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a person to steal a horse or mule, or cotton | within twenty days after his arrival within the packed in a bale ready for market. 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.

SEC. 10 provides that 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.

SEC. 11 provides that 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.

SEC. 13 states that persons of color constitute no part of the militia of the State, and no one of them shall, without permission in writing from the district judge or magistrate, 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 is ordinarily used in hunting, but not a pistol, musket, or other fire-arm or weapon appropriate for purposes of war. The district judge or a 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 corporeal punishment.

SEC. 24 provides that when several persons of color are convicted of one capital offence, the jury which tries them may recommend one or more to mercy, for reasons which, in their opinion, mitigate the guilt; the district judge shall 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 one only is convicted of capital offence. Before sentence of death shall be executed in any case, time for application to the Governor shall be allowed.

SEC. 27 provides that whenever, under any law, sentence imposing a fine is passed, if the fine and costs be not immediately paid, there shall be detention of the convict, and substitution of other punishment. If the offence should not involve the crimen falsi, and be infamous, the substitution shall be, in the case of a white person, imprisonment for a time proportioned to the fine, at the rate of one day for each dollar; and in the case of a person of color, enforced labor, without unnecessary pain or restraint, for a time proportioned to the fine, at the rate of one day for each dollar. But if the offence should be infamous, there shall be substituted for a fine, for imprisonment, or for both, hard labor, corporeal punishment, solitary confinement, and confinement in tread-mill or stocks, one or more, at the discretion of the judge of the superior court, the district judge, or the magistrate, who pronounces the sentence. In this act, and in respect to all crimes and misdemeanors, the term servants shall be understood to embrace an apprentice as well as a servant under contract.

SEC. 29 provides that, upon view of a misdemeanor committed by a person of color, or by a white person toward 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.

SEC. 30 provides that, upon view of a misdemeanor committed by a person of color, any SEC. 14 provides that it shall not be lawful person present may arrest the offender and take for a person of color to be the owner, in whole him before a magistrate, to be dealt with as the or in part, of any distillery where spirituous case may require. In case of a misdemeanor liquors of any kind are made, or of any estab-committed by a white person toward a person lishment where spirituous liquors of any kind are sold by retail; nor for a person of color to be engaged in distilling any spirituous liquors, or in retailing the same in a shop or elsewhere. A person of color who shall do anything contrary to the prohibitions herein contained shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, may be punished by fine or corporeal punishment and hard labor, as to the district judge or magistrate before whom he may be tried shall seem meet.

SEC. 22 provides that no person of color shall migrate into and reside in this State, unless,

of color, any person may complain to a magistrate, who shall cause the offender to be arressted, and, according to the nature of the case, to be brought before himself, or be taken for trial in the district court. An Act to establish District Courts, December

19, 1865.

Courts are established to have "exclusive jurisdiction, subject to appeal, of all civil causes where one or both 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 misdemeanors affecting the person or property

of a person of color, and of all cases of bas- | art or trade unless he shows that he has served an tardy, and of all cases of vagrancy, not tried before a magistrate."

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

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 The accused, in such a criminal case, and the parties in every such civil case, may be witnesses, and so may every other person who is a competent witness; and in every such case, either party may offer testimony as to his own character, or that of his adversary or of the prosecutor, or of the third person mentioned in an indictment.

apprenticeship in such trade or art, or is now practicing such trade or art."

Former slaves, now helpless, who were on a farm Nov. 10, 1865 and six months previous shall not be evicted by the owner from the house occupied by them before January 1, 1867.

It "provides that if the district court fund, after payment of the sums with which it is charged, on account of the salary of the judge of the district court, superintendent of convicts, jurors, and other expenses of the court and of convicts, shall be insufficient to support indigent persons of color, who may be proper charges on the public, the board aforesaid shall have power to impose for that purpose, whenever it may be required, a tax of one dollar on each male person of color between the ages of eighteen and fifty years, and fifty cents on each unmarried female person of color between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, to be collected in each precinct by a magistrate thereof: Provided, That the said imposition of a tax shall be approved in writing by the judge of the district court, and that his approval shall appear in the journals of that court."

Order of General Sickles, disregarding the Code,
January 17, 1866.

