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

XIII. The vagrant laws of the State of South Carolina, applicable to free white persons, will be recognized as the only vagrant laws applica ble 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 employment, 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 chil dren 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

An Act to Punish Vagrants and Vagabonds, January 12, 1866.

SEC. 1. Defines as a vagrant "every able. bodied 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

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.

aforesaid shall be in the occupancy SEC. 3 provides that when any employé as 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 possession of such house or room beyond the term of his contract, against the consent of the employer, it shall be the duty of the judge of the criminal court, upon the application of the employer, and due proof made before him, to

issue his writ to the sheriff of the court, com

manding him forthwith to eject the said emthe premises: Provided, Three days' previous ployé and to put the employer into full possession notice shall be given to the employé of the day

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 in said contract,

SEC. 6 applies the provisions of this act to all contracts between employers and employés relating to the lumber, rafting, or milling business, and to all other contracts with persons of color to do labor and to perform service.

An Act prescribing additional Penalties for the Commission of Offences against the State, and for other purposes, January 15, 1866. SEC. 1 provides that whenever in the criminal laws of this State, heretofore enacted, the punishment of the offence is limited to fine and imprisonment, or to fine or imprisonment, there shall be superadded, as an alternative, the punishment of standing in the pillory for an hour, or whipping not exceeding thirty-nine stripes on the bare back, or both, at the discretion of the jury.

SEC. 3 makes a felony, punishable with death, the exciting, or attempting to excite, by writing, speaking, or by other means, an insurrection or sedition amongst any portion or class of the population.

SEC. 12 makes it unlawful for any negro, mulatto, or person of color to own, use, or keep in possession or under control any bowie-knife, dirk, sword, fire-arms, or ammunition of any kind, unless by license of the county judge of probate, under a penalty of forfeiting them to the informer, and of standing in the pillory one hour, or be whipped not exceeding thirty-nine stripes, or both, at the discretion of the jury.

SEC. 14 forbids colored and white persons respectively from intruding upon each other's public assemblies, religious or other, or public vehicle set apart for their exclusive use, under punishment of pillory or stripes, or both.

SEC. 15 provides that persons forming a military organization not authorized by law, or aiding or abetting it, shall be fined not exceed. ing $1,000 and imprisonment not exceeding six months, or be pilloried for one hour, and be whipped not exceeding thirty-nine stripes, at the discretion of the jury-the penalties to be threefold upon persons who accepted offices in such organizations.

SEC. 19 prohibits any person from hunting

SEC. 12 provides that it shall not be lawful for any negro, mulatto, or other person of color, to own, use, or keep in his possession or under his control any bowie-knife, dirk, sword, fire-arms, or ammunition of any kind, unless he first ob tain a license to do so from the judge of probate of the county in which he may be a resi dent for the time being; and the said judge of probate is hereby authorized to issue license, upon the recommendation of two respectable citizens of the county, certifying to the peace ful and orderly character of the applicant; and any negro, mulatto, or other person of color, so offending, shall be deemed to be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall forfeit to the use of the informer all such fire-arms and ammunition, and in addition thereto, shall be sentenced to stand in the pillory for one hour, or be whipped, not exceeding thirty-nine stripes, or both, at the discretion of the jury.

SEC. 14 provides that if any negro, mulatto, or other person of color, shall intrude himself into any religious or other public assembly of white persons, or into any railroad car or other public vehicle set apart for the exclusive accom modation of white people, he shall be deemed to be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be sentenced to stand in the pillory for one hour, or be whipped, not exceeding thirty-nine stripes, or both, at the discretion of the jury; nor shall it be lawful for any white person to intrude himself into any religious or other public assembly of colored persons, or into any railroad car or other public vehicle, set apart for the exclusive accommodation of persons of color, under the same penalties.

An Act to Raise a Revenue for the State of Florida, January 16, 1866.

three dollars upon every male inhabitant beSECTION 1 imposes a yearly capitation tax of tween twenty-one and fifty-five, except paupers and insane or idiotic persons. In default of and required to seize the body of the said delinpayment the tax collector is hereby authorized notice, before the door of the public court-house, quent and hire him out, after five days' public to any person who will pay the said tax and the said arrest, and take him into his service for the costs incident to the proceedings growing out of shortest period of time: Provided, That if said delinquent be in the employment of another the said employer may pay the tax and costs, and the said payment shall be good as a credit against the amount that may be due by the employer as wages to the said delinquent.

