An Act to Confer Civil Rights on Freedmen, and for other Purposes
Section 1. All freedmen, free negroes and mulattoes may sue and be
sued, implead and be impleaded, in all the courts of law and equity of this
State, and may acquire personal property, and chooses in action, by descent or
purchase, and may dispose of the same in the same manner and to the same extent
that white persons may: Provided, That the provisions of this section shall not
be so construed as to allow any freedman, free negro or mulatto to rent or lease
any lands or tenements except in incorporated cities or towns, in which places
the corporate authorities shall control the same.
Section 2. All freedmen, free negroes and mulattoes may intermarry
with each other, in the same manner and under the same regulations that are
provided by law for white persons: Provided, that the clerk of probate shall
keep separate records of the same.
Section 3. All freedmen, free negroes or mullatoes who do now and have
herebefore lived and cohabited together as husband and wife shall be taken and
held in law as legally married, and the issue shall be taken and held as
legitimate for all purposes; and it shall not be lawful for any freedman, free
negro or mulatto to intermarry with any white person; nor for any person to
intermarry with any freedman, free negro or mulatto; and any person who shall so
intermarry shall be deemed guilty of felony, and on conviction thereof shall be
confined in the State penitentiary for life; and those shall be deemed freedmen,
free negroes and mulattoes who are of pure negro blood, and those descended from
a negro to the third generation, inclusive, though one ancestor in each
generation may have been a white person.
Section 4. In addition to cases in which freedmen, free negroes and
mulattoes are now by law competent witnesses, freedmen, free negroes or
mulattoes shall be competent in civil cases, when a party or parties to the
suit, either plaintiff or plaintiffs, defendant or defendants; also in cases
where freedmen, free negroes and mulattoes is or are either plaintiff or
plaintiffs, defendant or defendants. They shall also be competent witnesses in
all criminal prosecutions where the crime charged is alleged to have been
committed by a white person upon or against the person or property of a
freedman, free negro or mulatto: Provided, that in all cases said witnesses
shall be examined in open court, on the stand; except, however, they may be
examined before the grand jury, and shall in all cases be subject to the rules
and tests of the common law as to competency and credibility.
Section 5. Every freedman, free negro and mulatto shall, on the second
Monday of January, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, and annually
thereafter, have a lawful home or employment, and shall have written evidence
thereof as follows, to wit: if living in any incorporated city, town, or
village, a license from that mayor thereof; and if living outside of an
incorporated city, town, or village, from the member of the board of police of
his beat, authorizing him or her to do irregular and job work; or a written
contract, as provided in Section 6 in this act; which license may be revoked for
cause at any time by the authority granting the same.
Section 6. All contracts for labor made with freedmen, free negroes
and mulattoes for a longer period than one month shall be in writing, and a
duplicate, attested and read to said freedman, free negro or mulatto by a beat,
city or county officer, or two disinterested white persons of the county in
which the labor is to performed, of which each party shall have one: and said
contracts shall be taken and held as entire contracts, and if the laborer shall
quit the service of the employer before the expiration of his term of service,
without good cause, he shall forfeit his wages for that year up to the time of
quitting.
Section 7. Every civil officer shall, and every person may, arrest and
carry back to his or her legal employer any freedman, free negro, or mulatto who
shall have quit the service of his or her employer before the expiration of his
or her term of service without good cause; and said officer and person shall be
entitled to receive for arresting and carrying back every deserting employee
aforesaid the sum of five dollars, and ten cents per mile from the place of
arrest to the place of delivery; and the same shall be paid by the employer, and
held as a set off for so much against the wages of said deserting employee:
Provided, that said arrested party, after being so returned, may appeal to the
justice of the peace or member of the board of police of the county, who, on
notice to the alleged employer, shall try summarily whether said appellant is
legally employed by the alleged employer, and has good cause to quit said
employer. Either party shall have the right of appeal to the county court,
pending which the alleged deserter shall be remanded to the alleged employer or
otherwise disposed of, as shall be right and just; and the decision of the
county court shall be final.
Section 8. Upon affidavit made by the employer of any freedman, free
negro or mulatto, or other credible person, before any justice of the peace or
member of the board of police, that any freedman, free negro or mulatto legally
employed by said employer has illegally deserted said employment, such justice
of the peace or member of the board of police issue his warrant or warrants,
returnable before himself or other such officer, to any sheriff, constable or
special deputy, commanding him to arrest said deserter, and return him or her to
said employer, and the like proceedings shall be had as provided in the
preceding section; and it shall be lawful for any officer to whom such warrant
shall be directed to execute said warrant in any county in this State; and that
said warrant may be transmitted without endorsement to any like officer of
another county, to be executed and returned as aforesaid; and the said employer
shall pay the costs of said warrants and arrest and return, which shall be set
off for so much against the wages of said deserter.
