Full Transcript
Whereas it is necessary for the public safety, that communication between the slaves of this island and slaves which have been lately or may hereafter be, brought to this island from the Island of St. Domingo, should be prevented: We, your majesty’s dutiful and loyal subjects, the assembly of this your majesty’s Island of Jamaica, most humbly beseech your majesty that it may be enacted, Be it therefore enacted by the lieutenant-governor, council, and assembly of this Island, and it is hereby enacted and ordained by the authority of the same, That from and after the passing of this act, it shall not be lawful for any inhabitant of this island to purchase, hire, or employ, any slave which, to his knowledge, has been imported or brought into this island since the twenty-third day of August 1791, or which shall be hereafter brought into this island from any foreign state or colony; and that any person purchasing, hiring, or employing any such slave, contrary to this act, shall forefeit the sum of three hundred pounds of current money of Jamaica; to be recovered by action of debt in the supreme court of Judicature of this Island (one half to the parish where the offence be committed, and the other to the person suing for the same), and that with costs out of purse, to be taxed by the clerk of the said court: Provided always nevertheless, That any person or persons employing such slaves upon hire in any sea-port town of this island, and not sending, carrying, or permitting them to go into the country, shall not incur the penalty aforesaid.
II. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That any sale which shall be made, contrary to this act, shall be null and void as to the purchaser or purchasers, and the slave or slaves so sold shall immediately become vested in the parish where the offence is commited: Provided nevertheless, That nothing herein contained shall extend to or affect the importation of new negroes, who have not been landed in any foreign state or colony; any thing in this or any other act in anywise notwithstanding
III. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That this act, and every clause, matter, and thing therein contained, shall continue and be in force from the passing thereof, until the thirty-first day of December, which will be in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety-three, and no longer.
Passed the Assembly, the 19th Day of December 1792
P.W. Haughton, Speaker
Passed the Council this 21st day of Dec 1792
James Jones, Cl. Con.
I consent, this 21st day of Dec. 1792.
Adam Williamson.
Vera Copia Extur.
James Jones, Sec.