which directs that no negro shall receive a certificate
of freedom except from the clerk or register of wills of the county where
the deed of manumission or will is recorded.

SEC. 3. And be it enacted, That if any person or persons,
other than the clerks or registers as aforesaid of the several
counties in this state, shall give or grant any certificate of free-
dom to any negro or negroes, he, she or they, shall, upon an
indictment, and being found guilty thereof, either by confes-
sion or verdict of a jury, forfeit and pay not exceeding five hun-
dred dollars for each and every offence, to be applied to the use
of the county where such person shall reside; and if any clerk
or register in any county in this state shall grant a certificate of
freedom to any negro or negroes not entitled to freedom, know-
ing such negro or negroes not to be entitled to freedom, or to
any free negro or free negroes, except such as belong to, or were
manumitted or freed according to the laws of this state, in his
or their respective counties, shall, upon an indictment and con-
viction thereof, forfeit and pay not exceeding five hundred dol-
lars for each and every offence, to be applied as aforesaid.

Penalty on
persons
other than
clerks, &c.
for granting
certificates
of freedom,
and on
clerks, &c.
for granting
them im-
properly.

SEC. 4. And be it enacted, That it shall not be lawful for any
clerk or register of any county in this state to grant a certificate
of freedom to any negro manumitted or freed as aforesaid who
has once obtained a certificate of his or her freedom of such
clerk or register, unless such negro applying for the same shall
make oath, or prove by some credible and disinterested witness,
that he or she, as the case may be, has lost the former certi-
ficate of his or her freedom, granted as aforesaid ; and it shall
be the duty of the said clerk or register to describe the grantee
of such second certificate, in the same manner as is prescribed
in the first section of this act.

A second
certificate
not to be
granted
except on
oath that
the first in
lost.

SEC. 5. And be it enacted. That when any negro or negroes,
who has or have been manumitted or freed as aforesaid, shall
apply to the clerk or register of the county where he, she or
they was or were manumitted or freed as aforesaid, for a certi-
ficate thereof, it shall be the duty of such clerk or register to
cause such applicant or applicants to prove, by such testimony
as shall be satisfactory to such clerk or register, that he or she,
as the case may be, is the identical person who was manumit-
ted or freed as aforesaid.
See note to section 2.

A negro
applying for
certificate,
to prove he
is the per-
son manu-
mitted or
freed.

SEC. 6. And be it enacted, That where any negro or negroes,
born free, shall wish to travel out of, or leave, the county in
which he, she or they, were born, such negro or negroes shall

How certi-
ficates are
to be grant-