An Act Concerning Schools for Freedmen, January 16, 1866.

at a certificate; and the fee, five dollars, to go to he school fund for freedmen, and the certificate od for one year, subject to be cancelled by the perintendent for incompetency, immorality or her sufficient cause. The superintendent "to tablish schools for freedmen when the number f children of persons of color in any county or ounties will warrant the same: Provided, The inds provided for shall be sufficient to meet the xpenses thereof."

By another act, the interest from the school ind of the State is applied to the education of adigent white children.

in Act concerning Testimony, January 16, 1866. SECTION 3 provides that this act shall not be onstrued to authorize the testimony of colored ersons to be taken by depositions in writing or ipon written interrogatories, otherwise than in such manner as will enable the court or jury to judge of the credibility of the witness.

VIRGINIA.

These are some of the provisions in the recently-enacted laws of Virginia respecting colored persons:

That no contract between a white person and a colored person, for the labor or service of the latter for a longer period than two months, shall be binding on such colored person, unless the contract be in writing, signed by such white person or his agent and by such colored person, and duly acknowledged before a justice or notary public, or clerk of the county or corporation court, or overseer of the poor, or two or more credible witnesses, in the county or corporation court in which the white person may reside, or in which the labor or service it to be performed. And it shall be the duty of the justice, notary, clerk or overseer of the poor, or the witnesses, to read and explain the contract to the colored person, before taking his acknowledgment thereof, and to state that this has been done in the certificate of acknowledgment of the contract.

"2 5. The writing by which any minor is bound an apprentice, shall specify his age, and what art, trade, or business he is to be taught. The master, whether it is expressly provided E therein or not, shall be bound to teach him the same, and shall also be bound to teach him reading, writing, and common arithmetic, including the rule of three."

The marital relation between colored persons I is regulated by law. The colored person must procure a license the same as the whites, and persons celebrating a marriage are obliged to report it to the county clerks, and whether white or colored.

Where colored persons, before the passage of this act, shall have undertaken and agreed to occupy the relation to each other of husband and wife, and shall be cohabiting together as such at the time of its passage, whether the rites of marriage shall have been celebrated between them or not, they shall be deemed husband and wife, and be entitled to the rights and privileges, and subject to the duties and obligations, of that relation in like manner as if they had been duly married, and all their children shall be deemed legitimate, whether born before or after the pass

age of this act. And when the parties have ceased to cohabit before the passage of this act, in consequence of the death of the woman, or from any other cause, all the children of the woman, recognized by the man to be his, shall be deemed legitimate.

Bigamy, too, is punished in the case of the negro as of the white person, and also intermarriage within the prohibited degrees. And all persons officiating in the rites of marriage without due authority of law are punished by fine and imprisonment.

Under the old code these provisions applied only to white persons.

Be it enacted, That every person having one fourth or more of negro blood shall be deemed a colored person, and every person not a colored person having one fourth or more of Indian blood shall be deemed an Indian.

2. All laws in respect to crimes and punishments, and in respect to criminal proceedings, applicable to white persons, shall apply in like manner to colored persons and to Indians, unless when it is otherwise specially provided.

3. The following acts and parts of acts are hereby repealed, namely: All acts and parts of acts relating to slaves and slavery; chapter one hundred and seven of the code of eighteen hundred and sixty, relating to free negroes; chapter two hundred of said code relating to offences by negroes; chapter two hundred and twelve of said code, relating to proceedings against negroes; chapter ninety-eight of said code, relating to patrols; sections twenty-five to fortyseven, both inclusive, of chapter one hundred ninety-two of said code; sections twenty-six to thirty, both inclusive, and sections thirty-three to thirty-seven, both inclusive, of chapter one hundred and ninety-eight of said code; the fifth paragraph, as enumerated in section two of chapter two hundred and three, of said code; all acts and parts of acts imposing on negroes the penalty of stripes, where the same penalty is not imposed on white persons; and all other acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed.

January 24-General Terry issued this order: The Virginia Vagrant Act-General Terry orders

its Non-Enforcement.

GENERAL ORDERS-NO 4. HEADQUARTERS, DEPARTMENT of Va.,

RICHMOND, January 24, 1866. By a statute passed at the present session of the Legislature of Virginia, entitled "A bill providing for the punishment of vagrants," it is enacted, among other things, that any justice of the peace, upon the complaint of any one of certain officers therein named, may issue his warrant for the apprehension of any person alleged to be a vagrant and cause such persou to be apprehended and brought before him; and that if upon due examination said justice of the peace shall find that such person is a vagrant within the definition of vagrancy contained in said statute, he shall issue his warrant, directing such person to be employed for a term not exceeding three months, and by any constable of the county wherein the proceedings are had be hired out for the best wages which can be pro