REVISED CODE OF NORTH CAROLINA (1854).
26. No slave shall go armed with gun, sword, or other weapon, or
shall keep any such weapon, or shall hunt or range with a gun in the
woods, upon any pretence whatsoever; and if a slave shall be found
offending herein, any person may seize and take to his own use such gun
or other weapon, and may apprehend and bring such slave before a justice
for trial and punishment, and send him home; and the master or owner
shall pay the taker up of such armed slave, the same reward as is
allowed for taking up runaways.
27. In case any slave who shall appear not to have been properly
clothed and fed, shall be convicted of stealing any corn, cattle, hogs,
or other goods whatsoever, from any person not the owner of such slave,
such injured person may maintain an action on the case, against the
possessor of such slave, for his damages.
28. No person under any pretence whatever, shall hire to his slave,
or to a slave under his control, his time, on pain of forfeiting forty
dollars for every offence. And it shall be the duty of all grand-juries
to make presentment of any slave, who shall be permitted by his master
to go at large, having hired his time; and, on indictment being found
for the offence, a capias shall issue to take such slave and
secure him in custody, or on sufficient recognizance of his master or
others, so that he be before the next court to answer to the indictment.
The master shall have notice of the trial, as in other cases is
provided, and the court, at the return of the capias, shall
impanel a jury to inquire and try the truth of the charge against the
slave; and if he be found guilty, he shall be publicly hired out by the
sheriff for one year, who shall take bond with security from the hirer
for the price, and for furnishing all necessaries, and taking proper
care of the slave; and the bond shall be for the use of the poor of the
county. Provided, always, that if such slave be the
property of a ward, he shall be hired out for the remainder only of the
time for which he may belong to the person from whom he hired his time.
29. No slave shall go at large as a free man, exercising his own
discretion in the employment of his time; nor shall any slave keep house
to him or herself as a free person, exercising the like discretion in
the employment of his or her time; and in case the owner of slave
consent to the same, or connive thereat, he shall be deemed guilty of a
misdemeanor, and on conviction be fined not exceeding one hundred
dollars. Provided, however, that any person may permit his slave
to live or keep house upon his land, for the purpose of attending to the
business of his master.
30. No person shall grant permission for any meeting of the slaves of
others, at his house, or on his plantation, for the purpose of dancing,
under the penalty of forfeiting twenty dollars, to any who will sue
therefor, unless such slaves shall have a special permit in writing from
their owners for that purpose; and the person so offending shall be
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.
31. It shall not be lawful for any slave to be insolent to a free
white person; nor to utter mischievous and slanderous reports about any
free white person, nor to wilfully trespass on his property or person;
nor to intermarry or cohabit with any free person of color; nor for any
male slave to have sexual intercourse, or indulge in any grossly
indecent familiarities with a white female; nor to produce any forged
free pass or certificate of freedom; nor to go from off the plantation
or seat of land, where such slave may be appointed to live, without a
certificate of leave in writing from his master, or manager; nor to
raise any horses, cattle, hogs, or sheep; nor to teach, or attempt to
teach, any other slave or free negro to read or write, the use of
figures excepted; nor to sell any spirituous liquor or wine; nor to play
at any game of cards, dice, or nine pins; nor to play at any game of
chance, hazard, or skill, for any money, liquor, or any kind of
property, whether the same be staked or not; nor to set fore to any
woods, except in such manner as is allowed by statute; nor to preach or
exhort in public, or in any manner officiate as a preacher or teacher,
at any prayer-meeting or other association for worship, where slaves of
different families are collected together; nor to traffic with another
slave, by buying of, or selling to him, any articles of property,
forbidden absolutely, or forbidden except by written permission, to be
the subject of traffic between white persons and slaves; nor to traffic
with any other person, by buying of, or selling to him, any article of
property, unless such other person may lawfully buy of, or sell the same
to, said slave.