1866, January 17-Major General Sickles issued this order:

December 21-" An act to establish and regulate the domestic relations of persons of color, and to amend the law in relation to paupers and vagrancy," establishes the relation of husband and wife, declares those now living as such to be husband and wife, and provides that persons of color desirous hereafter to marry shall have the contract duly solemnized. A parent may bind his child over two years of age as an apprentice to serve till 21 if a male, 18 if a female. All persons of color who make contracts HEADQ'RS DEP'T OF SOUTH CAROLINA, for service or labor shall be known as servants, January 17, 1866. and those with whom they contract as masters. [G. O., No. 1.-I. To the end that civil rights 'Colored children between 18 and 21, who and immunities may be enjoyed; that kindly rehave neither father nor mother living in the dis-lations among the inhabitants of the State may trict in which they are found, or whose parents are paupers, or unable to afford them a comfortable maintenance, or whose parents are not teaching them habits of industry and honesty, or are persons of notoriously bad character, or are vagrants, or have been convicted of infamous offences, and colored children, in all cases where they are in danger of moral contamination, may be bound as apprentices by the district judge or one of the magistrates for the aforesaid term."

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It "provides that no person of color shall pursue or practice the art, trade, or business of an artisan, mechanic, or shopkeeper, or any other trade, employment, or business, (besides that of husbandry, or that of a servant under a contract for service or labor,) on his own account and for his own benefit, or in partnership with a white person, or as agent or servant of any person, until he shall have obtained a license therefor from the judge of the district court, which license shall be good for one year only. This license the judge may grant upon petition of the applicant, and upon being satisfied of his skill and fitness, and of his good moral character, and upon payment by the applicant to the clerk of the district court of one hundred dollars if a shopkeeper or pedlar, to be paid annually, and ten dollars if a mechanic, artisan, or to engage in any other trade, also to be paid annually: Provided, however, That upon complaint being made and proved to the district judge of an abuse of such license, he shall revoke the same: And provided, also, That no person of color shall practice any mechanical

be established; that the rights and duties of the employer and the free laborer respectively may be defined; that the soil may be cultivated and the system of free labor undertaken; that the owners of estates may be secure in the possession of their lands and tenements; that persons able and willing to work may have employment; that idleness and vagrancy may be discountenanced, and encouragement given to industry and thrift; and that humane provision may be made for the aged, infirm and destitute, the following regulations are established for the gov ernment of all concerned in this department.

II. All laws shall be applicable alike to all the inhabitants. No person shall be held incompetent to sue, make complaint, or to testify, because of color or caste.

III. All the employments of husbandry or the useful arts, and all lawful trades or callings, may be followed by all persons, irrespective of color or caste; nor shall any freedman be obliged to pay any tax or any fee for a license, nor be amenable to any municipal or parish ordinance, not imposed upon all other persons.

IV. The lawful industry of all persons who live under the protection of the United States, and owe obedience to its laws, being useful to the individual, and essential to the welfare of society, no person will be restrained from seeking employment when not bound by voluntary agreement, nor hindered from traveling from place to place, on lawful business. All combinations or agreements which are intended to hinder, or may so operate as to hinder, in any

way, the employment of labor—or to limit compensation for labor-or to compel labor to be involuntarily performed in certain places or for certain persons; as well as all combinations or agreements to prevent the sale or hire of lands or tenements, are declared to be misdemeanors; and any person or persons convicted thereof shall be punished by fine not exceeding $500, or by imprisonment, not to exceed six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

V. Agreements for labor or personal service of any kind, or for the use and occupation of lands and tenements, or for any other lawful purpose, between freedmen and other persons, when fairly made, will be immediately enforced against either party violating the same.

VI. Freed persons, unable to labor, by reason of age or infirmity, and orphan children of tender years, shall have allotted to them by owners suitable quarters on the premises where they have been heretofore domiciled as slaves, until adequate provision, approved by the general commanding, be made for them by the State or local authorities, or otherwise; and they shall not be removed from the premises, unless for disorderly behavior, misdemeanor, or other offence committed by the head of a family or a member thereof.

VII. Able-bodied freedmen, when they leave the premises in which they may be domiciled, shall take with them and provide for such of their relatives as by the laws of South Carolina all citizens are obliged to maintain.

VIII. When a freed person, domiciled on a plantation, refuses to work there, after having been offered employment by the owner or lessee, on fair terms, approved by the agent of the Freedmen's Bureau, such freedman or woman shall remove from the premises within ten days after such offer and due notice to remove by the owner or occupant.

