594

LAWS OF MARYLAND.— 1809.

issue seems not to be settled with sufficient legal precision;
therefore,

Persons

manumit-
ing slaves
after a cer-
tain period
or event,
may deter-
mine the
condition
of issue
born before.

SEC. 2. Be it enacted, by the General Assembly of Maryland,
That from and after the first day of February, eighteen hundred
and ten, if any negro or mulatto female slave, by testament or
last will, or deed of manumission, shall be declared to be free
after any given period of service, or at any stipulated age, or
upon the performance of any condition, or on the event of any
contingency, it shall be lawful for the person making such last
will and testament, or executing such deed of manumission to fix
and determine in the same the state and condition of the issue
that may be born of such negro or mulatto female slave during
their period of service.

If they do
not deter-
mine their
condition,
issue to be
slaves.

SEC. 3. And be it enacted, That if any person after the first
day of February aforesaid, shall make a last will and testament,
or execute any deed of manumission, whereby any negro or
mulatto female slave shall be declared free after a service for
years, or at any specified age, or upon the performance of any
condition, or on the event of any contingency, and such person,
in their said last will and testament, or deed of manumission,
shall not fix or limit the state and condition of the issue that
may be born of such negro or mulatto female slave, that then
the state and condition of such issue shall be that of a slave,
any law, usage or custom to the contrary notwithstanding.

CHAPTER 172.

AN ACT to continue certain Acts of Assembly.

Acts
continued.

Be it enacted, by the General Assembly of Maryland, That all
and every act or acts of assembly, which are limited by law to
continue to the end of the present session of assembly, or which
would expire during the same, or before the end of the next
general assembly, be and they are hereby severally continued
until the thirty-first day of October next, and until the end of
the next session of assembly, unless such as are repugnant to,
or inconsistent with, any law which may have passed during
the present session of assembly, and subject to any alterations

Proviso.

which may have been made therein ; Provided, nothing herein
contained shall be construed to extend to the act of assembly
passed at November session, in the year eighteen hundred and

*Chap. 19.

eight,* entitled, a further supplement to the act, entitled, an act
for regulating the mode of staying executions, and repealing the
acts of assembly therein mentioned, and for other purposes, or

t Chap. 115,

to the several supplements to the said original act, passed at

tt Chap. 15.

the same session, t and at June session, eighteen hundred and
nine. tt