32. All the offences mentioned in the foregoing section, and all
other misdemeanors done by slaves, mentioned in this chapter, the
prescribed punishment whereof is whipping; and all crimes by them
committed, whereunto, if done by a free person, extends the jurisdiction
of the county court; and all petty offences forbidden by them to be
done, shall be cognizable before a single justice of the peace of the
county wherein the offence is committed, who shall have full power to
issue summons for witnesses, and compel their attendance; and on
conviction, the offending slave shall receive not exceeding thirty-nine
lashes on his bare back; and in all such trials, as many justices as
think proper may sit in judgment.
33. Whenever any slave shall be convicted before a justice of the
peace, of any offence, the master, on behalf of the slave, may appeal to
the next county or superior court, on entering into sufficient
recognizance for the slave, and giving good security, as in other cases
of appeals.
34. The superior court shall have exclusive original jurisdiction of
all felonies and other offences committed by slaves, which, by section
thirty-two, are not assigned for trial before a justice of the peace;
and the trial shall be conducted in like manner as the trials of freemen
for the same offence; and moreover, the jurors shall be slave-owners.
35. If any number of slaves shall, at any time, consult, advise, or
conspire to rebel or make insurrection, or shall plot, or conspire to
murder any person, every such consulting, plotting, or conspiring, shall
be adjudged and deemed felony; and any slave convicted thereof, in the
manner prescribed by law, shall suffer death, or be transported as
hereinafter provided.
36. If any slave be found in a state of rebellion or insurrection, or
shall agree to join any conspiracy or insurrection, or shall procure or
persuade others to join or enlist for that purpose, or shall knowingly
and wilfully aid, assist, or encourage any slave in a state of
rebellion, or engaged in a conspiracy to make insurrection, every slave,
so offending and being thereof convicted, shall suffer death, or be
transported as hereinafter provided.
37. If a free person shall join, or agree to join, in any conspiracy,
rebellion, or insurrection of slaves, or shall procure or persuade
others to join or enlist for that purpose, or shall knowingly and
wilfully aid, assist, or encourage any slave in a state of rebellion, or
engage in a conspiracy to make insurrection, every free person so
offending, and thereof convicted, shall suffer death.
38. In all cases, wherein a slave shall be prosecuted for the
offences described in sections thirty-five and thirty-six of this
chapter, the court may take for evidence the oath or one or more
witnesses, the confession of the offender freely given without any undue
influence by terror or persuasion, or the testimony of a negro or other
person of color, bond or free; but in all cases, where the testimony of
one negro or person of color only, shall be admitted, the same shall not
be deemed sufficient to convict the person charged; unless it shall be
supported by such pregnant circumstances in the trial, as to the jury
shall appear convincing proof, when taken with such testimony.
39. When any slave shall be convicted of either of the felonies
created by the thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth sections of this chapter,
he shall suffer death; or at the discretion of the court, shall be
sentenced to be transported beyond the limits of the United States,
under such restrictions and upon such conditions, as good policy and the
public safety at the time shall require.
40. Whenever a slave shall be transported, in pursuance of the
provisions of this chapter, by the owner, or by the State, and such
slave shall ever thereafter voluntarily return to, and be found in the
State, he shall suffer death, upon due conviction thereof. And if any
slave so transported, shall be brought into any county in this State by
his master, or, against his will, by any other person, such slave shall
be forfeited (on proof thereof) to the county into which he may be
brought; and the slave shall be again transported by order of the county
court, and sold for the use of the county.
41. In all cases of insurrection or rebellion, or of conspiracy to
make insurrection, or to murder, or to rebel, or any such contemplated
conspiracy, insurrection, or rebellion, of any slave or slaves, upon the
information and at the request of any five justices of the peace of the
county in which such offences shall happen or may be contemplated, the
governor may issue a commission of oyer and terminer, to any one of the
judges of the superior courts of law; who shall hold said court
forthwith, and be clothed with all the powers necessary for the trial of
such slaves.