IX. When able-bodied freed persons are domiciled on premises where they have been heretofore held as slaves, and are not employed thereon or elsewhere, they shall be permitted to remain, on showing to the satisfaction of the commanding officer of the post that they have made diligent and proper efforts to obtain employment.

X. Freed persons occupying premises without the authority of the United States, or the permission of the owner, and who have not been heretofore held there as slaves, may be removed by the commanding officer of the post, on the complaint of the owner, and proof of the refusal of said freed persons to remove after ten days' notice.

XI. Any person employed or domiciled on a plantation or elsewhere, who may be rightfully dismissed by the terms of agreement, or expelled for misbehavior, shall leave the premises, and shall not return without the consent of the owner or tenant thereof.

XII. Commanding officers of districts will establish within their commands respectively suitable regulations for hiring out to labor, for a period not to exceed one year, all vagrants who cannot be advantageously employed on roads, fortifications and other public works. The proceeds of such labor shall be paid over to the as

sistant commissioner of the Freedmen's Bureau, to provide for aged and infirin refugees, indigent freed people and orphan children.

XIII. The vagrant laws of the State of South Carolina, applicable to free white persons, will be recognized as the only vagrant laws applicable to the freedmen; nevertheless, such laws shall not be considered applicable to persons who are without employment, if they shall prove that they have been unable to obtain employ-. ment, after diligent efforts to do so.

XIV. It shall be the duty of officers commanding posts to see that issues of rations to freedmen are confined to destitute persons who are unable to work because of infirmities arising from old age or chronic diseases, orphan children too young to work, and refugee freedmen returning to their homes with the sanction of the proper authorities; and in ordering their issues, commanding officers will be careful not to encourage idleness or vagrancy. District commanders will make consolidated reports of these issues tri-monthly.

XV. The proper authorities of the State in the several municipalities and districts shall proceed to make suitable provision for their poor, without distinction of color; in default of which the general commanding will levy an equitable tax on persons and property sufficient for the support of the poor.

XVI. The constitutional rights of all loyal and well-disposed inhabitants to bear arms will not be infringed; nevertheless this shall not be construed to sanction the unlawful practice of carrying concealed weapons, nor to authorize any person to enter with arms on the premises of another against his consent. No one shall bear arms who has borne arms against the United States, unless he shall have taken the amnesty oath prescribed in the proclamation of the President of the United States, dated May 20, 1865, or the oath of allegiance, prescribed in the proclamation of the President, dated December 8, 1863, within the time prescribed therein. And no disorderly person, vagrant, or disturber of the peace, shall be allowed to bear arms.

XVII. To secure the same equal justice and personal liberty to the freedmen as to other inhabitants, no penalties or punishments different from those to which all persons are amenable shall be imposed on freed people; and, all crimes and offences which are prohibited under existing laws shall be understood as prohibited in the case of freedmen; and if committed by a freedman, shall, upon conviction, be punished in the same manner as if committed by a white man.

XVIII. Corporeal punishment shall not be inflicted upon any person other than a minor, and then only by the parent, guardian, teacher, or one to whom said minor is lawfully bound by indenture of apprenticeship.

XIX. Persons whose conduct tends to a breach of the peace may be required to give security for their good behavior, and in default thereof shall be held in custody.

XX. All injuries to the person or property committed by or upon freed persons shall be punished in the manner provided by the laws of South Carolina for like injuries to the persons or property of citizens thereof. If no pro

vision be made by the laws of the State, then | lattoes, except the act to prevent their migration the punishment for such offences shall be accord-into the State, and the act prohibiting the sale ing to the course of common law; and in the case of any injury to the person or property, not prohibited by the common law, or for which the punishment shall not be appropriate, such sentence shall be imposed as, in the discretion of the court before which the trial is had, shall be deemed proper, subject to the approval of the general commanding.

XXI. All arrests for whatever cause will be reported tri-monthly, with the proceedings thereupon, through the prescribed channel, to the general commanding.

XXII. Commanding officers of districts, subdistricts, and posts, within their commands respectively, in the absence of the duly-appointed agent, will perform any duty appertaining to the ordinary agents of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, carefully observing for their guidance all orders published by the commissioner or assistant commissioner, or other competent authority.

XXIII. District commanders will enforce

these regulations by suitable instructions to
sub-district and post commanders, taking care
that justice be done, that fair dealing between
man and man be observed, and that no unneces-
sary hardship, and no cruel or unusual punish-
ments be imposed upon any one.
By command of D. E. ŠICKLES, Major Gen-

eral.

