Be It enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in
Congress assembled, That the persons who have been, or may hereafter be, appointed
commissioners, in virtue of any act of Congress, by the Circuit Courts of the United States, and
Who, in consequence of such appointment, are authorized to exercise the powers that any justice
of the peace, or other magistrate of any of the United States, may exercise in respect to offenders
for any crime or offense against the United States, by arresting, imprisoning, or bailing the same
under and by the virtue of the thirty-third section of the act of the twenty-fourth of September
seventeen hundred and eighty-nine, entitled "An Act to establish the judicial courts of the United
States" shall be, and are hereby, authorized and required to exercise and discharge all the powers
and duties conferred by this act.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Superior Court of each organized
Territory of the United States shall have the same power to appoint commissioners to take
acknowledgments of bail and affidavits, and to take depositions of witnesses in civil causes, which
is now possessed by the Circuit Court of the United States; and all commissioners who shall
hereafter be appointed for such purposes by the Superior Court of any organized Territory of the
United States, shall possess all the powers, and exercise all the duties, conferred by law upon the
commissioners appointed by the Circuit Courts of the United States for similar purposes, and shall
moreover exercise and discharge all the powers and duties conferred by this act.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the Circuit Courts of the United States
shall from time to time enlarge the number of the commissioners, with a view to afford reasonable
facilities to reclaim fugitives from labor, and to the prompt discharge of the duties imposed by this
act.
Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the commissioners above named shall have
concurrent jurisdiction with the judges of the Circuit and District Courts of the United States, in
their respective circuits and districts within the several States, and the judges of the Superior
Courts of the Territories, severally and collectively, in term-time and vacation; shall grant
certificates to such claimants, upon satisfactory proof being made, with authority to take and
remove such fugitives from service or labor, under the restrictions herein contained, to the State
or Territory from which such persons may have escaped or fled.
Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of all marshals and
deputy marshals to obey and execute all warrants and precepts issued under the provisions of this
act, when to them directed; and should any marshal or deputy marshal refuse to receive such
warrant, or other process, when tendered, or to use all proper mean diligently to execute the
same, he shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in the sum of one thousand dollars, to the use of
such claimant, on the motion of such claimant, by the Circuit or District Court for the district of
such marshal; and after arrest of such fugitive, by such marshal or his deputy, or whilst at any time
in his custody under the provisions of this act, should such fugitive escape, whether with or
without the assent of such marshal or his deputy, such marshal shall be liable, on his official bond,
to be prosecuted for the benefit of such claimant, for the full value of the service or labor of said
fugitive in the State, Territory, or District whence he escaped: and the better to enable the said
commissioners, when thus appointed, to execute their duties faithfully and efficiently, in
conformity with the requirements of the Constitution of the United States and of this act, they are
hereby authorized and empowered, within their counties respectively, to appoint, in writing under
their hands, any one or more suitable persons, from time to time, to execute all such warrants and
other process as may be issued by them in the lawful performance of their respective duties; with
authority to such commissioners, or the persons to be appointed by them, to execute process as
aforesaid, to summon and call to their aid the bystanders, or posse comitatus of the proper
county, when necessary to ensure a faithful observance of the clause of th Constitution referred
to, in conformity with the provisions of this act; and all good citizens are hereby commanded to
aid and assist in the prompt and efficient execution of this law, whenever their services may be
required, as aforesaid, for that purpose; and said warrants shall run, and be executed by said
officers, any where in the State within which they are issued.
Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That when a person held to service or labor in
any State or Territory of the United States, has heretofore or shall hereafter escape into another
State or Territory of the United States, the person or persons to whom such service or labor may
be due, or his, her, or their agent or attorney, duly authorized, by power of attorney, in writing,
acknowledged and certified under the seal of some legal officer or court of the State or Territory
in which the same may be executed, may pursue and reclaim such fugitive person, either by
procuring a warrant from some one of the courts, judges, or commissioners aforesaid, of the
proper circuit, district, or county, for the apprehension of such fugitive from service or labor, or
by seizing and arresting such fugitive, where the same can be done without process, and by
taking, or causing such person to be taken, forthwith before such court, judge, or commissioner,
whose duty it shall be to hear and determine the case of such claimant in a summary manner; and
upon satisfactory proof being made, by deposition or affidavit, in writing, to be taken and certified
by such court, judge, or commissioner, or by other satisfactory testimony, duly taken and certified
by some court, magistrate, justice of the peace, or other legal officer authorized to administer an
oath and take depositions under the laws of the State or Territory from which such person owing
service or labor may have escaped, with a certificate of such magistracy or other authority, as
aforesaid, with the seal of the proper court or officer thereto attached, which seal shall be
sufficient to establish the competency of the proof, and with proof, also by affidavit, of the
identity of the person whose service or labor is claimed to be due as aforesaid, that the person so
arrested does in fact owe service or labor to the person or persons claiming him or her, in the
State or Territory from which such fugitive may have escaped as aforesaid, and that said person
escaped, to make out and deliver to such claimant, his or her agent or attorney, a certificate
setting forth the substantial facts as to the service or labor due from such fugitive to the claimant,
and of his or her escape from the State or Territory in which he or she was arrested, with
authority to such claimant, or his or her agent or attorney, to use such reasonable force and
