a refusal on the part of said apprentice so to return, then said justice shall commit said apprentice to the jail of said county, on failure to give bond, until the next term of the probate court; and it shall be the duty of said court at the next term thereafter to investigate said case, and if the court shall be of opinion that said apprentice left the employment of his or her master or mistress without good cause, to order him or her to receive such punishment as may be provided by the vagrant laws which may then be in force in this State, until he or she shall agree to return to his or her master or mistress: Provided, That the court may grant continuances, as in other cases: And provided, That if the court shall believe that said apprentice had good cause to quit the employment of his or her master or mistress, the court shall discharge such apprentice from said indenture, and may also enter a judgment against the master or mistress for not more than one hundred dollars, for the use and benefit of said apprentice, to be collected on execution, as in other cases.

SEC. 5. Be it further enacted, That if any person entice away any apprentice from his or her master or mistress, or shall knowingly employ an apprentice, or furnish him or her food or clothing, without the written consent of his or her master or mistress, or shall give or sell said apprentice ardent spirits, without such consent, such person, so offending, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars.

SEC. 6. Be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of all civil officers, of their respective counties, to report any minors within their respective counties to said probate court. who are subject to be apprenticed under the provisions of this act, from time to time, as the facts shall come to their knowledge; and it shall be the duty of said court, from time to time, as said minors shall be so reported or otherwise come to its knowledge, to apprentice said minors, in case of males until twenty-one years old, and in case of females until eighteen years old, as hereinbefore provided.

SEC. 7. Be it further enacted, That in case any master or mistress of any apprentice may desire, he or she shall have the privilege to summon his or her apprentice to the probate court, and he or she, on good and satisfactory cause shown to said court, and on proof that said apprentice will not be injured thereby, shall be released from all liability as master or mistress of said apprentice, and his or her bond shall be cancelled, and it shall be the duty of the court forthwith to reapprentice said minor; and in the event that any master or mistress of any apprentice shall die before the close of the term of service of said apprentice, it shall be the duty of the court to give the preference in reapprenticing said minor to the widow or other member of said master's or mistress's family: Provided, That said widow or other member of said family be a suitable person for that purpose.

SEC. 8. Be it further enacted, That in case the master or mistress of any apprentice, bound to him or her under this act, shall be about to remove or shall have removed to any other State of the United States, by the laws of which such apprentice may be an inhabitant thereof, the probate court of the proper county may authorize the removal of such apprentice to such State upon the said master or mistress entering into bond with security, in a penalty to be fixed by the judge, conditioned that said master or mistress will, upon such removal, comply with the laws of such State in such cases: Provided, That said master or mistress shall be cited to attend the court at which such order is pro posed to be made, and said apprentice shall have the right to resist the same by next friend or otherwise.

SEC. 9. Be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for any parent having a minor child or children to apprentice the said minor child or children as provided for by this act.

SEC. 10. Be it further enacted, That in all cases where the age of the minor

cannot be ascertained by record testimony the judge of probate shall fix the

same.

SEC. 11. Be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect and be in force from and after its approval: Provided, That before any one shall be apprnticed under this law, if said minor shall have a father or mother living in said county, the probate judge shall notify said parent of the time of such apprenticing, who may, by proof, show his ability to support his or her child, or that the proposed master is an improper person to act as master of said apprentice. Approved February 23, 1866.

FLORIDA.

AN ACT prescribing additional penalties for the commission of offences against the State, and for other purposes.

SEC. 6. Be it further enacted, That if any person or persons shall assault a white female, with intent to commit a rape, or be accessory thereto, he or they shall, upon conviction thereof, suffer death.

SEC. 12. Be it further enacted, That it shall not be lawful for any negro, mulatto, or other person of color to own, use, or keep in his possession, or under his control, any bowie-knife, dirk, sword, fire-arms, or ammunition of any kind, unless he first obtain a license to do so from the judge of probate of the county in which he may be a resident for the time being; and the said judge of probate is hereby authorized to issue such license upon the recommendation of two respectable citizens of the county, certifying to the peaceful and orderly character of the applicant; and any negro, mulatto, or other person of color so offending, shall be deemed to be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall forfeit to the use of the informer all such fire-arms and ammunition, and, in addition thereto, shall be sentenced to stand in the pillory for one hour, or be whipped, not exceeding thirty-nine stripes, or both, at the discretion of the jury.

