for

intercourse with a white woman, by personating her husband; for any person to raise an insurrection or rebellion in this State; any person who had been transported under sentence, to return to this State within the period of prohibition contained in the sentence.

Felonies with benefit of clergy.

*

3. Either of the crimes specified in this third section shall be felony with benefit of clergy, to wit: * * ** for any servant to steal any chattel, money, or valuable security to the value of ten dollars, belonging to or in the possession or power of his master or employer, or being in any dwelling-house.

4. The punishment of felony, with benefit of clergy, for the first offence, shall, at the discretion of the court, be by one or more of the following modes, to wit: Transportation beyond the limits of this State, and prohibition of return for a period not less than five years; confinement in a penitentiary, workhouse, or penal farm for a period not less than three months nor more than ten years, with such imposition of hard labor and solitary confinement as may be directed; whipping in all cases involving the crimen falsi; confinement in tread-mill or stocks, solitary confinemert, hard labor, corporal punishment; fine not less than one hundred dollars nor more than five thousand dollars. But no punishment more degrading than imprisonment shall be imposed on a white person for a crime not infamous.

5. The offences specified in this fifth section shall be aggravated misdemeanors, to wit: * * * for any servant to steal any chattel, money, or valuable security, below the value of ten dollars, belonging to, or in the possession or power of, his master or employer, or being in any dwelling-house; for a servant to assault his master or employer, or any member of his master's or employer's family, or any person authorized to direct and control him.

6. All simple larcenies and thefts where the value of the goods and chattels, moneys, and valuable securities stolen is less than ten dollars shall be misdemeanors, punishable by whipping, corporal punishment, hard labor, and the necessary imprisonment, at the discretion of the court.

9. If any person shall incite, procure, hire, or counsel a servant to commit a larceny or embezzlement of any chattels, money, or valuable security of his master, such offender shall be guilty of an offence which, according to the event, may be a misdemeanor or a felony. If the said larceny or embezzlement should not be committed by such servant, the offender shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction be punished as if he had been convicted of simple larceny of goods below the value of ten dollars. If the said larceny or embezzlement should be committed by the servant, and be itself only a misdemeanor, the offender aforesaid shall be deemed a principal in that misdemeanor, and upon conviction be punished accordingly. If the said larceny or embezzlement committed by the servant should be a felony, the offender aforesaid shall be an accessory before the fact, may be tried and convicted, whether the principal aforesaid be or be not previously convicted, and upon conviction shall be punished according to the nature of his crime under the law.

10. A person of color who is in the employment of a master engaged in husbandry shall not have the right to sell any corn, rice, peas, wheat, or other grain, any flour, cotton, fodder, hay, bacon, fresh meat of any kind, poultry of any kind, animal of any kind, or any other product of a farm, without having written evidence from such master, or some person authorized by him, or from the district judge, or a magistrate, that he has the right to sell such product; and if any person shall directly or indirectly purchase any such product from such person of color without such written evidence, the purchaser and seller shall each be guilty of a misdemeanor. The purchaser, upon conviction of any

such offence, shall be liable to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, and to suffer imprisonment not exceeding twelve months. The seller shall be liable to a fine of at least five dollars, and at least equal to twice the value of the product sold; and if that be not immediately paid shall suffer corporal punishment.

11. It shall be a misdemeanor for any person not authorized to write or give to a person of color a writing which professes to show evidence of the right of that person of color to sell any product of a farm which, by the section last preceding, he is forbidden to sell without written evidence; and any person convicted of this misdemeanor shall be liable to the same extent as the purchaser, in the section last preceding, is made liable; and it shall be a misdemeanor for a person of color to exhibit, as evidence of his right to sell any product, a writing which he knows to be false or counterfeited, or to have been written or given by any person not authorized, and on conviction of this misdemeanor before the district court, or a magistrate, such person of color shall be liable as in section last preceding the seller is made liable. These provisions shali, mutatis mutandis, extend to cases where the writing professes to be a permit of absence, or a permit of any kind; the fines in any of these cases being at the discretion of the judge or magistrate.

12. Where no special punishment is provided for a misdemeanor it shall, according to its nature and degree, be punished, at the discretion of the court, by one or more of the modes of punishment which, in the fourth section of this act, have been enumerated for a felony, with benefit of clergy, except transporta

tion.

13. Persons of color constitute no part of the militia of the State, and no one of them, without permission in writing from the district judge, or a magistrate, shall be allowed to keep a fire-arm, sword, or other military weapon, except that one of them who is the owner of a farm may keep a shot-gun or rifle, such as ordinarily is used in hunting, but not a pistol, musket, or other fire-arm or weapon appropriate for purposes of war. The district judge or any magistrate may give an order under which any weapon unlawfully kept may be seized and sold, the proceeds of sale to go into the district court fund. The possession of a weapon in violation of this act shall be a misdemeanor which shall be tried before a district court or a magistrate, and in case of conviction shall be punished by a fine equal to twice the value of the weapon so unlawfully kept, and if that be not immediately paid, by corporal punishment. 14. It shall not be lawful for a person of color to be owner, in whole or in part, of any distillery where spirituous liquors of any kind are made, or of any establishment where spirituous liquors of any kind are sold by retail; nor for a person of color to be engaged in distilling spirituous liquors, or in retailing the same, in a shop or elsewhere. A person of color who shall do anything contrary to the provisions herein contained shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction may be punished by fine or corporal punishment and hard labor, as to the district judge or magistrate before whom he may be tried shall seem meet.

