At a much later date than that which we are considering an act was passed providing for the payment to the owner of a condemned slave, out of the state treasury, of an amount equal to one-half his assessed value, to be paid as soon as he was executed. Wherever it was found necessary to examine a free negro or slave, as a witness in any trial, no oath whatever was administered. He was charged by the court to declare the truth in the following words: "You are brought here as a witness, and, by direction of the law, I am to tell you, before you give your evidence, that you must tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth; and if it be found hereafter that you tell a lie, and give false testimony in this matter, you must, for so doing, have both your ears nailed to the pillory, and cut off, and receive thirty-nine lashes on your bare back, well laid on, at the common whipping post." It did not conclude "So help you God." The crime of perjury has always been regarded as peculiarly heinous, and we find it punishable here more severely than any other non-capital offense. The penalty was as indicated in the charge, to "have one ear nailed to the pillory, and there to stand for the space of one hour, and then the said ear to be cut off, and thereafter the other ear nailed in like manner, and cut off at the expiration of one other hour," in addition to the thirty-nine lashes prescribed. However, notwithstanding the mandatory language of the statute and of the charge, this punishment would seem to have been discretionary, for the act concludes, "or such other punishment as the court shall think proper, not extending to life or limb." Be that as it may, it is safe to conclude that no such punishment was ever inflicted, and we can find nothing in any of the books tending to show that it was ever resorted to. It was only permissible for an owner to emancipate a slave by and with the consent of the Legislature, and then only by proving that such slave had "performed some meritorious act for the benefit of the owner or some distinguished service for the state." The courts were always open to a negro held as a slave who claimed to be entitled to his freedom,--though no person being a member of any emancipation society could sit as a juror in the trial of such causes. While one of the earliest slave laws of which we have any record was that prohibiting the importing of slaves for sale, it was also made unlawful for a free negro to come into the state to live; and in 1831 an act was passed requiring every free negro between the ages of sixteen and fifty to remove from the state forever. But this was not followed by a general exodus, for the act contained a clause which allowed the negro to obtain from the Probate Court permission to remain in the state, upon a showing made of "good character and honest deportment,"--though it was always exacted that every free negro should be duly registered in the county of his residence.