SEC. 13. Be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the judge of probate to keep an accurate register of all licenses so issued as aforesaid, and at each regular meeting of the board of county commissioners to lay the same before them, for their supervision, who shall have power to revoke any licenses which, in their opinion, may have been granted to improper persons.

SEC. 14. Be it further enacted, That if any negro, mulatto, or other person of color shall intrude himself into any religious or other public assembly of white persons, or into any railroad car or other public vehicle set apart for the exclusive accommodation of white people, he shall be deemed to be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be sentenced to stand in the pillory for one hour, or be whipped, not exceeding thirty-nine stripes, or both, at the discretion of the jury; nor shall it be lawful for any white person to intrude himself into any religious or other public assembly of colored persons, or into any railroad car or other public vehicle set apart for the exclusive accommodation of persons of color, under the same penalties.

Approved January 15, 1866.

AN ACT in addition to an act entitled "An act to amend the act entitled 'An act concern ing marriage licenses,' approved January 23, 1832."

SECTION 1. Be it enacted, That if any white female resident within this State shall hereafter attempt to intermarry, or shall live in a state of adultery or fornication, with any negro, mulatto, or other person of color, she shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined in a sum not exceeding one thousand dollars, or be confined in the public jail not exceeding three months, or both, at the discretion of the jury, and shall, moreover, be disqualified to testify as a witness against any white person.

SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That if any negro, mulatto, or other person of color shall hereafter live in a state of adultery or fornication with any white female resident of this State, he shall be deemed to be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined in a sum not exceeding one thousand dollars, or be made to stand in the pillory for one hour and be whipped not exceeding thirty-nine stripes, or both, at the discretion of the jury.

SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, That every person who shall have one-eighth or more of negro blood, shall be deemed and held to be a person of color.

SEC. 4. Be it further enacted, That in existing cases, upon petition to the circuit judge, parties coming within the provisions of this act, and liable to be punished under the same, may, by order and judgment of said judge, be relieved from the penalties thereof, when, in his opinion, justice and equity shall so require.

SEC. 5. Be it further enacted, That in all cases where marriages have been heretofore contracted and solemnized between white persons and persons of color, and where the parties have continued to live as man and wife, the said marriages are hereby legalized, and neither of the parties shall be subject to the provisions of this or any other act.

Approved January 12, 1866.

AN ACT to establish and enforce the marriage relation between persons of color. Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the State of Florida in general assembly convened, That it shall be required of all the colored inhabitants of this State claiming to be living together in the relation of husband and wife, and who have not been joined as such agreeably to the laws regulating the same, and who shall mutually desire to continue in that relation, within nine months from the passage of this act, to appear before some person legally authorized to perform the marriage ceremony, and be regularly joined in the holy bonds of matrimony. And if any such person, either male or female, after the expiration of the time limited in this act, shall be found cohabiting as husbund and wife, and who have not been so joined together, they, and each of them, shall be deemed to be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be subfected to the pains and penalties prescribed by the statute for the punishment of fornication and adultery.

SEC 2. Be it further enacted, That the issue of such prior cohabitation shall be legitimated by the act of marriage, so regularly contracted as aforesaid, and be thenceforth entitled to all the rights and privileges of a legitimate offspring. SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, That for the purpose of perpetuating the evidence of such marriages as may take place under the provisions of this act, it shall be the duty of the clerk of the circuit court of the county in which the ceremony may have been performed, upon application of the parties and a tender of his legal fees, to enter the certificate of marriage, upon the register of marriage licenses in his office.

SEC. 4. Be it further enacted, That if any person shall practice a fraud upon any person of color, by illegally assuming to perform the marriage cere

mony for them, he or they, their aiders and abettors, shall be deemed to be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined in a sum not exceeding one thousand dollars, or be imprisoned for a term not exceeding six months, or be made to stand in the pillory not exceeding one hour, at the discretion of the jury.

SEC. 5. Be it further enacted, That from and after the expiration of the time limited in this act, all laws applicable to, or regulating the marriage relation be tween white persons, shall be deemed to apply to the same relation between the colored population of this State.

Approved January 11, 1866.

AN ACT in relation to contracts of persons of color.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the State of Florida in general assembly convened, That all contracts with persons of color shall be made in writing, and fully explained to them, before two credible witnesses, which contract shall be in duplicate, one copy to be retained by the employer, and the other filed with some judicial officer of the State and county in which the parties may be residing at the date of the contract, with the affidavit of one or both witnesses, setting forth that the terms and effect of such contract were fully explained to the colored person, and that he, she or they had voluntarily entered into and signed the contract, and no contract shall be valid unless so executed and filed: Provided, That contracts for service or labor for less time than thirty days may be made by parol.

