judge or magistrate to give a certificate thereof to such claimant, his agent or attorney, which shall be sufficient warrant for removing the said fugitive from labour, to the state or territory from which he or she fled.
Penalty on obstructing claimants of fugitives from labour.Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That any person who shall knowingly and willingly obstruct or hinder such claimant, his agent or attorney in so seizing or arresting such fugitive from labour, or shall rescue such fugitive from such claimant, his agent or attorney when so arrested pursuant to the authority herein given or declared; or shall harbor or conceal such person after notice that he or she was a fugitive from labour, as aforesaid, shall, for either of the said offences, forfeit and pay the sum of five hundred dollars. Which penalty may be recovered by and for the benefit of such claimant, by action of debt, in any court proper to try the same; saving moreover to the person claiming such labour or service, his right of action for or on account of the said injuries or either of them.
Approved, February 12, 1793.
Feb. 18, 1793
Chap. VIII.—An Act for enrolling and licensing ships or vessels to be employed in the coasting trade and fisheries, and for regulating the same.
What ships shall be deemed of the United States.
Ships or vessels enrolled under this act alone entitled to the privileges of the coasting trade.
Act of Sept. 1, 1789, ch. 11.Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That ships or vessels, enrolled by virtue of “An act for registering and clearing vessels, regulating the coasting trade, and for other purposes,” and those of twenty tons and upwards, which shall be enrolled after the last day of May next, in pursuance of this act, and having a license in force, or if less than twenty tons, not being enrolled shall have a license in force, as is herein after required, and no others, shall be deemed ships or vessels of the United States, entitled to the privileges of ships or vessels employed in the coasting trade or fisheries.
Dec. 31, 1792, ch. 1.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That from and after the last day of May next, in order for the enrolment of any ship or vessel, she shall possess the same qualifications, and the same requisites, in all respects, shall be complied with, as are made necessary for registering ships or vessels, by the act, intituled “An act concerning the registering and recording of ships or vessels,” and the same duties and authorities are hereby given and imposed on all officers. respectively, in relation to such enrolments,1812, ch. 40. and the same proceedings shall be had, in similar cases, touching such enrolments; and the ships or vessels so enrolled, with the master, or owner or owners thereof, shall be subject to the same requi-
Damages for harboring or concealing a slave, in a free state, are recoverable only by the constitution and act of Congress. Ibid.
Notice that the persons harbored or concealed are fugitives from labour, need not be in writing by the claimant, or his agent, nor need it be given by either of them verbally. Notice under the act of Congress, means knowledge. Ibid.
If there be evidence conducing to show such notice or knowledge, it will go to the jury, who will judge of its sufficiency. The same principles apply to the evidence of harboring or concealing the fugitives. Ibid.
Any overt act, which intentionally places a fugitive from labour beyond the reach of his master, or is calculated to have such an effect, is a harboring of the fugitive within the statute. Jones v. Vanzant, 2 M‘Lean’s C. C. R. 611.
If the defendant had full knowledge from the negroes or otherwise, that they are fugitives from labour, it is notice under the statute. Ibid.
If the plaintiff was subjected to a certain reward, by the laws of Kentucky, for the return of his slaves, and the defendant was the cause of his liability to such payment, it may constitute a part of his damages. Ibid.
Where the defendant has been the means of the entire loss of the slave, evidence may be received or the loss of such slave by showing what his services were worth, as conducing to show that fact, for what sum he might have been sold. Ibid.
The act of Congress on the subject of fugitive slaves is constitutional, and does not conflict with the ordinance for the government of the Northwestern territory. Ibid.