restraint as may be necessary, under the circumstances of the case, to take and remove such
fugitive person back to the State or Territory whence he or she may have escaped as aforesaid. In
no trial or hearing under this act shall the testimony of such alleged fugitive be admitted in
evidence; and the certificates in this and the first [fourth] section mentioned, shall be conclusive of
the right of the person or persons in whose favor granted, to remove such fugitive to the State or
Territory from which he escaped, and shall prevent all molestation of such person or persons by
any process issued by any court, judge, magistrate, or other person whomsoever
Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That any person who shall knowingly and
willingly obstruct, hinder, or prevent such claimant, his agent or attorney, or any person or
persons lawfully assisting him, her, or them, from arresting such a fugitive from service or labor,
either with or without process as aforesaid, or shall rescue, or attempt to rescue, such fugitive
from service or labor, from the custody of such claimant, his or her agent or attorney, or other
person or persons lawfully assisting as aforesaid, when so arrested, pursuant to the authority
herein given and declared; or shall aid, abet, or assist such person so owing service or labor as
aforesaid, directly or indirectly, to escape from such claimant, his agent or attorney, or other
person or persons legally authorized as aforesaid; or shall harbor or conceal such fugitive, so as to
prevent the discovery and arrest of such person, after notice or knowledge of the fact that such
person was a fugitive from service or labor as aforesaid, shall, for either of said offences, be
subject to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisonment not exceeding six months,
by indictment and conviction before the District Court of the United States for the district in
which such offence may have been committed, or before the proper court of criminal jurisdiction,
if committed within any one of the organized Territories of the United States; and shall moreover
forfeit and pay, by way of civil damages to the party injured by such illegal conduct, the sum of
one thousand dollars for each fugitive so lost as aforesaid, to be recovered by action of debt, in
any of the District or Territorial Courts aforesaid, within whose jurisdiction the said offence may
have been committed.
Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That the marshals, their deputies, and the clerks
of the said District and Territorial Courts, shall be paid, for their services, the like fees as may be
allowed for similar services in other cases; and where such services are rendered exclusively in the
arrest, custody, and delivery of the fugitive to the claimant, his or her agent or attorney, or where
such supposed fugitive may be discharged out of custody for the want of sufficient proof as
aforesaid, then such fees are to be paid in whole by such claimant, his or her agent or attorney;
and in all cases where the proceedings are before a commissioner, he shall be entitled to a fee of
ten dollars in full for his services in each case, upon the delivery of the said certificate to the
claimant, his agent or attorney; or a fee of five dollars in cases where the proof shall not, in the
opinion of such commissioner, warrant such certificate and delivery, inclusive of all services
incident to such arrest and examination, to be paid, in either case, by the claimant, his or her agent
or attorney. The person or persons authorized to execute the process to be issued by such
commissioner for the arrest and detention of fugitives from service or labor as aforesaid, shall also
be entitled to a fee of five dollars each for each person he or they may arrest, and take before any
commissioner as aforesaid, at the instance and request of such claimant, with such other fees as
may be deemed reasonable by such commissioner for such other additional services as may be
necessarily performed by him or them; such as attending at the examination, keeping the fugitive
in custody, and providing him with food and lodging during his detention, and until the final
determination of such commissioners; and, in general, for performin such other duties as may be
required by such claimant, his or her attorney or agent, of commissioner in the premises, such fees
to be made up in conformity with the fees usually charged by the officers of the courts of justice
within the proper district or county, as near as may be practicable, and paid by such claimants,
their agents or attorneys, whether such supposed fugitives from service or labor be ordered to b
delivered to such claimant by the final determination of such commissioner or not.
Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, That when any person held to service or labor
in any State or Territory, or in the District of Columbia, shall escape therefrom, the party to
whom such service or labor shall be due, his, her, or their agent or attorney, may apply to any
court of record therein, or judge thereof in vacation, and make satisfactory proof to such court, or
judge in vacation, of the escape aforesaid, and that the person escaping owed service or labor to
such party. Whereupon the court shall cause a record to be made of the matters so proved, and
also a general description of the person so escaping, with such convenient certainty as may be;
and a transcript of such record, authenticated by the attestation of the clerk and of the seal of the
said court, being produced in any other State, Territory, or district in which the person so
escaping may be found, and being exhibited to any judge, commissioner, or other officer
authorized by the law of the United States to cause persons escaping from service or labor to be
delivered up, shall be held and taken to be full and conclusive evidence of the fact of escape, and
that the service or labor of the person escaping is due to the party in such record mentioned. And
upon the production by the said party of other and further evidence if necessary, either oral or by
affidavit, in addition to what is contained in the said record of the identity of the person escaping,
he or she shall be delivered up to the claimant. And the said court, commissioner, judge, or other
person authorized by this act to grant certificates to claimants or fugitives, shall, upon the
production of the record and other evidences aforesaid, grant to such claimant a certificate of his
right to take any such person identified and proved to be owing service or labor as aforesaid,
which certificate shall authorize such claimant to seize or arrest and transport such person to the
State or Territory from which he escaped: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be
construed as requiring the production of a transcript of such record as evidence as aforesaid. But
in its absence the claim shall be heard and determined upon other satisfactory proofs, competent
in law.
Approved, September 18, 1850.
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