Section 9. If any person shall persuade or attempt to persuade,
entice, or cause any freedman, free negro or mulatto to desert from the legal
employment of any person before the expiration of his or her term of service, or
shall knowingly employ any such deserting freedman, free negro or mullato, or
shall knowingly give or sell to any such deserting freedman, free negro or
mulatto, any food, raiment, or other thing, he or she shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, shall be fined not less than twenty-five
dollars and not more than two hundred dollars and costs; and if the said fine
and costs shall not be immediately paid, the court shall sentence said convict
to not exceeding two months imprisonment in the county jail, and he or she shall
moreover be liable to the party injured in damages: Provided, if any person
shall, or shall attempt to, persuade, entice, or cause any freedman, free negro
or mullatto to desert from any legal employment of any person, with the view to
employ said freedman, free negro or mullato without the limits of this State,
such costs; and if said fine and costs shall not be immediately paid, the court
shall sentence said convict to not exceeding six months imprisonment in the
county jail.
Section 10. It shall be lawful for any freedman, free negro, or
mulatto, to charge any white person, freedman, free negro or mulatto by
affidavit, with any criminal offense against his or her person or property, and
upon such affidavit the proper process shall be issued and executed as if said
affidavit was made by a white person, and it shall be lawful for any freedman,
free negro, or mulatto, in any action, suit or controversy pending, or about to
be instituted in any court of law equity in this State, to make all needful and
lawful affidavits as shall be necessary for the institution, prosecution or
defense of such suit or controversy.
Section 11. The penal laws of this state, in all cases not otherwise
specially provided for, shall apply and extend to all freedman, free negroes and
mulattoes...
An Act to Regulate the Relation of Master and Apprentice, as Relates to
Freedmen, Free Negroes, and Mulattoes
Section 1. It shall be the duty of all sheriffs, justices of the
peace, and other civil officers of the several counties in this State, to report
to the probate courts of their respective counties semiannually, at the January
and July terms of said courts, all freedmen, free negroes, and mulattoes, under
the age of eighteen, in their respective counties, beats, or districts, who are
orphans, or whose parent or parents have not the means or who refuse to provide
for and support said minors; and thereupon it shall be the duty of said probate
court to order the clerk of said court to apprentice said minors to some
competent and suitable person on such terms as the court may direct, having a
particular care to the interest of said minor: Provided, that the former owner
of said minors shall have the preference when, in the opinion of the court, he
or she shall be a suitable person for that purpose.
Section 2. The said court shall be fully satisfied that the person or
persons to whom said minor shall be apprenticed shall be a suitable person to
have the charge and care of said minor, and fully to protect the interest of
said minor. The said court shall require the said master or mistress to execute
bond and security, payable to the State of Mississippi, conditioned that he or
she shall furnish said minor with sufficient food and clothing; to treat said
minor humanely; furnish medical attention in case of sickness; teach, or cause
to be taught, him or her to read and write, if under fifteen years old, and will
conform to any law that may be hereafter passed for the regulation of the duties
and relation of master and apprentice: Provided, that said apprentice shall be
bound by indenture, in case of males, until they are twenty-one years old, and
in case of females until they are eighteen years old.
Section 3. In the management and control of said apprentices, said
master or mistress shall have the power to inflict such moderate coporeal
chastisement as a father or guardian is allowed to infliction on his or her
child or ward at common law: Provided, that in no case shall cruel or inhuman
punishment be inflicted.
Section 4. If any apprentice shall leave the employment of his or her
master or mistress, without his or her consent, said master or mistress may
pursue and recapture said apprentice, and bring him or her before any justice of
the peace of the county, whose duty it shall be to remand said apprentice to the
service of his or her master or mistress; and in the event of a refusal on the
part of said apprentice so to return, then said justice shall commit said
apprentice to the jail of said county, on failure to give bond, to the next term
of the county court; and it shall be the duty of said court at the first term
thereafter to investigate said case, and if the court shall be of opinion that
said apprentice left the employment of his or her master or mistress without
good cause, to order him or her to be punished, as provided for the punishment
of hired freedmen, as may be from time to time provided for by law for
desertion, until he or she shall agree to return to the service of his or her
master or mistress: Provided, that the court may grant continuances as in other
cases: And provided further, that if the court shall believe that said
apprentice had good cause to quit his said master or mistress, the court shall
discharge said apprentice from said indenture, and also enter a judgment against
the master or mistress for not more than one hundred dollars, from the use and
benefit of said apprentice, to be collected on execution as in other cases.
Section 5. If any person entice away any apprentice from his or her
master or mistress, or shall knowingly employ an apprentice, or furnish him or
her food or clothing without the written consent of his or her master or
mistress, or shall sell or give said apprentice spirits without such consent,
said person so offending shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, upon
conviction there of before the county court, be punished as provided for the
punishment of person enticing from their employer hired freedmen, free negroes
or mulattoes.
Section 6. It shall be the duty of all civil officers of their
respective counties to report any minors within their respective counties to
said probate court who are subject to be apprenticed under the provisions of
this act, from time to time as the facts may come to their knowledge, and it
shall be the duty of said court from time to time as said minors shall be
reported to them, or otherwise come to their knowledge, to apprentice said
minors as hereinbefore provided.
Section 9. It shall be lawful for any freedman, free negro, or
mulatto, having a minor child or children, as provided for by this act.
