Full Transcript
WHEREAS by an Act made and passed on the 25th day of October 1806, intituled, “An Act to repeal so much of an Act commonly called the Guardian Act, as gives an annuity of ten pounds to any Slave manumitted according to the directions of that Act, and for certain other purposes;” it is enacted that every Owner manumitting his or her Slave, shall pay to the Treasurer of these Islands the sum of one hundred pounds current money, for each and every Slave so manumitted, in manner required by a certain Act of the Legislature, and which hath since been repealed; and no manumission that has been given since the passing and publication of the aforesaid Act, nor that shall hereafter be given by any Owner to any such Slave, shall be admitted as evidence in any Court of his or her freedom, unless there shall be a certificate by the Treasurer aforesaid, on such manumission of the aforesaid sum of one hundred pounds having been paid; and the same manumission shall have been duly recorded in the Register’s office of this Island. And it is also enacted that no other evidence of the freedom of any person pretending to have obtained such since 9th day of December 1797, shall be received in any Court other than such manumissions, so certified by the Treasurer as aforesaid, or in case such manumission being lost, a copy thereof from the said Register’s Office. And whereas by an Act made and passed the 27th day of July 1818, intituled, “An Act to repeal so much and such parts of an Act, intituled, An Act fur the better protection and [11] for promoting the natural increase and population of Slaves within the Island of Grenada, and such of the Grenadines as are annexed to the Government thereof; for compelling an adequate provision for and care of them, as well in sickness and old age as in health; and for constituting guardians to effectuate and carry into execution the regulations and purposes of this Act, as relates to or directs the payment of one hundred pounds on the manumitting of each Slave, and to the execution in any other place than within this Government, of deeds of manumission of persons usually residing therein,” it is enacted that the original of all manumission or other Acts of Freedom made, given, granted, or executed subsequent to the 9th day of December 1797, whether by last will and testament or otherwise, after being duly proved according to law, and if proved and recorded in the Register’s Office of these Islands, in manner prescribed by law, and such originals cannot be produced, then office copies thereof, duly certified by the Registrar of these Islands for the time being, or his lawful deputy, should and might be received and admitted in evidence in all Courts of Law and Equity in these Islands, and should be valid to all intents and purposes whatsoever.
And whereas the said Act, intituled, “An Act for the better protection and for promoting the natural increase and population of Slaves within the Island of Grenada, and such of the Grenadines as are annexed to the Government thereof, for compelling an adequate provision for and care of them, as well in sickness and old age as in health, and for constituting and appointing guardians to effectuate and carry into execution the regulations and purposes of this Act hath lately been altogether repealed, but doubts have been entertained whether the before recited clauses in the before mentioned Act passed upon the 25th of October 1806, are not still in force, notwithstanding the provisions of the Act passed the 27th day of July 1818. And whereas it is desirable that all doubts should be removed on that point, and that every facility should be given to the manumission of deserving Slaves according to the spirit of the laws now in force: Be it therefore enacted, by His Excellency Major-General Sir James Campbell, Knight, Commander of the Most Honourable Military Order of the Bath, Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over the said Island of Grenada and its dependencies, the Members of the Council and the General Assembly of these Islands, and it is hereby enacted, by the authority of the same, that the said recited Act made and passed on the 25th of October 1806, intituled, “An Act to repeal so much of an Act commonly called the Guardian Act, as gives an annuity of ten pounds to any Slave manumitted according to the directions of that Act, and for certain other purposes;" and also the said recited Act made and passed the 27th day of July 1818, intituled, “An Act to repeal so much and such parts of an Act, intituled, An Act for the better protection, and for promoting the natural increase and population of Slaves within the Island of Grenada and such of the Grenadines as are annexed to the Government thereof, for compelling an adequate provision for and care of them, as well in sickness and old age as in health, and for constituting guardians to effectuate and carry into execution the regulations and purposes of this Act," as relates to or directs the payment of one hundred pounds on the manumitting of each Slave, and to the execution in any other place than within this Government, of deeds of manumissions of persons usually residing therein shall be, and the same are hereby repealed, and any Act or Acts, part or parts of any Act or Acts by such Acts repealed, shall be, and the same is, and are hereby also repealed.
And be it further enacted, that all manumissions and other Acts of Freedom made and granted for the purpose of enfranchising Slaves which have been made and executed since the 9th day of December 1797, or which shall or may be hereafter made and executed, and whether made by last will and testament or otherwise, after being duly proved according to law, and if proved and recorded in the Register’s Office of this Island in manner prescribed by law, shall be received and admitted as evidence of freedom in all Courts of Law and Equity in these Islands, and shall be valid to all intents and purposes whatsoever, any law, usage, or custom, heretofore subsisting to the contrary, in any wise notwithstanding; and if the original document establishing such freedom cannot be produced, then office copies thereof, duly certified by the Registrar of these Islands for the time being, or his lawful Deputy, shall and may be admitted as proof of freedom.
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And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, that this Act shall be deemed and taken to be a public Act, and shall be judicially noticed as such by all Judges, Justices, and other persons without specially pleading the same.
Passed the Assembly this 8th day March 1826.
(Signed) JOHN CHARLES KER, Clerk of Assembly.
Passed the Council this 9th day of March 1826.
(Signed) JOHN DOUGLAS, Acting Clerk of Council.
Dated at the Town of Saint George, in the Island of Grenada, this eleventh day of March, in the seventh year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Fourth, by the grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, and in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-six.
(Signed) JOHN HOYES, Speaker.
Assented to by His Excellency the Governor and Commander in Chief, this eleventh day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-six, and the seventh year of His Majesty’s reign.
(Signed) JOHN DOUGLAS, Acting Clerk of Council.
Proclaimed in the Town of St. George, this fourteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-six, and the seventh year of His Majesty’s reign.
(Signed) J. BOUCHER, Provost Marshal General,
(Signed) JAMES (L.M.S) CAMPBELL.