to the laws of the United States, shall, upon conviction, be deemed guilty of kidnapping," and provides punishment. 57. In like manner designates and punishes the seducing a free colored person out of the State, with intent to sell as a slave. Ch. 74. Title Negroes and Mulattoes. A re-enactment of the laws of 1819, 1829, 1831.

1847.-A new Constitution. It contains the provisions already cited from the former Constitution. Art. 13. The Bill of Rights. Sec. 6. "That the right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate, and shall extend to all cases at law, without regard to the amount in controversy." 16. "There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this State, except as a punishment for crime," &c.

1853, Feb. 12.—An act to prevent the immigration of free negroes into this State. R. S. of 1856, p. 780. Sec. 1, 2. Fine and imprisonment for bringing slave, for any purpose, into the State. Proviso. "That this shall not be construed so as to affect persons or slaves, bona fide, traveling through this State from and to any other State in the United States." 3. Misdemeanor for negro or mulatto, bond or free, to come with intention of resid ing. 4. Such may be prosecuted and fined or sold, for time, for fine and costs. 5, 6, 7. If such do not afterwards remove, increased fine and like proceedings, &c., &c. Appeal allowed to the circuit. 8. If claimed as fugitive slave, after being thus arrested, a justice of the peace, "after hearing the evidence, and being satisfied that the person or persons claiming said negro or mulatto is or are the owner or owners of and entitled to the custody of said negro or mulatto, in accordance with the laws of the United States passed upon this subject," shall give the owner a certificate, after his paying the costs and the negro's unpaid fine, "and the said owner or agent so claiming shall have a right to take and remove said slave out of the State." 9. Punishment of justice for nonfeasance, and of witness falsely accusing negro.

1855.-An act to reclaim persons who have been decoyed or kidnapped and taken away beyond the boundaries of this

1 An act of 1827 authorized the governor to deliver up fugitives from justice from other States on being demanded. R. L. of 1833, p. 319, R. S. of 1845, p. 261, R. S. of 1856, p. 589.

State. An. L. p. 186. Where persons have been taken as slaves, authorizes the governor to take measures for their restoration.

$562. LEGISLATION OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN.

The territory included within the limits of the present State of Michigan had been part of the Indiana Territory until 1805, when, by the act of January 11, the Territory of Michigan was constituted, having its western limit in a line through the middle of Lake Michigan, northward to the boundary.' The law existing in the Territory until that time is indicated in the sketch of Indiana law up to that date.

1810, Sept. 16.-A law of the territorial government, consisting of the governor and judges,—An act to repeal all acts of the Parliament of England, and of the Parliament of Great Britain, within the Territory of Michigan, in the United States of America, and for other purposes. Michigan Rev. L. of 1827, p. 499. Sec. 1. Repeals the English statutes, with a proviso that "whatever rights may arise under any such statute" shall remain as if this act had not been made; the same being adopted from the laws of one of the original States, to wit, the State of Virginia, as far as necessary and suitable to the circumstances of the Territory of Michigan. 2. Repeals the coûtume de Paris, or common law of France, and the laws of other governments under which this Territory has heretofore been, saving all rights accruing under them, the act "being adopted from the laws of one of the original States, to wit, the State of Vermont, as far as necessary," &c.

1 See ante, p. 123, n. 3.

This phraseology was in view of the power of the governor and judges to adopt "such laws of the original States, criminal and civil, as may be necessary and best suited to the circumstances of the District, and report them to Congress, which laws shall be in force in the District until the organization of the General Assembly, therein, unless disapproved of by Congress," &c., as provided in the Ordinance of 1787. Vermont could not with propriety be called one of the original States. I have not been able to find any statute of that State repealing the French law, nor to ascertain whether it was ever pretended there that the law of France had any force therein, though it might perhaps have been taken to operate as a personal law in some case of persons who had come from Canada. The law of Vermont thus adopted may have been that of March 8, 1787, adopting the common and statute law of England as the general rule of decision, which was repealed by act of Nov. 10, 1787. Another of Nov. 4, 1797, adopted the common law so far as applicable. See ante, p. 38. In Laws of Michigan, printed, Washington, D. C., 1806, see letter of May 8, 1806, of A. B. Woodward, Chief Justice of the Territory, to Mr. Madison, Secretary of State, on the construction of the act constituting the government by the governor and judges.

1815.-An act for the punishment of crimes. (Laws printed in 1816, Detroit.) Sec. 45. Against kidnapping, provides that this shall not prevent "any master or mistress who may remove from this Territory to another State or Territory of the United States from taking, with him or her, his or her servants." 59. That corporal punishment, not extending to life or limb, may, at the discretion of the court, be inflicted on "any negro, Indian, or mulatto slave who shall be convicted of any offence not punishable with death."

1827,' Apr. 12.-An act respecting crimes. Sec. 47. Declares "that if any person shall kidnap or steal or forcibly take away any man, woman, or child, bond or free," &c., shall, &c. R. S. of 1838, p. 623.2

Apr. 13.-An act to regulate blacks and mulattoes, and to prevent the kidnapping of such persons. Revision of 1827, p. 484. Sec. 1. Black or mulatto coming into the State required to produce a certificate of freedom before being permitted to reside, which, by sec. 4, is to be recorded. 2. Resident blacks are to be registered, and have certificates of freedom. 3. "That if any persons shall harbor or secrete any black or mulatto person, the property of any person whatever, or shall in any wise hinder or prevent the lawful owner from retaking and possessing his or her black or mulatto servant or servants, such person shall, upon conviction thereof before any justice of the peace in the county, be fined in sum," &c. 4. For recording colored immigrant's certificate. 5. That in case any person or persons, his or their agent or agents, claiming any black or mulatto person that now is or hereafter may be in this Territory, may apply to any justice of the county court or justice of the peace, and shall make satisfactory proof that such black or mulatto person or persons is or are the property of him or her who applies, or for whom application is

In 1818 the Territory included in the present State of Wisconsin was added to Michigan Territory by act of Congress. (Ante, p. 132, n. 3.) The law of this portion has been indicated in the sketch of the law of Illinois, up to this date. See in III. Stat. U. S. 482, the note containing list of acts relating to the Michigan Territory.