Section 10. In all cases where the age of the freedman, free negro, or
mulatto cannot be ascertained by record testimony, the judge of the county court
shall fix the age....
An Act to Amend the Vagrant Laws of the State
Section 1. All rogues and vagabonds, idle and dissipated persons,
beggars, jugglers, or persons practicing unlawful games or plays, runaways,
common drunkards, common night-walkers, pilferers, lewd, wanton, or lascivious
persons, in speech or behavior, common railers and brawlers, persons who neglect
their calling or employment, misspend what they earn, or do not provide for the
support of themselves or their families, or dependents, and all other idle and
disorderly persons, including all who neglect all lawful business, habitually
misspend their time by frequenting houses of ill-fame, gaming-houses, or
tippling shops, shall be deemed and considered vagrants, under the provisions of
this act, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not exceeding one hundred
dollars, with all accruing costs, and be imprisoned, at the discretion of the
court, not exceeding ten days.
Section 2. All freedmen, free negroes and mulattoes in this State,
over the age of eighteen years, found on the second Monday in January, 1866, or
thereafter, with no lawful employment or business, or found unlawful assembling
themselves together, either in the day or night time, and all white persons
assembling themselves with freedmen, Free negroes or mulattoes, or usually
associating with freedmen, free negroes or mulattoes, on terms of equality, or
living in adultery or fornication with a freed woman, freed negro or mulatto,
shall be deemed vagrants, and on conviction thereof shall be fined in a sum not
exceeding, in the case of a freedman, free negro or mulatto, fifty dollars, and
a white man two hundred dollars, and imprisonment at the discretion of the
court, the free negro not exceeding ten days, and the white man not exceeding
six months.
Section 3. All justices of the peace, mayors, and aldermen of
incorporated towns, counties, and cities of the several counties in this State
shall have jurisdiction to try all questions of vagrancy in their respective
towns, counties, and cities, and it is hereby made their duty, whenever they
shall ascertain that any person or persons in their respective towns, and
counties and cities are violating any of the provisions of this act, to have
said party or parties arrested, and brought before them, and immediately
investigate said charge, and, on conviction, punish said party or parties, as
provided for herein. And it is hereby made the duty of all sheriffs, constables,
town constables, and all such like officers, and city marshals, to report to
some officer having jurisdiction all violations of any of the provisions of this
act, and in case any officer shall fail or neglect any duty herein it shall be
the duty of the county court to fine said officer, upon conviction, not
exceeding one hundred dollars, to be paid into the county treasury for county
purposes.
Section 4. Keepers of gaming houses, houses of prostitution,
prostitutes, public or private, and all persons who derive their chief support
in the employment's that militate against good morals, or against law, shall be
deemed and held to be vagrants.
Section 5. All fines and forfeitures collected by the provisions of
this act shall be paid into the county treasury of general county purposes, and
in case of any freedman, free negro or mulatto shall fail for five days after
the imposition of any or forfeiture upon him or her for violation of any of the
provisions of this act to pay the same, that it shall be, and is hereby, made
the duty of the sheriff of the proper county to hire out said freedman, free
negro or mulatto, to any person who will, for the shortest period of service,
pay said fine and forfeiture and all costs: Provided, a preference shall be
given to the employer, if there be one, in which case the employer shall be
entitled to deduct and retain the amount so paid from the wages of such
freedman, free negro or mulatto, then due or to become due; and in case
freedman, free negro or mulatto cannot hire out, he or she may be dealt with as
a pauper.
Section 6. The same duties and liabilities existing among white
persons of this State shall attach to freedmen, free negroes or mulattoes, to
support their indigent families and all colored paupers; and that in order to
secure a support for such indigent freedmen, free negroes, or mulattoes, it
shall be lawful, and is hereby made the duty of the county police of each county
in this State, to levy a poll or capitation tax on each and every freedman, free
negro, or mulatto, between the ages of eighteen and sixty years, not to exceed
the sum of one dollar annually to each person so taxed, which tax, when
collected, shall be paid into the county treasurer's hands, and constitute a
fund to be called the Freedman's Pauper Fund, which shall be applied by the
commissioners of the poor for the maintenance of the poor of the freedmen, free
negroes and mulattoes of this State, under such regulations as may be
established by the boards of county police in the respective counties of this
State.
Section 7. If any freedman, free negro, or mulatto shall fail or
refuse to pay any tax levied according to the provisions of the sixth section of
this act, it shall be prima facie evidence of vagrancy, and it shall be
the duty of the sheriff to arrest such freedman, free negro, or mulatto, or such
person refusing or neglecting to pay such tax, and proceed at once to hire for
the shortest time such delinquent taxpayer to any one who will pay the said tax,
with accruing costs, giving preference to the employer, if there be one.
Section 8. Any person feeling himself or herself aggrieved by judgment
of any justice of the peace, mayor, or alderman in cases arising under this act,
may within five days appeal to the next term of the county court of the proper
county, upon giving bond and security in a sum not less than twenty-five dollars
nor more than one hundred and fifty dollars, conditioned to appear and prosecute
said appeal, and abide by the judgment of the county court; and said appeal
shall be tried de novo in the county court, and the decision of the said
court shall be final.
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