SEC. 2. And whereas it is essential to the welfare and prosperity of the entire population of the State that the agricultural interest be sustained and placed upon a permanent basis, it is therefore enacted, That when any person of color shall enter into a contract as aforesaid, to serve as a laborer for a year or any other specified term on any farm or plantation in this State, if he shall refuse or neglect to perform the stipulations of his contract by wilful disobedience of orders, wanton impudence, or disrespect to his employer or his authorized agent, failure or refusal to perform the work assigned him, idleness or abandonment of the premises or the employment of the party with whom the contract was made, he or she shall be liable upon complaint of his employer or his agent, made under oath before any justice of the peace of the county, to be arrested and tried before the criminal court of the county, and upon conviction shall be subject to all the pains and penalties prescribed for the punishment of vagrancy: Prorided, That it shall be optional with the employer to require that such laborer be remanded to his service instead of being subjected to the punishment aforesaid: Provided further, That if it shall on such trial appear that the complaint is not well founded, the court shall dismiss such complaint and give judgment in favor of such laborer against the employer for such sum as may appear to be due under the contract, and for such damages as may be assessed by the jury.

SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, That when any employé as aforesaid shall be in the occupancy of any house or room on the premises of the employer, by virtue of his contract to labor, and he shall be adjudged to have violated his contract, or when any employé as aforesaid shall attempt to hold unlawful possession of his house or room beyond the term of his contract, against the consent of the employer, it shall be the duty of the judge of the criminal court, upon the application of the employer, and due proof made before him, to issue his writ to the sheriff of the court, commanding him forthwith to eject the said employé, and to put the employer into full possession of the premises: Provided, Three days' previous notice shall be given to the employé of the day of trial. SEC. 4. Be it further enacted, That if any person employing the service or labor of another, under contract, entered into as aforesaid, shall violate his

contract by refusing or neglecting to pay the stipulated wages or compensation agreed upon, or any part thereof, or by turning off the employé before the expiration of the term, unless for sufficient cause, or unless such right is reserved by the contract, the party so employed may make complaint thereof before the judge of the criminal court, who shall at an early day, on reasonable notice to the other party, cause the same to be tried by a jury to be summoned for the purpose, who, in addition to the amount that may be proved to be due under the contract, may give such damages as they in their discretion may deem to be right and proper, and the judgment thereon shall be a first lien on the crops of all kinds in the cultivation of which such laborer may have been employed: Provided, That either party shall be entitled to an appeal to the circuit court, as in cases of appeal from justices of the peace.

SEC. 5. Be it further enacted, That if any person shall entice, induce, or otherwise persuade any laborer or employé to quit the services of another to which he was bound by contract, before the expiration of the term of service stipulated in said contract, he shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, shall be fined in a sum not exceeding one thousand dollars, or shall stand in the pillory not more than three hours, or be whipped not more than thirty-nine stripes on the bare back, at the discretion of the jury.

SEC. 6. Be it further enacted, That the provisions of this act shall be applied to all contracts between employers and employés relating to the lumber, rafting, or milling business, and to all other contracts with persons of color to do labor and to perform service.

Approved January 12, 1866.

SECTION 3. Be it further enacted, That this act shall not be construed to authorize the testimony of colored persons to be taken by depositions in writing, or upon written interrogatories, otherwise than in such manner as will enab e the court and jury to judge of the credibility of the witness. Approved January 16, 1866.

AN ACT to extend to all the inhabitants of the State the benefits of the courts of justice and the processes thereof.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the senate and house of representatives of the State of Florida in general assembly convened, That the judicial tribunals of this State, with the processes thereof, shall be accessible to all the inhabitants of the State, without distinction of color, for the prosecution and defence of all the rights of person and property, subject only to the restrictions contained in the constitution of the State.

SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That all laws heretofore passed with reference to slaves, free negroes, and mulattoes, except the act to prevent their migration into the State, and the act prohibiting the sale of fire-arms and ammunition to them, and all the criminal laws of this State applicable to white persons now in force, and not in conflict with or modified by the legislation of the present session of the general assembly, shall be deemed and held to apply equally to all the inhabitants of the same without distinction of color. Approved January 11, 1866.

Ex. Doc. 6-12