Official:

W. L. M. BURGER,
Assistant Adjutant General.

FLORIDA.

of fire-arms and ammunition to them, be, and
the same are hereby, repealed; and all the crimi-
nal laws of this State applicable to white per-
sons now in force, and not in conflict with, or
modified by, the legislation of the present session
of the General Assembly, shall be deemed and
held to apply equally to all the inhabitants of
the same without distinction of color.
An act to Establish and Enforce the Marriage
Relation between Persons of Color, January 11,
1866.

SEC. 1 requires all the colored inhabitants,
husband and wife, and who have not been joined
claiming to be living together in the relation of
mutually desire to continue in that relation,
as such agreeably to the laws, and who shall
within nine months from the passage of this act,
to appear before some person legally authorized
larly joined in the holy bonds of matrimony.
to perform the marriage ceremony, and be regu-

SEC. 2 provides that the issue of such prior cohabitation shall be legitimated by the act of marriage so regularly contracted as aforesaid, and be thenceforth entitled to all the rights and privileges of a legitimate offspring.

the time limited in the first section, all laws apSEC. 5 provides that after the expiration of plicable to or regulating the marriage relation between white persons shall deemed to apply to the same relation between the colored population of the State.

An Act in Addition to An Act concerning Marriage Licenses, January 12, 1866. An Act to Establish and Organize a County SEC. 1 provides that if any white female resCriminal Court, January 11, 1866. ident shall hereafter attempt to intermarry, or SEC. 1 gives the court jurisdiction in cases of shall live in a state of adultery or fornication, assault, assault and battery, assault with intent with any negro, mulatto, or other person of to kill, riot, affray, larceny, robbery, arson, burg- color, she shall be deemed to be guilty of a mislary, malicious mischief, vagrancy, and all mis- demeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined demeanors, and all offences against religion, chas-in a sum not exceeding one thousand dollars, or tity, morality, and decency: Provided, That the punishment of the same does not affect the life of the offender. The Governor to appoint the judge. In the proceedings, "no presentment, indictment, or written pleadings, shall be required." Where a fine is imposed, and not paid, the party may be put to such labor as the county commissioner may direct, the compensation for which to go in payment of the fine and cost of prosecuor the said county commissioner may hire out, at public outcry, the said party to any person who will take him or her for the shortest time, and pay the fine, forfeiture, and penalty imposed, and cost of prosecution.' An Act to Extend to all the Inhabitants of the State the Benefit of Courts of Justice, and the Processes thereof, January 11, 1866.

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SEC. 1 provides that the judicial tribunals of this State, with the processes thereof, shall be accessible to all the inhabitants of the State, without distinction of color, for the prosecution and defence of all the rights of person and property, subject only to the restrictions contained in the constitution of the State.

SEC. 2 provides that all laws heretofore passed, with reference to slaves, free negroes, and mu

be confined in the public jail not exceeding three months, or both, at the discretion of the jury; and shall, moreover, be disqualified to testify as a witness against any white person. other person of color, shall hereafter live in a SEC. 2 provides that if any negro, mulatto, or state of adultery or fornication with any white female resident within the limits of this State, and upon conviction shall be fined in a sum heshall be deemed to be guilty of a misdemeanor, not exceeding one thousand dollars, or be made to stand in the pillory for one hour and be whipped not exceeding thirty-nine stripes, or both, at the discretion of the jury.

have one eighth or more of negro blood shall be SEC. 3 provides that every person who shall deemed and held to be a person of color.

SEC. 4 provides that in existing cases, upon petition to the circuit judge, parties coming within the provisions of this act and liable to be punished under the saine, may by order and judgment of said judge be relieved from the penalties thereof, when in his opinion justice and equity shall so require.

SEC. 5 provides that in all cases where marriages have heretofore been contracted and solemnized between white persons and persons of

color, and where the parties have continued to | term, on any farm or plantation in this State, if live as man and wife, the said marriages are he shall refuse or neglect to perform the stipuhereby legalized, and neither of the parties lations of his contract by wilful disobedience of shall be subject to the provisions of this or of any other act.

An Act to Require the Children of Destitute sons to Provide for the Support of said

sons, January 11, 1866.