2 An act of the territorial legislature, March 12, 1827, authorizes the gov ernor to deliver up fugitives from justice demanded by States from which they fled. See in R. S. of 1838, p. 673, and R. S. of 1849, p. 710, provisions authorizing the governor of the State to surrender in such case.

made, the said judge or justice is hereby empowered and required by his precept to direct the sheriff or constable to arrest such black or mulatto person or persons, and deliver the same to the claimant or claimants, his or their agent or agents, for which service," &c. 6. Immigrant black, &c., to give security. 7, 8. Penalties, &c. 9. "That if any person or persons, under any pretences whatever, shall by violence, fraud, or deception, seize upon any free black or mulatto person within this Territory, and keep or detain such free black or mulatto person in any kind of restraint or confinement, with intent to transport such free black or mulatto person out of this Territory contrary to law, or shall in any manner attempt to carry out of the Territory any black or mulatto person, without having first taken such black or mulatto person before some judge of the circuit or county court, or a justice of the peace of the county wherein such black or mulatto person was taken, agreeably to the provisions of the act of Congress in such case made and provided, and there prove his right to such black or mulatto person, every such person so offending shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor," &c., &c. In the more general provision, R. S. of 1838, Part I. Tit. I. c. 3, 17, no reference is made to the act of Congress.

1835.-Constitution of the State of Michigan. In Art. I.,

11834, June 28. By act of Congress of this date, the territory west of the Mississippi, bounded north by the northern boundary of the United States, on the southwest and west by the Missouri and White Earth rivers, and south by the State of Missouri, was declared, "for the purpose of temporary government, attached to and made part of the Territory of Michigan; and the inhabitants therein shall be entitled to the same privileges and immunities, and be subject to the same laws, rules, and regulations in all respects as other citizens of Michigan Territory." IV. Stat. U. S. 701, 9 B. & D. 79.

2

It begins:-"In convention, begun at the eity of Detroit, on the second Monday of May, in the year one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five: We, the people of the Territory of Michigan, as established by the act of Congress of the eleventh of January, eighteen hundred and five, in conformity to the fifth article of the Ordinance providing for the government of the territory of the United States northwest of the River Ohio, believing that the time has arrived when our present political condition ought to cease, and the right of self-government be asserted; and availing ourselves of the aforesaid Ordinance of the Congress of the United States, of the thirteenth day of July, seventeen hundred and eighty-seven, and the acts of Congress passed in accordance therewith which entitled us to admission into the Union upon a condition which has been fulfilled, do, by our delegates in convention assembled, mutually agree to form ourselves into a free and independent State, by the style and title of the State of Michigan, and do ordain and establish the following Constitution for the government of the same."

The act of Congress, June 15, 1836; An act to establish the northern boundary

the Bill of Rights, there is no attribution of liberty as natural, inherent, inalienable. Art. II. sec. 1. Limits the elective franchise to whites. Art. XI. "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever be introduced into this State, except for the punishment of crimes of which the party shall have been duly convicted."

1838.-In Rev. Stat. p. 334, "No white person shall intermarry with a negro or mulatto." (R. S. of 1846, p. 330.) Ibid. p. 623;-punishment for kidnapping, "to send out of the State against his will, or in any way hold to service against his will." R. S. of 1846, p. 661.

1855.-An act to protect the Rights and Liberties of the people of this State. Ann. Laws, p. 413. Compiled Laws of 1857, p. 1498. Sec. 1. "Whenever any inhabitant of this State is arrested or claimed as a fugitive slave," the prosecuting attorneys of the county shall "use all lawful means to proteet and defend every such person." 2. "All persons so arrested and claimed as fugitive slaves shall be entitled to all the benefits of the writ of habeas corpus and of trial by jury." 3. Appeal allowed on the habeas corpus. 4. The court may and shall, on application of either party," direct a trial by jury. 5. The person claimed shall not be imprisoned in the State's jails. 6. Falsely charging a free person with being a fugitive slave, &c., to be punished with imprisonment, not less than three years. 7. Wrongfully seizing free person with intent, &c., punishable by fine and five years' imprisonment. S. That in cases under the last two sections the proof of slavery shall require two witnesses. 9. No claim of a person as apprentice is within this act. 10. Repeals conflicting acts.

line of the State of Ohio, and to provide for the admission of the State of Michigan into the Union upon the conditions therein expressed. V. Stat. U. S. 49. Sec. 2, declared "That the Constitution and State government which the people of Michigan have formed for themselves be, and the same is hereby accepted, ratified, and confirmed; and that the said State of Michigan shall be and is hereby declared to be one of the United States of America, and is hereby admitted into the Union upon an equal footing with the original States, in all respects whatsoever." Proviso as to boundaries. July 1, 1836. An act to provide for the due execution of the laws of the United States within the State of Michigan. V. Stat. U. S. 62; 9 B. & D. 431. The act Jan. 26, 1837. An act to admit the State of Michigan into the Union upon an equal footing with the original States, V. Stat. U. S. 144; 9 B. & D. 588, reciting that a convention of delegates had assented to the above act, declares the State to be admitted.