TITLE 7. $7. Any person who, or whose family shall reside part of the year in this state, and part of the year in any other state, may remove and ding part of bring with him or them, from time to time, any person lawfully held by him in slavery, into this state, and may carry such person with him or them, out of this state. 55 Persons re time in this state. Penalty for $8. No person shall under any colour or pretext whatever, sell selling any any other person as a slave; and whoever shall offend against this pro person as a slave. Persons sold discharged vice. vision shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction, shall be subject to a fine not exceeding two thousand dollars, or to imprisonment in the county jail, not exceeding three years, or to imprisonment in a state prison not exceeding fourteen years. 56 9. If the person so sold as a slave, be at the time held in slavery, from ali ser- or in any manner bound to service, to the individual selling him, or with whose consent or knowledge he shall be sold, he shall thereupon, by the fact of such sale, become emancipated and discharged from all obligations of service. 56 Certain per sons import $10. No person who hath been imported or brought into this state ed, not to be as a slave since the eighth day of April, in the year one thousand transferred eight hundred and one, shall be transferred for any term of time; and every person transferred shall be free from all obligations of service to the individual transferring him, or with whose knowledge he shall be transferred. 56 Certain contracts for serVice, void. Penalty for sending vants out of the state. 11. Every indenture, bond or contract, for personal service, made since the thirtieth day of March, one thousand eight hundred and ten, or which shall hereafter be made or entered into, by any person, who has been held or possessed as a slave without this state, shall be utterly void; and all such contracts made by any person who has been held as a slave within this state, shall also be void.5 57 $12. No person shall send, export or carry out of this state, any slaves or ser person who hath been held as a slave, or as a servant for a term of years, in consequence of his having been born of a person held in slavery, except as herein provided; and whoever shall offend against this provision, or shall attempt to send, export or carry out of this state, any such slave or such servant, or be aiding and consenting to such exportation or attempt, except as aforesaid, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and every person so exported, or attempted to be exported, shall be free, and discharged from all obligations of service to the individual so exporting him, or with whose knowledge or privity he shall be so exported." Last section qualified. S 13. The provisions in the preceding section, shall not be applicable to any slave or servant who shall be pardoned by the executive on condition of leaving this state. 58 (55) Laws of 1819, p. 173, § 4. (56) Laws of 1917, p. 137, § 10. (57) Laws of 1810, p 33, § 2; of 1817, p. 138, § 11. (58) Laws of 1819, p. 172, § 1. away take servants with them. Proof to be S14. Any inhabitant of this state, going a journey to any other part TITLE 8. of the United States, may carry with him any person by him lawful- Certain inhaly held to service as aforesaid. Such inhabitant, on his own return bitants may to this state, shall bring back with him every person so carried by him; and in default thereof he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, unless it shall appear that within one month after such return, he filed with the clerk of the city or town in which he resides, a made on the.r certificate signed by a judge of the county courts of the county, or by the mayor or recorder of the city, stating that it hath satisfactorily appeared to such officer, by the oath of such inhabitant or otherwise, that the person held to service and not brought back as aforesaid, could not be brought back as herein required, by reason of some unavoidable accident.59 return. colour invo brought into may be re ceedings. $ 15. Whenever any person of colour, owing service or labor in Persons of any other state of the United States, shall secrete himself on board of luntarily a vessel lying in any port or harbor of such state, and shall be brought this state, into this state in such vessel, the captain or commander thereof, or turned; prohis agent, may seize such person of colour, and take him before the mayor or recorder of the city of New-York. The officer before whom such person shall be brought, shall inquire into the circumstances, and if it appear, upon proper testimony, that such person of colour owes service or labor in any other state, and that he did secrete himself on board of such vessel, without the knowledge or consent of the captain or commander thereof, and that by so doing, he subjected such captain to any penalty, such officer shall furnish a certificate thereof, to such captain or commander, which shall be a sufficient warrant to him, to carry or send such person of colour, to the port or place from which he was so brought as aforesaid. 