42. The officer prosecuting in behalf of the State,
attending such court, shall be entitled to receive the same
compensation, as for attending a term of a superior court.
* * *
44. Any slave, or free negro, or free person of color, convicted by
due course of law, of an assault with intent to commit a rape, upon the
body of a white female, shall suffer death.
45. Any inhabitant of this State, desirous to emancipate any slave,
may file a petition in writing, in any of the superior courts, setting
forth, as near as may be, the name, sex, and age of the slave, and
praying permission to emancipate the same, and the court shall grant the
prayer, on the following conditions, and not otherwise, namely: (1.) The
petitioner shall show that he has given public notice of his intention
to file the petition, at the court house of the county, and in the
nearest gazette, for at least six weeks before the hearing of the
petition; and (2) shall enter into bond, with two able sureties payable
to the State of North Carolina, in the sum of one thousand dollars for
each slave named in the petition, conditioned that he shall honestly and
correctly demean himself, while he shall remain within the State; and
the he will, within ninety days after granting the prayer for
emancipation, leave the State, and never afterwards come within the
same. Provided, nevertheless, that no such emancipation shall in
any manner invalidate or affect the rights of the creditors of such
petitioner.
46. Any person may, by last will and testament, direct and authorize
his executors to cause to be emancipated any of his slaves, which shall
justify the executor in doing the same; who, to that end, is hereby
directed to file a petition according to the preceding section, in the
same manner as if he were absolute owner of the slaves; and such slaves
shall be emancipated on the same terms and conditions, and under the
same liabilities, as are prescribed in the said section. Provided
always, that no such emancipation shall, in any manner, exempt the
slaves from the claims of creditors. And provided further, that
permission to emancipate any slave, under the directions of any last
will and testament, shall not be granted within two years after probate
of the same, unless the executor will enter into bond with good
security, payable to the State of North Carolina, in double the value of
each slave emancipated, conditioned to be responsible to the creditors
of his testator for the value of said slaves.
47. Whenever it may be directed by a testator, that any of his slaves
shall be emancipated and carried to any State, territory, or country,
and it may not be convenient to carry them to the place specially
appointed, the court shall designate and prescribe to what other place
the slaves shall be carried after, or for emancipation.
48. Whenever a female slave shall by will be directed to be
emancipated, all her issue, born after the date of the will, shall be
deemed to have been likewise intended by the testator to be emancipated;
and the court shall so declare, unless a contrary intent appear by the
will, or by some disposition of the slave so born, inconsistent with
such presumed intent.
49. It may be lawful to emancipate, upon petition, and under the
order of any superior court of law, any slave over the age of fifty
years, if his owner shall prove, by his own oath, or otherwise, that
said slave has performed meritorious services, (which shall be more than
mere general duties); and the petitioner will swear that he has not
received in money or otherwise, the price or value, or any part thereof,
of said slave; or been induced to petition for his emancipation in
consideration of any price paid, or to be paid therefor. Provided,
that, before such slave shall be emancipated, the petitioner shall give
bond and good security, in the sum of five hundred dollars, payable to
the State of North Carolina, that said slave shall honestly and
correctly demean himself, so long as he shall remain in the State, and
shall not become a county charge: which bond may be sued upon, in the
name of the State, to the use of the poor, or of any person injured by
the malconduct of such slave, as often as it may be broken.
50. Every emancipation granted to any slave, in pursuance of, and
according to, the directions prescribed in this chapter, other than
emancipation for meritorious services, shall be upon the express
condition that such slave, within ninety days from the time of granting
the same, shall leave the State, and never thereafter return into it.