15. If any person shall falsely personate any master or employer, and shall either personally or in writing give any false, forged, or counterfeited character to any person offering to hire himself as a servant, such person so offendiag shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

16. If any person shall knowingly and wilfully pretend, or falsely assert in writing, that any servant has been hired or retained for any period of time whatsoever, or in any station or capacity whatever, other than that for which or in which such servant shall have been hired or retained, such person so of fending shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

17. If any person shall knowingly and wilfully pretend, or falsely assert in writing, that any servant was discharged or left his service at any other time than that at which he was discharged or actually left such service, or that any

such servant had not been hired or employed in any person's service, contrary to truth, then, in either of these cases, such person shall be guilty of a misde

meanor.

18. If any person shall offer himself as a servant, asserting or pretending that he hath served in any service in which he shall not actually have served, or with a false, forged, or counterfeit certificate of his character, or shall in any wise add to, alter, efface, or erase any date, matter, or thing contained in or referred to in any certificate given to him by his last or former actual master or employer, or by any other person duly authorized by such master or employer to give the same, then, in either of these cases, such person so offending shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

19. If any person, having before been in service, shall, when offering to hire himself as a servant in any service whatsoever, falsely and wilfully pretend not to have been hired and retained in any previous service as a servant, such person shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

20. In case of conviction of either of the misdemeanors specified in the five sections last preceding, the punishment shall be a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars, and in case the fine shall not be immediately paid, there shall be substitution of other punishments as hereinafter provided.

21. Every wilful trespass is hereby declared to be a misdemeanor, and any person guilty thereof may either be sued for damages or prosecuted for the misdemeanor, at the option of the party injured; and in case of conviction of the misdemeanor, the punishment shall be a fine, apportioned to the damage done and the circumstances of enormity attending the trespass, with substitution of other punishment as hereinafter provided, if the fine be not immediately paid.

22. No person of color shall migrate into and reside in this State unless, within twenty days after his arrival within the same, he shall enter into a bond, with two freeholders as sureties, to be approved by the judge of the district court or a magistrate, in a penalty of one thousand dollars, conditioned for his good behavior and for his support, if he should become unable to support himself. And in case any such person shall fail to execute the bond as aforesaid, the district judge or any magistrate is hereby authorized and required, upon complaint and due proof thereof, to issue bis warrant, commanding such person of color to leave the State within ten days thereafter. And if any such person so ordered to leave the State shall not leave the State within the time prescribed in such warrant, he shall, upon conviction thereof, be liable to such corporal punishment as the court, in its discretion, shall think fit to order. And if any such person, so convicted and punished, shall still remain within the State more than fifteen days after the punishment shall have been inflicted, or, having left the State, shall return to the same, he shall, upon conviction thereof, be transported beyond the limits of this State for life, or be kept to hard labor, with occasional solitary confinement, for a period not exceeding five years. And if any person of color who shall have been convicted of any infamous offence in any other State or country shall come or be brought into this State, such person of color, on conviction thereof, shall be transported beyond the limits of this State for life, or kept to hard labor, with occasional solitary confinement, for any period not exceeding fifteen years.

24. When several persons of color are convicted of one capital offence, the jury which tries them may recommend one or more of them to mercy, for reasons which, in their opinion, mitigate the guilt; the district judge may report the case, with his opinion; and the governor shall do in the matter as seems to him meet. The same may be done when only one is convicted of a capital offence. Before sentence of death shall be executed in any case time for application to the governor shall be allowed.

25. Hard labor shall be work on the roads, streets, or public works, under the supervision of a superintendent of convicts, if there be such an officer who can.

be conveniently employed, or under the supervision of the sheriff, a constable, jailer, or other person, that may be appointed by the district judge or the sheriff; or it shall be work on any building or other undertaking, or in any business of a private individual, who may pay reasonable wages, and can safely be intrusted with the supervision, the judge or the sheriff, under the directions of the district judge, making choice of the place and manner of employment from time to time. In any case the work may, according to the directions of the judge, be without unusual pain or restraint; or it may be done in a chain-gang. or with ball and chain, or under other pain or burden, or it may be without, or may be attended with confinement. A magistrate shall, as to cases before him, have the powers here given to the district judge.

26. Corporal punishment is intended to include only such modes of punishment, not affecting life or limb, as are used in the army or navy of the United States, adapted in kind and degree to the nature of the offence. The sentence in each case, and directions of the judge or magistrate, shall define it. Whipping, when it is provided for by the law, shall be inflicted as heretofore.

