An Act amendatory of the act for the rendition of fugitives from labor.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That every person arrested under the laws of Congress for the delivery up of fugitives from labor shall be produced be-fore a court, judge, or commissioner, mentioned in the law approved the eighteenth of September, eighteen hundred and fifty, for the State or Territory wherein the arrest may be made; and upon such production of the person, together with the proofs mentioned in the sixth or the tenth section of said act, such court, judge, or commissioner, shall proceed to hear and consider the same publicly; and if such court, judge, or commissioner is of opinion that the person arrested owes labor or service to the claimant according to the laws of any other State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, and escaped therefrom, the court, judge, or commissioner, shall make out and deliver to the claimant, or his agent, a certificate stating those facts; and if the said fugitive shall, upon the decision of the court, judge, or commissioner, being made known to him, aver that he is free, and does not owe service or labor according to the law of the State or Territory to which he is to be returned, such averment shall be entered upon the certifi-cate, and the fugitive shall be delivered by the court, judge, or commissioner, to the marshal, to be by him taken and deliv-ered to the marshal of the United States for the State or dis-trict from which the fugitive is ascertained to have fled, who shall produce said fugitive before one of the judges of the circuit court of the United States for the last-mentioned State or district, whose duty it shall be, if said alleged fugitive shall persist in his averment, forthwith, or at the next term of the circuit court, to cause a jury to be impanelled and sworn to try the issue whether such fugitive owes labor or service to the person by or on behalf of whom he is claimed, and a true verdict to give according to the evidence, on which trial the fugitive shall be entitled to the aid of counsel and to process for procuring evidence at the cost of the United States; and upon such finding the judge shall render judgment and cause said fugitive to be delivered to the claimant, or retired to the place where he was arrested at the expense of the United States, according to the find-ing of the jury; and if the judge or court be not satis-fied with the verdict, he may cause another jury to be impanelled forthwith, whose verdict shall be final. And it shall be the duty of said marshal so delivering said alleged fugitive to take from the marshal of the State from which said fugitive is alleged to have escaped a certificate ac-knowledging that said alleged fugitive had been delivered to him, giving a minute description of said alleged fugitive, which certificate shall be authenticated by the United States district judge, or a commissioner of a United States court for said State from which said fugitive is alleged to have escaped a certificate ac-knowledging that said alleged fugitive had been delivered to him, giving a minute description of said alleged fugitive, which certificate shall be authenticated by the United States district judge, or a commissioner of a United States court for said State from which said fugitive was alleged to have escaped, which certificate shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the United States district court for the State or district in which said alleged fugitive was seized, within sixty days from the date of the arrest of said fugitive; and should said marshal fail to comply with the provisions of this act, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a fine of one thousand dollars and imprisoned for six months, and until his said fine is paid.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That no citizen of any State shall be compelled to aid the marshal or owner of any fugitive in the capture or detention of such fugitive, un-less when force is employed or reasonably apprehended to prevent such capture or detention, too powerful to be resisted by the marshal or owner; and the fees of the commissioners appointed under the act of eighteenth September, eighteen hundred and fifty, shall be ten dollars for every case heard and determined by such commissioner.

• H. R. 1009 (introduced on 1861-01-12 12:00:00 - CREATE - e842765) [This document] [view current proposal at this moment]
  • None (introduced on 1861-01-12 12:00:00 - REPORT_PROPOSAL - e842769) [view current proposal at this moment]