Feb.1,1812, Acts 36th G.A. 2nd sitting, p.15-18.
Sec. I. BE IT ENACTED, by the council and general assembly of this state, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That no negro or other slave or servant of color for life or years, shall hereafter be removed out of this state, with the design or intention that the place of residence of such slave or servant shall be thereby altered or changed without his or her consent, if of full age, testified upon private examination before two judges of the inferior court of common pleas of the county in which he or she shall reside, or being under the age of twenty-one years, without his or her consent testified in manner aforesaid, as also without the consent or his or her parent or parents if any there be residing in this state, to be testified in like manner; whereof the said judges shall make a certificate containing the name, age, condition, and in the case of a servant for years, time of servitude, and the place of abode of such slave or servant, the reason of such removal, and the place to which he or she is about to go, and deliver to the said slave or servant a copy thereof; and the original shall within three months thereafter, by the said judges (or one of them) be presented to the clerk of the county, and by him filed and placed on record in the book containing the deeds of manumissions, a copy of which record shall be received in evidence in any court in this state; for which service the said judges shall be entitled to receive the sum of two dollars and fifty cents, of which fifty cents is to be paid by them to the said clerk—and if any person or persons whosoever shall send or carry, or cause to be sent or carried any slave or servant, or shall dispose of any such slave or servant to any person not an inhabitant of this state, without having previously obtained all such consent as by this act is required, testified in manner aforementioned, every such person or persons, his, her or their aiders or abettors, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction shall be punished by fine not less than five hundred dollars, nor more than one thousand dollars, or imprisoned at hard lahor for any term not less than two years nor more than four years, or both at the discretion of the court.
2. And be it enacted, That if any inhabitant of this state shall hereafter go to any place out of the same, and take with him or her any negro or other slave or servant of color for life or years, and shall return without such negro or other slave or servant, he or she shall within ten days after such return, if required by any person or persons, make proof to the satisfaction of two judges of the court of common pleas in the said county, wherein he or she shall reside, that such slave or servant could not be brought back, by reason of some unavoidable circumstance, a certificate of which proof, stating the particular circumstances, signed by the said judges, shall be forthwith filed in the office of the clerk of the said county, and in default thereof, such person shall forfeit and pay five hundred dollars for each and every such slave, and one thousand dollars for each and every such servant so left behind, to be recovered by action of debt with costs of suit in any court having cognizance thereof, by any person who shall sue for the same, one third to the plaintiff and the remaining two thirds to the use of the county where the prosecution is had.
3. And be it enacted, That whenever there shall be reason to believe that any person or persons is or are about to send or carry away any slave or servant out of this state, contrary to the true intent and meaning of the first section of this act, and without having obtained such consent as is required therein and testified in the manner therein mentioned, and any person so believing shall make oath or affirmation thereof before any judge of the inferior court of common pleas of any county of this state, or any justice of the supreme court of this state, or before the chancellor of this state, it shall and may be lawful for the said judge, justice, or chancellor, to issue his warrant, directed to any constable of any of the counties of this state, commanding him forthwith to bring before the said judge, justice or chancellor the person or persons so charged, and the slave or slaves, servant or servants whose removal from the state is so believed, and the said judge, justice or chancellor shall thereupon enquire into the circumstances of the case, and if it shall appear on such enquiry to the satisfaction of the said judge, justice or chancellor, that there is reason to believe that such person or persons so charged, is or are about to send or carry away such slave or servant contrary to the true intent and meaning of the said first section of this act, and without the consent therein required and testified as therein mentioned, the said judge, justice or chancellor shall thereupon require the said person or persons so charged to enter into recognizance to the state of New-Jersey, with one sufficient surety being a freeholder and resident in this state, in any sum not less than five hundred dollars nor exceeding two thousand dollars, with condition not to send or carry away or cause or suffer to be sent or carried away out of this state, such servant or slave, contrary to the true intent and meaning of the said first section of this act, and without the consent therein required and testified as therein mentioned, which recognizance shall be by the said judge, justice or chancellor certified to the next court of general quarter sessions of the peace of the said county, in which the same may be taken, and there filed, and on breach of the condition, be, prosecuted in the same manner as forfeited recognizances are directed by the law of this state to be prosecuted.
4. And be it enacted, Thatit shall be lawful for the governor or person administering the government, to issue his proclamation for apprehending and securing any person or persons charged on the oath or affirmation of one or more credible witnesses with having committed the misdemeanor mentioned in the first section of this act, and in sucn proclamation to offer such reward as the said governor or person administering the government may think proper, not exceeding one hundred dollars for any one offender, which reward shall be paid on conviction of the party charged, to the person or persons entitled thereto, by the treasurer of the state out of any public money in his hands, on a warrant or certificate signed by the governor or person administering the government.
5. And be it enacted,, That the twentieth section of the act entitled An act respecting slaves, passed the 14th of March 1798, be and the same is hereby repealed, except so far as relates to offences already committed.
A. Passed at Trenton, Feb. 1,1812.