Fugitive Slave Act(1850)
(Approved, September 18, 1850.)
And be it further enacted, That the Circuit Courts of
the United States shall from time to time enlarge the number
of the commissioners, with a view to afford reasonable
facilities to reclaim fugitives from labor, and to the
prompt discharge of the duties imposed by this act.
SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the
commissioners above named shall have concurrent jurisdiction
with the judges of the Circuit and District Courts of the
United States, in their respective circuits and districts
within the several States, and the judges of the Superior
Courts of the Territories, severally and collectively, in
term-time and vacation; shall grant certificates to such
claimants, upon satisfactory proof being made, with
authority to take and remove such fugitives from service or
labor, under the restrictions herein contained, to the State
or Territory from which such persons may have escaped or
fled.
SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That any
person who shall knowingly and willingly obstruct, hinder,
or prevent such claimant, his agent or attorney, or any
person or persons lawfully assisting him, her, or them, from
arresting such a fugitive from service or labor, either with
or without process as aforesaid, or shall rescue, or attempt
to rescue, such fugitive from service or labor, from the
custody of such claimant, his or her agent or attorney, or
other person or persons lawfully assisting as aforesaid,
when so arrested, pursuant to the authority herein given and
declared; or shall aid, abet, or assist such person so owing
service or labor as aforesaid, directly or indirectly, to
escape from such claimant, his agent or attorney, or other
person or pergons legally authorized as aforesaid; or shall
harbor or conceal such fugitive, so as to prevent the
discovery and arrest of such person, after notice or
knowledge of the fact that such person was a fugitive from
service or labor as aforesaid, shall, for either of said
offences, be subject to a fine not exceeding one thousand
dollars, and imprisonment not exceeding six months, by
indictment and conviction before the District Court of the
United States for the district in which such offence may
have been committed, or before the proper court of criminal
jurisdiction, if committed within any one of the organized
Territories of the United States;
...and shall moreover forfeit and pay, by way of civil
damages to the party injured by such illegal conduct, the
sum of one thousand dollars for each fugitive so lost as
aforesaid, to be recovered by action of debt, in any of the
District or Territorial Courts aforesaid, within whose
jurisdiction the said offence may have been committed.
SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That,
upon affidavit made by the claimant of such fugitive, his
agent or attorney, after such certificate has been issued,
that he has reason to apprehend that such fugitive will be
rescued by force from his or their possession before he can
be taken beyond the limits of the State in which the arrest
is made, it shall be the duty of the officer making the
arrest to retain such fugitive in his custody, and to remove
him to the State whence he fled, and there to deliver him to
said claimant, his agent, or attorney. And to this end, the
officer aforesaid is hereby authorized and required to
employ so many persons as he may deem necessary to overcome
such force, and to retain them in his service so long as
circumstances may require. The said officer and his
assistants, while so employed, to receive the same
compensation, and to be allowed the same expenses, as are
now allowed by law for transportation of criminals, to be
certified by the judge of the district within which the
arrest is made, and paid out of the treasury of the United
States.
Taken from: Barnett Hollander. Slavery in America: Its Legal
History. London: Bowes and Bowes, 1962: 39-41.
|