60 Persons born &c. free. $ 16. Every person born within this state, whether white or coloured, is FREE; every person who shall hereafter be born within this in this state, state, shall be FREE; and every person brought into this state as a slave, except as authorised by this Title, shall be FREE. TITLE VIII. OF THE PREVENTION AND PUNISHMENT OF IMMORALITY AND DIS- ART. 1. Of jugglers and the exhibition of shows, &c. ART. 2. Of disorderly practices on public occasions and holidays, and in taverns, vessels and canal boats. ART. 3. Of betting and gaming. ART. 4.-Of raffling and lotteries. ART. 5. Of the racing of animals. ART. 6. Of profane cursing and swearing. ART. 7.-Of the disturbance of religious meetings. (59) Laws of 1817, p. 140, § 15. (60) Ib. p. 143, § 30. TITLE & ART. 8.-Of the observance of Sunday. Penalty for performing puppetshows, &c. them to be ART. 9.—General provisions to enforce the prohibitions of the three last Articles. ARTICLE FIRST. Of Jugglers, and the Exhibition of Shows, &c. SEC. 1. Puppet-shows, &c. not to be performed or allowed; penalty. 2. Same penalty for exhibiting paintings, animals, &c. without license. $1. No person shall exhibit or perform for gain or profit, any puppet-show, any wire or rope-dance, or any other idle shows, acts or feats or allowing which common showmen, mountebanks or jugglers usually practice performed. or perform; and no owner or occupant of any house, out-house, yard, field, shed or other place, shall furnish or allow the same to be used for the accommodation of such exhibition or performance. Whoever shall offend against either of these provisions, shall forfeit twenty-five dollars for each offence, to be recovered by and in the name of the overseers of the poor of the town where the offence shall be committed.61 lb for exhi biting paint &c. without S2. The penalties in the preceding section shall also apply to and ings, animals, be recovered of any person who shall exhibit for gain or profit any license. painting, any animal or other natural or artificial curiosity, or any other thing not prohibited in the foregoing section, in any town, without having first obtained permission in writing for that purpose, signed by two justices of the peace of the town, in which license the nature of such exhibition shall be described, and for the granting of which no fee or reward shall be taken.61 Discharge of fire-arms, &c. on certain days, prohibited. ARTICLE SECOND. Of Disorderly Practices on Public Occasions and Holidays, and in Taverns, Vessels and Canal Boats. SEC. 3. Penalty for discharging fire-arms, &c. on certain days, without military order. 4. Gaming tables at parades, town-meetings, elections, &c. prohibited. 5. Public officers to destroy such tables. 6. Gaming, &c. in taverns and certain vessels and packets, prohibited. 3. No person shall fire or discharge any gun, pistol, rocket, squib, cracker, or other fire-work, within a quarter of a mile of any building, on the twenty-fifth day of December, on the last day of De cember, on the first day of January, or on the twenty-second day of February, in any year; nor on the fourth day of July, or such other day as shall at the time be celebrated as the anniversary of American independence, without the order of some officer of the militia, while in the course of military exercises: every person offending against these provisions, shall forfeit the sum of five dollars, to be recovered by any person who will prosecute in the name of the overseers of the poor, with their consent and under their direction, for the use of the poor. 62 (61) Laws of 1819, p. 240, § 1 & 2. (62) 1 R. L. p. 49. ART. 3. Gaming ta rades, elec $4. On the day of any militia parade or rendezvous, or of any town-meeting, or of any annual or special election, or on the day of the assembling of any inhabitants of this state to celebrate the anni- bles at paversary of American independence, no person shall expose to the pub- tions, &c. prohibited. lic, or have in his possession within half a mile of the place of such parade, rendezvous, town-meeting, election or celebration, any eotable, wheel of fortune, or other gaming table, or gaming machine or box; every person offending against this provision, shall forfeit twenty-five dollars, to be recovered by and in the name of the overseers of the poor of the town where the offence was committed, for the use of the poor, 63 stroyed. S5. It shall be the duty of all sheriffs and of all other executive, To be dejudicial or ministerial officers concerned in the administration of justice, to break, burn or otherwise destroy, every such table, box and machine, so exposed or possessed contrary to the provisions of the last foregoing section.63 in taverns prohibited. $ 6. There shall not be allowed or suffered any cock-fighting, play- Gaming, &e. ing with cards or dice, or any kind of gaming by lot or chance, with- and vessels, in any house kept as a public inn or tavern, or in any grocery, or other place where spirituous liquors shall be licensed to be sold, nor shall there be any playing with cards or dice for gain or money, or any kind of gaming by lot or chance, on board any vessel used for the transportation of passengers, or on board any packet or other boat employed in the conveyance of passengers on any canal; nor shall any billiard table or other gaming table, be kept on board such vessel or boat, or within such house or place, or in any out-house, yard or garden belonging to such house or place.64 ed. $ 7. The master of any vessel or boat, and the keeper of any inn, Penalties. tavern, grocery or other place where spirituous liquors are licensed to be sold, who shall offend against either of the provisions of the last section, shall forfeit ten dollars for each offence, to be recovered by How collect and in the name of the overseers of the poor of the town where any such offence shall be committed by the keeper of an inn, tavern, grocery or other place before mentioned, and by and in the name of the overseers of the poor of any town where the offence shall be committed by any master of a vessel or boat. ARTICLE THIRD. Of Betting and Gaming. SEc. 8. All wagers unlawful; all contracts on account of wagers, void. 9. Money and property wagered, may be recovered of stake holder or winner. 10. Two last sections not to extend to certain insurances and contracts. 11. Cheating at games, a misdemeanor. 12. Winners at any game, to forfeit five times the value won. 13. Winning or losing $25 within twenty-four hours, a misdemeanor. 14. Persons losing at any sitting $25, may recover it back. 15. If not sued for by losers, may be recovered by overseers of the poor. (63) Laws of 1815, p. 70. (64) 1 R. L. 178, § 8; Laws of 1816, p. 243, § 2. TITLE 8. SEC. 16. Securities for money lost at gaming, &c. void. All wagers unlawful, &c. Property staked may 17. If such securities affect real estate, to enure to heir of grantor, &c. 21. When and how witnesses may be discharged from penalties of this Title. S8. All wagers, bets or stakes, made to depend upon any race, or upon any gaming by lot or chance, or upon any lot, chance, casualty, or unknown or contingent event whatever, shall be unlawful. All contracts for or on account of any money or property, or thing in action so wagered, bet or staked, shall be void.65 $9. Any person who shall pay, deliver or deposit any money, be recovered. property or thing in action, upon the event of any wager or bet herein prohibited, may sue for and recover the same of the winner or person to whom the same shall be paid or delivered, and of the stakeholder or other person in whose hands shall be deposited any such wager, bet or stake, or any part thereof, whether the same shall have been paid over by such stakeholder or not, and whether any such wager be lost or not. Two last sections qualified. Penalty for cheating at games. Winner to forfeit five times the sum won. Penalty for winning or Losers of certain sums may recover them back. $10. The two last sections shall not be extended so as to prohibit or in any way affect any insurances made in good faith for the security or indemnity of the party insured, and which are not otherwise prohibited by law; nor to any contract on bottomry or respondentia. S 11. Any person who shall, by any fraud or unlawful device or ill practice whatsoever, while playing at any game, or while bearing a share in the wagers played for, or while betting on the sides or hands of such as play, win or acquire to himself or to any other, any sum of money or other valuable thing, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction shall be deemed infamous. 66 $ 12. Every person who shall, at any one time or sitting, win by 'playing at any game, of any one or more persons, any sum or value, shall forfeit five times the value of the money or other things so won, to be recovered by and in the name of the overseers of the poor of the town, for the use of the poor.66 S13. Every person who shall win or lose at play, or by betting at any time, the sum or value of twenty-five dollars or upwards, within the space of twenty-four hours, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction shall be fined not less than five times the value or sum so lost or won; which, after deducting such reasonable charges of the prosecutor and witnesses as the court shall allow, shall be paid to the overseers of the poor of the town where the offence was committed, for the benefit of the poor.67 $ 14. Every person who shall, by playing at any game, or by betting on the sides or hands of such as do play, lose at any time or sitting, the sum or value of twenty-five dollars or upwards, and shall (65) 1 R. L. 223, § 5. (66) 1 R. L. 153, § 5. (67) Ib. § 6. |