And, if any such slave shall refuse or neglect to leave the State,
within that time, or shall ever come within the State, after having left
it, any justice of the peace of the county wherein such emancipated
slave may be found, shall issue a warrant to arrest him; and, upon
proper proof made of his having violated the provisions of this chapter,
the justice shall commit him to the jail of the county, there to remain
until the next ensuing term of the county court, where, on indictment
found against him for the causes aforesaid, or any of them, the trial
shall be by jury; and if found guilty, the offender shall be sentenced
to be publicly sold, and the purchaser shall hold him forever thereafter
as a slave, and the proceeds of sale by divided equally between the
informer, and the poor of the county. Provided, however, that the
accused may appeal from the judgment of the court to the superior court
of the county.
51. If any emancipated slave refuse or neglect to leave the State, as
is required of him, or shall ever come within the same after having left
it, any person may bring suit in the name of the State, for the joint
use of himself and the wardens of the poor, of the county, upon the bond
given pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.
52. All grand-juries shall present every emancipated slave, who may
violate the provisions of this chapter; and the prosecuting officer
shall prosecute such slave as hereinbefore provided.
53. No slave shall be set free, but according to the provisions of
this chapter.
54. It shall not be lawful for any free negro to migrate into this
State; and if one shall do so, he shall be deemed guilty of a
misdemeanor during all the time of his stay, and may be indicted from
time to time, until he removes out of the State; and on every conviction
shall be fined five hundred dollars, for the payment of which he may be
hired out as hereinafter directed. Provided, however, that such
free negro shall not be indicted within thirty days after payment of the
fine, or the expiration of the time of service, adjudged and suffered on
a previous conviction.
55. Any person who shall bring into this State, by water or land, any
free negro, shall forfeit and pay, for every person so brought in, five
hundred dollars, to be recovered in the name of the State, for the use
of the county wherein the offence shall be committed. Provided,
that this section shall not extend to masters of vessels, bringing into
this State any free negro, employed on board and belonging to such
vessels, and who shall therewith depart; nor to any person, travelling
in or through this State, having any free negro as a servant, who shall,
with such person, depart out of the State.
56. Free negroes, not now lawful residents and inhabitants of the
State, shall never hereafter become so by any length of time, neither
they nor their issue; and in all cases where such free negroes are under
the age of sixteen, it shall be the duty of the county court of the
county in which they reside, to remove them at the expense of the
county; and all such as remain to that age, shall be deemed guilty of a
misdemeanor, and on conviction, shall be fined five hundred dollars.
57. If any free negro, who may be a resident of this State, shall
migrate and go into any other State, and shall be absent for the space
of ninety days or more, he shall cease to be a resident and an
inhabitant of this State, and it shall not be lawful for him to return,
to the State; and if any free negro shall return, he shall be deemed and
held to have migrated to the State. Provided, that no persons
shall incur the penalties or disabilities prescribed in this section, if
he shall have been prevented from returning to this State by sickness,
or other unavoidable occurrence.
58. It shall be the duty of the county solicitors to give in charge
to the grand-jury, the law relating to the migration of free negroes
into the State: and it is hereby made the duty of the grand-jury to
present all cases of that kind in their county, arising under this
chapter, within the knowledge of any of them; and the said solicitors
shall, in all such cases, prosecute for, and in behalf of the State.
59. If any free person of color shall preach or exhort in public, or
in any manner officiate as a preacher or teacher in any prayer-meeting,
or other association for worship, where slaves of different families are
collected together, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor; and on
conviction, shall, for each offence, receive not exceeding thirty-nine
lashes on his bare back.
60. If a free negro who is able to labor, shall be found in any
county spending his time in idleness and dissipation, or having no
regular or honest employment or occupation, which he is accustomed to
follow, any citizen may apply to a justice of the peace of said county,
and upon affidavit, obtain a warrant to arrest such person and bring him
before some justice of the county; and if, upon examination of the case,
it shall appear that the free negro comes within the provisions of this
section, the justice shall bind him with reasonable security, to appear
at the next county court of the county; and in case he shall fail to
give security, he shall be committed to the jail of the county, until
the next county court thereafter; and it shall be the duty of the court,
if, upon examination of the case, it shall come within the meaning of
this section, to require such free negro to enter into bond, with
sufficient security in a reasonable sum, payable to the State of North
Carolina, conditioned for his good behavior, and industrious, peaceable
deportment, for one year. And in case he shall fail to give such
security, or shall not pay the costs and charges of the prosecution, the
court shall hire out such free negro to service and labor, for a term of
time which to them may seem reasonable and just, and calculated to
reform him to habits of industry and morality, not exceeding three years
for any one offence. And all sums of money which may arise under the
provisions of this section, shall be paid to the county trustee.
