Masters continued to emancipate their slaves regardless of this prohibition. A class of negroes grew up that were neither slave nor free. They were free from their masters, but the state had not consented to their emancipation and continued residence within its borders. In 1852, the county courts were instructed to appoint trustees for these negroes. These trustees hired them out, and used their wages to support the negroes.[24] The negroes preferred to remain in a state of semi-slavery than to go to Africa. This act was really an admission that the policy of exclusion was failing and it also made provision for continued evasion. The weaknesses of the measure were remedied in 1854 and a more rigid policy of exclusion was adopted. If the masters did not provide the means to send the manumitted slaves to Africa, such slaves were hired out by the clerks of the county courts until sufficient funds were raised and turned into the state treasury. The governor was then required to provide for their transportation to Africa.[25] This act abolished the exclusive jurisdiction of the county courts over emancipation, and permitted the slave to file his petition for freedom in any court. He could appeal his case to a higher court if he desired. This act established the policy pursued by the state until the Civil War. Judge Caruthers, speaking of the difficulty of establishing a satisfactory policy, said: The struggle has been to devise some plan which would be just to the slave, and not inconsistent with the interests of society—that would sustain his right to liberty, and at the same time save the community from the evils of a free negro population. This, it is believed, has been more effectually accomplished by the late act than at any time before.... We regard this as the most wise and judicious plan which has been yet devised; and, with some amendments, it should become the settled policy of the state.[26] The free negro continued to be regarded as a menace to society. In 1858, a bill was introduced into the legislature to banish all free negroes from the state, but the better element of the state defeated its passage. Judge Catron, who had been a member of the Supreme Court of Tennessee, and who was now a member of the Supreme Court of the United States, speaking of this measure, said: