1852, c. 315.-Concerning the emancipation of slaves in this State. Permits emancipation only on condition that they be sent out of the United States.

1854, c. 215.-A new act for compensation in certain cases for slaves sentenced to death or imprisonment.

1

1855, c. 308.—An act relative to slaves and free colored persons, contains one hundred sections, digested from the existing statutes, repeals all conflicting laws "and all laws on the same subject matter, except what is contained in the civil code or code of practice. Sec. 29. On using language calculated to produce discontent and insubordination, includes the offence of "being knowingly instrumental in bringing into this State any paper, pamphlet or book having such tendency."

1856. In the Revised Statutes,' under the title Black Code, the law is given under the heads: Crimes and offences committed by slaves and free colored persons; §§ 1-17. Offences against slaves, Indians, and free persons of color; §§ 18 -38. Trial, punishment, and compensating for slaves executed; 88 39-60. Trial of slaves accused of capital crimes in New Orleans; 61-66. Rights, duties, &c., of owners of slaves; Emancipation of slaves; $ 77-81. Runaway slaves; § 82-93. Free persons of color and statu liberi; §§ 94-105. These provisions, in their phraseology and general scope, appear to resemble the newer codes of the other slaveholding States. Whether the existing law of that State, in respect to slaves, is materially different from the earlier law, it would, however, be difficult to say.

$$ 67-76.

1857, c. 69. Declares that thereafter no slave shall be

'Landry v. Klopman, 13 La. Ann., 345, where a runaway slave from Louisiana had been arrested in Mississippi, and there sold after advertisement, according to the laws of that State, held that the title was divested thereby, and that such legislation of the State of Mississippi was not in conflict with any right of the Louisiana owner, under the Constitution of the United States and law of Congress relating to fugitive slaves, being within the police power of the State. The court rely on Story's opinion in Prigg's case.

In R. S., pp. 171, 172, are found the provision of the Constitution of the United States for the delivery of fugitives from justice on demand, with the act of Congress of 1793, and the Governor is authorized, at his discretion, to deliver up persons demanded.

emancipated in this State.'

away slaves. slaves.

-, c. 187. A new act respecting buying from c. 232. A new act on crimes by slaves, and proceedings in trials for such.

1859, c. 275.-An act to permit free persons of African descent to select their masters and become slaves for life. Petition to be made to the district court, which shall decree, on being satisfied of the absence of fraud or collusion, and of the character of the master. Children under ten years, of mothers thus enslaved, become slaves."

$567. LEGISLATION OF THE STATE OF MISSOURI.

The portion of the Louisiana purchase not included in the Territory of Orleans by the act of Congress of March 26, 1804,' was, by sections 12, 13, of the same act, designated the District of Louisiana, and placed under the executive and legislative power of the governor and judges of the Indiana Territory; it being provided that the laws then in force in the District should continue "until altered, modified, or repealed" by said gov ernor and judges, whose legislation was to be sent to the President for the sanction of Congress.

1804, Oct. 1. A law of the District of Louisiana of this date is the leading act on the subject of slavery in the Territories and States formed within that District; it contains the police regulations at that time common in the southern States, against wandering without papers, using arms, meetings, &c., defines conspiracy, &c. One section provides that "if any negro or other slave shall prepare, exhibit, or administer any medicine whatsoever, it shall be felony, unless it shall appear to

'Marshall v. Watrigant, 13 La. Ann. 619. Since this act, the right of a statu libera to freedom cannot be recognized. See the present policy of the State declared, and this statute maintained, in Deshotels. Soileau, 14 La. Ann. R. 745. Pauline v. Hubert, ib. 161. Price v. Ray, ib. 697. In Jamison v. Bridge, ib. 31:"As emancipation is now prohibited, plaintiff cannot prosecute this suit for his freedom." Brown v. Raby, ib. 41, cap. :-" A slave claiming to be a statu liber, whose master is a resident of another State, cannot have her rights judicially investigated in this State. She should resort to the courts of the State in which her master is domiciliated. Under our present law no slave can be emancipated, and a slave's right to freedom cannot be established here according to the laws of another State."

2 A convention, in the name of the State of Louisiana, declared, Jan. 26, 1860, an Ordinance of Secession similar to those shortly before passed by conventions in other southern States.

3 Ante, p. 155.

have been without ill intent nor attended by bad consequences." Not to apply to slaves acting under order. Fines are imposed on masters of vessels carrying away slaves. A section declares "all negroes and mulatto slaves in all courts of judicature within this District shall be held, taken, and adjudged to be personal estate." Another permits emancipation by will or other writing. Other provisions relate to runaways and emancipated slaves. See Steele and McCampbell's Digest of 1835, p. 520, citing from L. L. T. The same digest gives, of the same date, an act providing punishment by whipping, "of a negro or mulatto, bond or free, who shall at any time lift his hand in opposition to any person not being a negro or mulatto." See also p. 27 of Vol. I. Laws of the District and Territory of Louisiana, and the Territory and State of Missouri up to 1824, in two volumes, ed. 1842. Ch. 3-By the governor and judges. of Indiana Territory.

The District was constituted the Territory of Louisiana under a separate government by an act of Congress of 1805.'

1812, June 4. The Territory of Louisiana was constituted the Territory of Missouri by act of Congress of this date. Sec. 14. Contains provisions in the nature of a bill of Rights. 15. Enumerated limitations on the local legislature. 16. Continues the former laws of the Territory.

Missouri laws supplementary to the act of 1804 are-of 1817, Jan. 22; see Vol. I. Laws, &c. (above cited), p. 499, c. 187; of 1822, Dec. 9, ib. p. 957, c. 399, substituting a fine as penalty instead of whipping for dealing with slaves.

1816, Jan. 19. An act adopting the common law of England and English statutes prior to 4th of Jas. I., so far as not contrary to the law and Constitution of the United States and the laws of this Territory. (Re-enacted Feb. 12, 1825.)

An act on crimes, &c., makes whipping the only punish

1II. St. U. S. 331; 3 B. & D. 658:-The legislative power is vested in the governor and three judges. Any law declared invalid which may be inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the United States, and all such legislation to be subject to the approval of Congress.

* II. St. U. S. 743; 4 B. & D. 438:-By sec. 6 a legislative assembly is provided for; the electors to be "free white citizens of the United States." Modifying is act of 1816, Ap. 29. III. St. U. S. 328; 6 B. & D. 135.

ment of slaves for offences not capitally punishable. (Vol. I. Laws, above cited, p. 478, c. 1685, 16.)

1820,' June 12. Constitution of the State of Missouri adopted by the inhabitants of the Territory within the limits of the present State. Art. 1, sec. 10, limits the elective franchise to white male citizens of the United States. 27. "In prosecutions for crimes, slaves shall not be deprived of an impartial trial by jury, and a slave convicted of a capital offence shall suffer the same degree of punishment, and no other, that would be inflicted on a free white person for a like offence; and courts of justice before whom slaves shall be tried shall assign them counsel for their defence." 28. "Any person who shall maliciously deprive of life or dismember a slave, shall suffer such punishment as would be inflicted for the like offence if it were committed on a free white person." Art. XIII. is a Bill of Rights attributing rights to "the people," others to " every person." The words, all freemen, are not employed, but life, liberty, &c., are not attributed to all as natural, &c.

'The limits of the proposed State and the representation of the inhabitants in their constituent assembly or convention were fixed by the act of Congress of March 6, 1820. An act to authorize the people of Missouri Territory to form a Constitution and State government, and for the admission of such State into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, and to prohibit slavery in certain Territories. III. Stat. U. S. 545; 6 B. & D. 455.

2 In Art. III. sec. 26, it is declared:-"The general assembly shall have no power to pass laws: 1. For the emancipation of slaves without the consent of their owners or without compensating them. 2. To prevent bona fide emigrants bringing from the other States," &c., "such persons as may there be deemed to be slaves so long as any persons of the same description are allowed to be held as slaves by the laws of this State." They shall have power: 1. To prohibit the introduction of slaves who have committed crimes in other States, &c. 2. To prohibit the introduction of slaves for speculation or as "an article of trade or merchandise." 3. To prevent the introduction of slaves imported into the United States contrary to law. 4. To permit emancipation on giving security, &c. It shall be their duty to pass laws: 1. "To prevent free negroes and mulattoes from coming to and settling in this State under any pretext whatsoever." 2. "To oblige the owners of slaves to treat them with humanity and to abstain from all injuries to them extending to life or limb."

Resolution, March 2, 1821, “providing for the admission of the State of Missouri into the Union on a certain condition." III. Stat. U. S. 645; 6 B. & D. 590. "Resolved, &c., That Missouri shall be admitted into this Union on an equal footing with the original States, in all respects whatever, upon the fundamental condition that the fourth clause of the twenty-sixth section of the third Article of the Constitution submitted on the part of said State to Congress shall never be construed to authorize the passage of any law, and that no law shall be passed in conformity thereto by which any citizen of either of the States in this Union shall be excluded from the enjoyment of any of the privileges and immunities to which

1823.—An act supplementary to the territorial law of 1804, prohibits dealing with slaves. R. L. of 1825, p. 746; and an act respecting patrols, &c. Sec. 2 declares penalty on ferrymen carrying slaves without pass. Ib. 747.

1824, Dec. 30. An act to enable persons held in slavery to sue for their freedom. Rev. L. of 1825, p. 404. Recognizances required of the defendant, but not of the petitioner. Another act with the same title in 1835, amended by laws of 1841, p. 146, law of 1855. R. S. 809.'

1825.-An act to provide for apprehending and securing runaway slaves. R. L. of 1825, p. 747.

1831.-An act to change the manner of trying slaves.

An act to prevent persons having a limited title in slaves from carrying them out of the State. Sess. L. p. 95.

1835. An act concerning slaves, seems intended as the leading act amended by Laws of 1841, pp. 146, 147. A revision of this year includes the ordinary titles. Under the title Fugitives from justice,' sec. 19-30, is a law for the delivery of fugitives from labor on claim, similar in all provisions to the law of Arkansas, of 1838. (See post, p. 172.) The same law is re-enacted in the Rev. of 1845, p. 537, and R. S. of 1855, p. 813. Sec. 28 declares that no person shall take or remove any such fugitive from this State, or do any act towards such removal, unless authorized so to do, pursuant to the provisions

such citizen is entitled under the Constitution of the United States: Provided, that the legislature of the said State by a solemn public act shall declare the assent of the said State to the said fundamental condition and shall," &c. From the debates in Congress, it appears that the provision intended under the designation— the 4th clause of the 26th Section of the 3d Article of the State Constitution-is the first clause of the third subdivision of that Article, making it the duty of the legislature to pass laws against the immigration of free blacks.

The assent of the State was given in A Solemn Public Act declaring, &c., June 26, 1821, reciting a virtual assent to the condition proposing to become one of the United States, and that this assent could in no wise affect the powers of the State under the Constitution of the United States. See the introductories in editions of Missouri laws.

By act of March 16, 1822, the Laws of the United States are extended to the State of Missouri. III. Stat. U. S. 653.

The plaintiff, if successful, is not entitled to damages. Tramell v. Adam, 2 Missouri R. 155. Gordon v. Duncan, 3 Ib. 385.

* Empowering the governor to surrender on demand. An act of 1824, Dec. 18, had authorized the executive to deliver up fugitives from justice when demanded conformably to the act of Congress. The same in 1 Rev. L. of 1825, p. 406.