61. It shall not be lawful for a free negro to intermarry, or cohabit
and live together as man and wife, with any slave; and any free negro
offending herein, shall be liable to indictment, and, upon conviction,
shall be fined and imprisoned, or whipped at the discretion of the
court; the whipping not to exceed thirty-nine lashes. Provided,
that this section shall not extend to any case where an intermarriage,
or cohabiting, or living together took place, by and with the consent of
the master or mistress, before the first day of November, a.d. one
thousand eight hundred and forty-four.
62. No free negro shall play at all with any slave at any game of
cards, dice, or nine pins; nor shall he play with any slave at any game
of chance, hazard, or skill, for money, liquor, or any thing of value;
and any free negro offending herein shall be deemed guilty of a
misdemeanor, and, on conviction, shall receive a whipping, not exceeding
thirty-nine lashes, on his bare back.
63. If any free negro, or person of mixed blood, shall knowingly
suffer any slave to play at any game of cards, dice, nine pins, or any
game of chance, hazard, or skill, whether for money, liquor, or any kind
of property, or not, in his house, or in the yard, field, or garden
attached or belonging to his house, he shall be deemed guilty of a
misdemeanor; and, on conviction, shall receive not exceeding thirty-nine
lashes on his bare back.
64. If a free negro shall entertain any slave in his house, during
Sunday, or in the night between sunset and sunrise, he shall forfeit and
pay two dollars for every offence, for the use of the county in which
the offence shall be committed.
65. No free negro shall hawk or peddle in any county, without first
obtaining a license from the court of pleas and quarter-sessions of that
county; which license shall be granted for but one year, and only when
seven or more justices are present, and upon satisfactory evidence of
the good character of the applicant. And if any free negro shall offend
against this section, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.
66. If any free negro shall wear or carry about his person, or keep
in his house, any shot-gun, musket, rifle, pistol, sword, dagger, or
bowie-knife, unless he shall have obtained a license therefor from the
court of pleas and quarter-sessions of his county, within one year next
preceding the time of the wearing, keeping, or carrying thereof, he
shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
67. If any negro shall, directly or indirectly, sell or give to any
person, bond or free, any spirituous liquor, he shall be deemed guilty
of a misdemeanor.
68. Every slave or free person of color, who shall hereafter be
convicted of any felony, for which no specific punishment is prescribed
by statute, and which is now allowed the benefit of clergy, shall be
imprisoned at the discretion of the court, not exceeding two years; and,
in addition to such imprisonment, the court may sentence the convict to
receive one or more public whippings, or to stand in the pillory, or (if
a free negro) to pay a fine, regard being had to the circumstances of
each case.
69. When a slave shall be apprehended or indicted for any offence,
whereof the superior court has original jurisdiction, his owner, if
known, shall have ten days’ notice of the trial, in order that he may
have an opportunity of defending his slave; the cost of which notice,
and all other costs, attending the trial of the slave, shall be paid by
the owner, if such slave, being a free man, would be liable to the
payment thereof. And if the owner refuse to pay the same, execution in
the name of the State may issue against such owner.
70. When the owner of any slave who may be tried in virtue of this
chapter, shall not be known, or cannot be ascertained, or shall reside
out of the State, the court shall appoint counsel to appear for the
prisoner, who shall be allowed the same fees as the attorney for the
State is allowed for such criminal prosecutions; after which, the trial
may proceed in the same manner, as if the owner had been notified
agreeable to the directions of this chapter; and the fees for the
counsel, clerk, and sheriff, shall be paid by the county having
cognizance of the offence, as other county charges.
