600

LAWS OF MARYLAND.— 1810.

gaol delivery for Baltimore county, upon suggestion, in writing,
by the person or persons against whom such writ or petition
has or may issue or be filed, or the plaintiff or petitioner, as the
case may be, supported by competent testimony, that the person
or persons by whom the said writ or petition has or may be
issued or filed, is or are descended from a female ancestor who
was held in bondage at the time of his or her nativity, in a
county different from that in which the said writ or petition is
depending, or may be brought, and that testimony, material and
competent in the trial of the said writ or petition, can be had in
the county where the said ancestor was held in bondage at the
time of his or her nativity, to order and direct the record of their
proceedings in such writ or petition to be transmitted to the
judges of the county court of the county where the said ances-
tor was held in bondage as aforesaid, and the judges of the
county court to whom the said record shall be transmitted, shall
hear and determine the same in like manner as if the same had
originally been brought or filed therein.
* By 1816, ch. 193, all the powers, &c. of this court are transferred to
and vested in Baltimore city court.

Record
may also
be trans-
mitted to
county
where
owner
resides.

SEC. 3. And be it enacted, That where any petitions for free-
dom have or may be filed hereafter in any county court of this
state, or in the court of oyer and terminer and gaol delivery for
Baltimore county,* by any petitioner who was or shall be in
the county where the said petition was or may be filed by per-
mission of his or her owner, which said owner was or shall not
be an actual resident of the county where the said petition was
or may be filed at the time when the same was or may be
filed, the said county court, or court of oyer and terminer
and gaol delivery for Baltimore county, are hereby author-
ized and required, upon suggestion in writing, supported by
' competent testimony, that the person thus claiming to be the
owner of the said petitioner had actually held the said petitioner
in bondage, and that the said petitioner was in the county
where the said petition has been or may be filed by the permis-
sion of his owner, and that the said owner is not, or was not,
an actual resident of the county where and when the said peti-
tion was or may be filed, to permit the said owner to appear and
defend the said action, and to order and direct the record of the
proceedings on such petition to be transmitted to the court of
the county where the said owner resided at the time when the
said petition was or may be filed, and the judges of the county
court to whom the said record shall be transmitted, shall hear
and determine the same in like manner as if such petition had
originally been filed therein.
*See note to sec. 2.