Fugitive Slaves (1619-1865)

by Marion Gleason McDougall

31. Maryland:—Runaways and their entertainers.

1666, May. "An Act providing against Runaways, and all such as shall Entertayn them. Whereas there was an act providing against Runnawaies made in the year 1650, and another act made in the year 1662, both which acts being adjudged insufficient Satisfaccion for the reparacion of their respective Masters, mrssrse, Dame, or overseers damages sustained by their servt running from them, Be it enacted by the right hon'ble, the Lord Proprietary, by and with the consent of the upper and Lower House of this present general assembly, that from and after the publicacion hereof any Servant or Servants whatsoever unlawfully absenting themselves from their said Master, Mistress, Dame, or overseer, shall serve for every day 10. And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid that any Master, Mistress, dame, or Overseer that shall entertain any servant unlawfully absenting himselve as aforesaid, having been forewarned by the Master, mistress, Dame, or Overseer of the said servant, shall be fined for the first night five hundred pounds of Casked tobacco, for the second one thousand pounds of casked tobacco, for every other night fifteen hundred pounds of casked tobacco, the one half to the Lord Proprietor, the other to the informer, or them that shall sue for the same within any Court of Record within this province, to be Recovered by action of debt, plaint or Informacion wherein no Essoyne, protection or wager of Lawe to be allowed, Provided that this Act nor anything therein conteynd shall not be adjudged to the predudice of any person or persons that shall apprehend any Runaway servants who are hereby required to use the best endeavors to Convey them to their owners or next justice of the peace to be conveyed from constable to constable until they be delivered to their said owners, if then living within this province. This act to continue for 3 years, or to the end of the next general assembly which shall first come."—0 Maryland Archives, Assembly Proceedings, 147.

32. New Jersey—Fugitive servants.

1668, May 30. Acts passed and assented unto by the Governor, Council, and Burgess of the General Assembly of the Province of New-Caesarea, or New Jersey, the 30th Day of May, Anno Domini 1668. "Concerning Fugitives, It is Enacted by the same Authority, that every Apprentice and Servant that shall depart and absent themselves from their Master and Dames, without leave first obtained, shall be judged by the Court to double the Time of such their Absence, by future Service over and above other Damages and costs which Master and Dame shall sustain by such unlawful Departure.

"And it is also enacted, that whosoever shall be proved to have transported, or to have contrived the Transportation of any such Apprentice or Servant shall be fined Five Pounds, and all such Damages as the Court shall Judge, and that the Master or Dame can make appear, and if not able, to be left to the Judgement of the Court."—0 New Jersey Laws, 82.

33. Virginia:—Runaways.

1668, September. Act IV. About Runawayes. Moderate corporal punishment inflicted by the master or magistrate shall not deprive the master of the satisfaction allowed by the law.—Statutes at Large, Hening, Laws of Virginia, II. 266.

34. Virginia:—Runaways.

1669, October. Act VIII. Against Runawayes. "Be it therefore enacted that whosoever apprehends any runaways, whether servant by indenture, custome or covenant, not haveing a legall passe, by those in every county that shall be appointed to give passes, or a note from his master, shall have a thousand pounds of tobacco allowed him by the publique, which tobacco shall be repaid by the service of the servant to the country when free from his master, and by the hired ffreeman immediately after expiration of his covenant to the man that apprehends."

"And be it further enacted that he that takes up such runaway is hereby enjoyned first to carry him before the next justice who is to take cognizance of his good service, and to certify it in the next assembly, and then to deliver him to the constable of the parish where that justice dwells, who is to convey him to the next constable, till he be retorned to his master, and that each constable upon receipt of such runaway give his receipt, and if escape be made from any constable, the delinquent constable to pay one thousand pounds of tobacco; and for the reimbursing the publique with the tobacco disbursed to the taker up." —0 Statutes at Large. Hening, Laws of Virginia, II. 273.