71. Negroes, Indians, and persons of mixed blood, descended from
negro and Indian ancestors, to the fourth generation inclusive, (though
one ancestor of each generation may have been a white person,) whether
bond or free, shall be deemed and taken in law to be incapable to be
witnesses in any case whatever, except against each other. In all pleas
of the State, where the defendant may be a negro, Indian, or person of
mixed blood, descended from negro or Indian ancestors, to the fourth
generation inclusive, (though one ancestor of each generation may have
been a white person,) whether such defendant be bond or free, the
evidence of a negro, Indian, and of all persons of mixed blood,
descended from negro or Indian ancestors to the fourth generation
inclusive, (though one ancestor of each generation may have been a white
person,) whether the person whose evidence is offered be bond or free,
shall be admissible, and the witnesses competent, subject, nevertheless,
to be excluded upon any grounds of incompetency which may exist.
72. On the trial of any slave, free person of color, or Indian, the
judge or presiding magistrate, before the examination of any slave, free
negro, or Indian, shall charge such to declare the truth.
73. If any slave, free negro, or Indian, upon any trial where he may
be examined as a witness, shall commit wilful and corrupt perjury, he
shall, upon conviction, be punished as a freeman convicted of a like
offence.
74. In every case where the whole, or part of the punishment
prescribed by statute for any offence, shall be imprisonment for a time
so long as thirty days at least, and there shall be provided by the
statute no difference in the punishment between a white person and a
free negro, the court may sentence the free negro to be both whipped and
imprisoned; but in such case the time of imprisonment, within the limit
prescribed, shall be in the discretion of the court.
75. When a free negro shall be convicted of any offence against the
criminal laws of the State, and sentenced to pay a fine, and it shall
appear to the satisfaction of the court, that he is unable to pay the
fine imposed, (which shall in all cases be equal to the costs,) the
court shall direct the sheriff to hire out such free negro publicly at
the court house door, during the term of court, to any person who will
pay the fine, or the greatest part thereof, for the services of the free
negro for the shortest space of time, not exceeding five years; and the
hirer shall have all such power and authority over, and the same rights
to control the services of, such free negro, as masters have over free
negro apprentices.
76. Whenever a free negro shall be charged with the maintenance of
any bastard child, and he shall be unable to give the bond required in
such case, the court may order him to be hired out, in the same manner
and under the same rules as are prescribed in the preceding section, for
such sum as the court shall adjudge to be proper for the maintenance of
the child.
77. When any free negro, for any fine imposed on him for an offence,
or for a sum of money adjudged against him in case of bastardy, shall be
hired out for the space of five years, the whole fine or sum of money
shall be discharged; and the sheriff, after deducting five per centum on
the sums collected for any hiring, shall account for the residue, as for
other fines; and in these cases, the officers shall have full fees. Provided
always, that if any free negro, who may be hired out for his fine,
or in pursuance of section seventy-five of this chapter, shall abscond
or leave the service of his hirer, before the expiration of his time of
hiring, such free negro shall be bound to serve double the deficient
time. And provided, further, that the person hiring such free
negro shall, in open court, enter into recognizance to the State, with
two able sureties, in such sum as the court shall direct, that the free
negro, during the time of service, shall be furnished with good and
sufficient lodging, clothing, medicine, and food; shall be treated with
humanity, and be employed in some useful and industrious occupation;
shall not be removed from the county, during the term of service, and
shall be produced to the county court at the expiration thereof, or
whenever, and as often as, the court may order. On breach of the
recognizance, the prosecuting officer of the court, which may have
directed the hiring, shall enforce and collect the recognizance for the
benefit of the free negro, who, on such breach thereof being
established, shall be discharged of all further service. And if any
hirer shall fail to comply with any of the duties hereby |