An additional Act, to an Act, concerning Servants and Slaves.

I. WHEREAS by an Act, intituled, An Act, concerning Servants and Slaves, among other Things, it is provided, That no Slave shall go armed with Gun, Sword, Club, or other Weapon, or shall keep any such Weapon, or shall hunt or range in the Woods with a Gun, upon any Pretence whatsoever, except such Slave or Slaves who shall have a Certificate, as in the said Act is provided: And whereas the Remedy in the said Act provided, has proved ineffectual to restrain many slaves in divers Parts of this Province, from going armed, which may prove of dangerous Consequence: For Remedy whereof,

II. WE pray it may be Enacted, And be it Enacted, by the Honourable Matthew Rowan, Esq; President, by and with the Advice and Consent of his Majesty’s Council, and the General Assembly of this Province, That from and after the passing of this Act, no Certificate shall be signed by any Chairman of any County Court in this Province, allowing any Slave to carry a Gun and hunt in the Woods, unless the Master, Mistress, or Manager of such Slave, shall first enter into Bond, with sufficient Security, to the County Court, either before or at the Time such Certificate shall be given, for the good and honest Behaviour of such Slave; which Bond may be assigned over to any Person or Persons who shall be injured by such Slave; which Assignee shall and may maintain an Action thereon, and recover such Damages as he or she shall may sustain by such Slave, in any Court of Record in this Province, by Action of Debt, Bill, Plaint, or Information; wherein no Essoign, Injunction, Protection, or Wager of Law shall be allowed or admitted of.

III. AND be it further Enacted, That no Slave shall have, or carry a Gun in any Plantation where Crop is not tended, nor more than one in any Plantation where there is Crop tended, nor after Crop is housed: And the Master, Mistress, or Overseer of any Slave, with whom shall be found any Gun, Sword, or other Weapon, contrary to the true Intent and Meaning of this, and the before-recited Act, shall forfeit and pay, to the Person finding the same, the Sum of Twenty Shillings Proclamation Money, to be recovered by a Warrant before any one Justice of the Peace for the County where the Offence shall be committed; any Punishment inflicted on the Slave, Forfeiture of the Gun, Sword, or other Weapon notwithstanding; unless such Master, Mistress, or Overseer, shall, by their own Oath, or other Proof, make appear, that such Slave, carrying a Gun, Sword, or other Weapon, was without their Consent or Knowledge.

IV. AND be it further Enacted, That the Justices of each County Court, when and where they judge it necessary, shall divide their respective Counties into Districts, and Yearly, at the first Court to be held for their Counties respectively after the first Day of May, shall appoint Three Freeholders in each District as Searchers, who shall take the following Oath, viz, 

I A. B. do swear, That I will, as Searcher for Guns, Swords, and other Weapons among the Slaves in my District, faithfully, and as privately as I can, discharge the Trust reposed in me, as the Law Directs, to the best of my Power.

So help me God.

Which Searchers shall four Times in a Year, or oftener if they think necessary, search and examine the Quarters and other Places where Negroes resort in their District, for any Gun, Sword, or other Weapon, and upon finding any of the said Weapons, are hereby required to seize the same, and convert them to their own Use, as by the afore-recited Act is directed.

V. AND be it further Enacted, That any Person appointed Searcher as aforesaid, who shall neglect or refuse to act, shall forfeit and pay the Sum of Forty Shillings Proclamation Money, to such Person who shall next succeed him; to be recovered as other Fines in this Act mentioned.

VI. AND for the Encouragement of such Searchers faithfully to execute their Office; Be if further Enacted, by the Authority aforesaid, That each and every Searcher shall, as to his own Person, be, during the Time of his Continuance in his Office, exempted from serving as a Constable, or upon the Roads, or in the Militia, or as a Juror, and shall not be obliged to pay any Provincial, County, or Parish Tax, of what Kind of Nature soever.

VII. PROVIDED always, That no Person but such as are liable to be appointed Constables, shall be obliged to serve as Searchers; any Thing in this Act to the contrary notwithstanding.

VIII. AND be it Enacted, by the Authority aforesaid, That no Slave shall hunt or range in the Woods with a Dog or Dogs, except such as shall have a Certificate for Hunting, obtained as is in this Act directed: And if any Slave shall be found offending herein, it shall and may be lawful for any Person or Persons to kill and destroy the said Dog or Dogs, and to bring the said Slave before the next Magistrate, who shall, on due Proof of his Offence, order the said Slave such Correction as he shall judge reasonable, not exceeding Thirty Lashes.

IX. AND be it further Enacted, by the Authority aforesaid, That if any Slave or Slaves shall be kill’d on Outlawry, or shall commit any Crime or Misdemeanor for which he, she, or they shall be capitally convicted, the Owner of such Slave or Slaves so outlawed or executed, shall be debar’d all Claim on the Public for the Value of such Slave or Slaves, and the Justices of the County Court, and Freeholders, who shall value the Slave or Slaves so killed, or sit on the Trial of such Slave or Slaves so capitally convicted, shall not make any Certificate of the Value of the same, unless it shall be made appear, on Motion for such Certificate, by the Owner, or some other Person, that such Slave or Slaves, killed on Outlawry, or capitally convicted, shall have been sufficiently cloathed, and shall likewise have constantly received, for the preceeding Year, and Allowance, not less than a Quart of Corn per Diem. 

X. AND be it Enacted, by the Authority aforesaid, That in Case any Slave or Slaves, who shall not appear to have been cloathed and fed according to the Intent and Meaning of this Act, shall be convicted of stealing any Corn, Cattle, Hogs, or other Goods whatsoever, from any Person not the Owner of such Slave or Slaves, such injured Person shall and may maintain and Action of Trespass against the Master, Owner, or Possessor of such Slave, in the General or County Court, and shall recover his or her Damages, with Costs of Suit; any Law, Usage, or Custom to the contrary, notwithstanding.