29. Upon view of a misdemeanor committed by a person of color, or by a white person towards a person of color, a magistrate may arrest the offender, and, according to the nature of the case, punish the offender summarily, or bind him, in recognizance with sufficient sureties, to appear at the next monthly sitting of the district court, or commit him for trial before the district court.

30. Upon view of a misdemeanor committed by a person of color, any person present may arrest the offender and take him before a magistrate to be dealt with as the case may require. In case of a misdemeanor committed by a white person towards a person of color, any person may complain to a magistrate, who shall cause the offender to be arrested, and, according to the nature of the case, to be brought before himself, or be taken for a trial in the district court. Approved December 19, 1865.

AN ACT to establish district courts.

7. The district court shall have exclusive jurisdiction, subject to appeal of all civil causes where one or both of the parties are persons of color, and of all criminal cases, wherein the accused is a person of color, and also of all cases of misdemeanor affecting the person or property of a person of color, and of all cases of bastardy, and all cases of vagrancy, not tried before a magistrate. In these cases, the same laws, fees, powers and practice shall prevail in the district couri as in the superior court, except as to juries, concerning which provision is hereinafter made, and except as to matters of form, concerning which power is hereinafter given to the court of appeals. In the district court prosecutions shall be conducted by the attorney general, or solicitor of the circuit, to which the district belongs, or by a deputy appointed by such attorney general, or solicitor; or in the absence of all of these, by an attorney, appointed by the district judge. Whenever in any case affecting the person or property of a person of color, which arises within the district of a district judge, that judge may have an interest, the process may be made returnable and the case be tried before the district court of any adjoining district, which the plaintiff or actor in the case may select.

10. The judge of a district court shall have the powers in respect to habeas corpus which two magistrates have under the ninth section of the "act concerning the office and duties of magistrates," passed A. D. 1839; he may admit to bail in all cases bailable, and in all cases triable in his court, and may also exercise jurisdiction under habeas corpus at common law, in all cases within his district where the liberty of a person of color is restrained, or the liberty of any person is restrained by a person of color; except that he shall not have the power

of a judge of a superior court to discharge or let to bail a white person charged with a felony not clergyable, against whom a true bill has been found.

14. On the first Monday of every month shall be a monthly sitting of the district court, which shall continue as long as the despatch of business shall require. At this sitting may be tried small and mean causes; small matters, civil and criminal, between persons of color; between white persons and persons of color, between master and servant, between master and apprentice, and between employer and laborer. Petty misdemeanors imputed to persons of color, complaints by persons of color against white persons, of misdemeanors, for which a fine not exceeding twenty dollars is a sufficient punishment, civil suits involving not more than twenty dollars, in which a person of color is a party, and questions concerning vagrants and paupers, not requiring a jury.

of

29. An indictment against a white person for the homicide of a person color shall be tried in the superior court of law, and so shall all other indictments in which a white person is accused of a capital felony, affecting the person or property of a person of color.

30. In every case, civil and criminal, in which a person of color is a party, or which affects the person or property of a person of color, persons of color shall be competent witnesses.

31. A magistrate shall have jurisdiction over small disputes, controversies, and complaints that may arise in his neighborhood between persons of color, or between persons of color and a white person, and of petty misdemeanors, committed by, or toward, a person of color; between master and servant, between master and apprentice, and between employer and laborer; and civil suits, involving not more than twenty dollars, in which a person of color is a party; his power in no case going beyond a judgment, fine, or forfeiture of twenty dollars. He specially shall be charged with the supervision of persons of color in his neighborhood, their protection, the prevention of their misconduct and depredations; and a cautious regard to the peace, health, and safety of his neighborhood.

33. Questions of color and caste shall, subject to the right of appeal on either side, be conclusively determined by a verdict rendered upon an issue of fact, joined in a case of prohibition or mandamus. The writ in such case may be granted upon application made by, or in behalf of, any person alleged to be a person of color, against any sheriff, magistrate, or other officer who is proceeding in a way that would be proper toward a person of color, but not proper toward a white person, or who refuses at the instance of the person in question to do what a white person would have a right to demand to be done. It may be granted by any judge of a superior court, or by the judge of the district court to whose district the officer belongs, the burden of proof being, by the order of the judge, thrown upon that party against whom his opinion inclines, according to the judgment which he may form upon inspection of the person in question, affidavits, or documents. The issue shall be tried in the superior court of law for the district aforesaid. Inspection of the person in question, and of his kindred, testimony direct or from reputation, concerning his parentage, and direct testimony concerning his conduct and reception in society, may enter into the evidence. The attorney general or solicitor of the circuit shall, ex officio, represent the officer, the party in issue. A judicial proceeding, not such as is here made conclusive, previously had, in a case wherein the person in question was a party, or wherein his caste was collaterally tried in a case between other parties, may be received in evidence, but shall not be conclusive, or have weight beyond what, under the circumstances, the jury may give.

34. An action or legal proceeding not involving the title to land, in which a person of color is plaintiff or defendant, must be commenced as below specified, or it will be barred, namely: An action founded upon a tort, within three months from the time the cause of action arose; an action founded upon a con