Fugitive Slaves (1619-1865)McDougall, Marion Gleason
History
Fugitive Slaves (1619-1865)
McDougall, Marion Gleason
Fugitive slaves -- United States; Slavery -- Law and legislation -- United States
"_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled_, That the persons who have
been, or may hereafter be, appointed commissioners, in virtue of any act
of Congress, by the Circuit Courts of the United States, and who, in
consequence of such appointment, are authorized to exercise the powers
that any justice of the peace, or other magistrate of any of the United
States, may exercise in respect to offenders for any crime or offence
against the United States, by arresting, imprisoning, or bailing the
same under and by virtue of the thirty-third section of the act of the
twenty-fourth of September seventeen hundred and eighty-nine, entitled
'An Act to establish the judicial courts of the United States,' shall
be, and are hereby, authorized and required to exercise and discharge
all the powers and duties conferred by this act.
"SEC. 2. _And be it further enacted_, That the Superior Court of each
organized Territory of the United States shall have the same power to
appoint commissioners to take acknowledgments of bail and affidavits,
and to take depositions of witnesses in civil causes, which is now
possessed by the Circuit Court of the United States; and all
commissioners who shall hereafter be appointed for such purposes by the
Superior Court of any organized Territory of the United States, shall
possess all the powers, and exercise all the duties, conferred by law
upon the commissioners appointed by the Circuit Courts of the United
States for similar purposes, and shall moreover exercise and discharge
all the powers and duties conferred by this act.
"SEC. 3. _And be it further enacted_, That the Circuit Courts of the
United States, and the Superior Courts of each organized Territory of
the United States, shall from time to time enlarge the number of
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; and 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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