SEC. 1 requires the children of natural parents who are unable to support themselves to make provision for their support. In case of neglect, and proof before a justice of the peace or judge, that officer shall make an order of assessment on the children for the necessary amount, which order shall carry with it the right of enforcement by execution, and shall have the force of a writ of garnishment on the wages of such children.

orders, wanton impudence or disrespect to his employer, or his authorized agent, failure or Per-refusal to perform the work assigned to him, Per- idleness, or abandonment of the premises or the employment of the party with whom the contract was made, he or she shall be liable, upon the complaint of his employer or his agent, made under oath before any justice of the peace of the county, to be arrested and tried before the criminal court of the county, and upon conviction shall be subject to all the pains and penalties prescribed for the punishment of vagrancy: Provided, That it shall be optional with the employer to require that such laborer be remanded to his service, instead of being subjected to the punishment aforesaid: Provided, further, That if it shall on such trial appear that the complaint made is not well founded, the court shall dismiss such complaint, and give judgment in favor of such laborer against the due under the contract, and for such damages employer, for such sum as may appear to be as may be assessed by the jury.

An Act to Punish Vagrants and Vagabonds,

January 12, 1866.

SEC. 1. Defines as a vagrant "every ablebodied person why has no visible means of living and shall not be employed at some labor to support himself or herself, or shall be leading an idle, immoral, or profligate course of life;" and may be arrested by any justice of the peace or judge of the county criminal court and be bound in sufficient surety" for good behavior and future industry for one year. Upon refusing or failing to give such security, he or she may be committed for trial, and if convicted sentenced to labor or imprisonment not exceeding twelve months, by whipping not exceeding thirty-nine stripes, or being put in the pillory. If sentenced to labor, the "sheriff or other officer of said court shall hire out such person for the term to which he or she shall be sentenced, not exceeding twelve months aforesaid, and the proceeds of such hiring shall be paid into the County treasury." All vagrants going armed may be disarmed by the sheriff, constable, or police officer.

An Act in Relation to Contracts of Persons of Color, January 12, 1866.

SEC. 1 Provides that all contracts with persons of color shall be made in writing and fully explained to them before two credible witnesses, which contract shall be in duplicate, one copy to be retained by the employer and the other filed with some judicial officer of the State and county in which the parties may be residing at the date of the contract, with the affidavit of one or both witnesses, setting forth that the terms and effect of such contract were fully explained to the colored person, and that he, she, or they had voluntarily entered into and signed the contract and no contract shall be of any validity against any person of color unless so executed and filed: Provided, That contracts for service or labor may be made for less time than thirty days by parol.

SEC. 2 Provides, that whereas is is essential to the welfare and prosperity of the entire population of the State that the agricultural interest be sustained and placed upon a permanent basis, it is provided that when any person of color shall enter into a contract as aforesaid, to serve as a laborer for a year, or any other specified

SEC. 3 provides that when any employé as aforesaid shall be in the occupancy of any house virtue of his contract to labor, and he shall be or room on the premises of the employer by adjudged to have violated his contract; or when any employé as aforesaid shall attempt to hold term of his contract, against the consent of the possession of such house or room beyond the employer, it shall be the duty of the judge of the criminal court, upon the application of the issue his writ to the sheriff of the court, comemployer, and due proof made before him, to manding him forthwith to eject the said employé and to put the employer into full possession notice shall be given to the employe of the day the premises: Provided, Three days' previous

of trial.

SEC. 4 provides that if any person employing the services or labor of another, under contract entered into as aforesaid, shall violate his contract by refusing or neglecting to pay the stipulated wages or compensation agreed upon, or any part thereof, or by turning off the employé before the expiration of the term, unless for sufficient cause, or unless such right is reserved by the contract, the party so employed may make complaint thereof before the judge of the criminal court, who shall at an early day, on reasonable notice to the other party, cause the same to be tried by a jury summoned for the purpose, who, in addition to the amount that may be proved to be due under the contract, may give such damages as they in their discretion may deem to be right and proper, and the judgment thereon shall be a first lien on the crops of all kinds in the cultivation of which such labor may have been employed: Provided, That either party shall be entitled to an appeal to the circuit court, as in case of appeal from justices of the peace.

SEC. 5 provides that if any person shall entice, induce, or otherwise persuade any laborer or employé to quit the service of another to which he was bound by contract, before the expiration of the term of service stipulated 2 said contract,

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