| 1789.
CHAP.
XLIV. |
LAWS of MARYLAND.
of perjury; or of being accessary to any of the said crimes to which
by law
there can be an accessary; that the said justices may pass such judgment
as the
law requires for such crimes; or they may, in their discretion, adjudge
any free
male person, or any male servant or apprentice, convicted before them of
any of
the crimes above enumerated, to serve and labour for any time, in their
discretion,
not exceeding seven years for the same crime, on the public roads of the
said county, or in making, repairing, or cleaning the streets, or bason
of Baltimore-town;
and the said justices may procure a proper place or places for the confinement
of such criminals, and may appoint and employ a fit and proper person
or
persons to take care of such criminals, and to keep them (and if necessary
secure
them in irons) to constant and hard labour, according to their age, health,
and
strength of body, and to cause the said criminals to be cloathed with necessary
and coarse apparel, and fed with bread and coarse meat, and water, and
not allowed
any kind of strong liquor, except only as a medicine, by the prescription
of a physician, who may be employed by the said justices to attend and
furnish
medicines to the said criminals; and the said justices may compel any of
the said
criminals to wear such badge, or mark of distinction, as they shall direct;
and
any one of the said justices shall have full power to order any of the
said criminals
to be close confined, and whipped, not exceeding thirty-nine lashes, for
any misconduct,
or refusal or neglect to labour, and to be fed with bread and water only,
for such time as the said justice shall direct. |
And on females
for like
offences, &c. |
XI. And be it
enacted, If any free female person, or any female servant or
apprentice, shall be convicted before the said justices of any of the
crimes above
enumerated, that the said justices may pass such judgment as the law
requires
for such crime, or they may, in their discretion, adjudge such free
male person,
or female servant or apprentice, convicted before them of any of the crimes
above enumerated, to serve and labour for any time in their discretion,
not exceeding
seven years for the same crime, in some place of confinement; and the
said justices may procure a proper place or places for the confinement
of such
female criminals, and may appoint and employ a fit and proper person or
persons
to take care of such criminals, and to keep them to constant labour,
according
to their age, ability, and strength of body, by assigning them daily tasks
in
picking of oakum, or in cultivating or beating and hackling hemp or flax,
or in
manufacturing wool, hemp or flax, or in knitting or sewing, or other similar
employment, and such female shall be cloathed and fed, and prohibited strong
liquor, in like manner as male criminals; and the said justices may compel
any of
the said female criminals to wear such badge or mark of distinction as
they shall
direct; and any one of the said justices shall have full power to order
any of the
said female criminals o be close confined and whipped, not exceeding fifteen
lashes, for any misconduct, or refusal or neglect to labour, and to
be fed with
bread and water only, for such time as the said justice shall direct. |
Certain persons
declared
felons, &c. |
XII. And be
it enacted, If any person shall on purpose, and of malice aforethought,
unlawfully cut out or disable the tongue, put out an eye, slit the nose,
cut off the nose or lip, or cut off or disable any limb or member, of any
free
person, servant or apprentice, with intention in so doing, to maim or disfigure,
in any of the manner aforesaid, such person, that then and in every such
case
the person or persons so offending, their counsellors, aiders and abetters,
shall
be and are hereby declared to be felons, and shall be punished with death,
as in
cases of felony without benefit of clergy; provided always, that the said
justices
may also adjudge to serve and labour as aforesaid, all such persons convicted
or
any of these offences, in the same manner as those convicted of other felonies. |
On slaves convicted,
justices
to pass sentence,
&c. |
XIII. And be
it enacted, If any slave shall be convicted before the said justices
of any of the crimes above enumerated, and for which, by law, such slave
would be liable to suffer death, and if any slave shall be convicted of
wilfully
burning any dwelling-house, or of any of the crimes enumerated in the act
of
assembly passed in the year seventeen hundred and fifty-one, entitled,
An act for
the more effectual punishment of negroes and other slaves, and for taking
away
the benefit of clergy from certain offenders, and a supplementary act
to an act, |
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