groundless, said guardian shall pay double costs of suit, and such damages to the owner as the court may decide.—p. 260.
Any assembly of slaves or free colored persons, in a secret or confined place, for mental instruction, (even if white persons are present,) is an unlawful meeting, and magistrates must disperse it, breaking doors if necessary, and may inflict twenty lashes upon each slave or colored person present.—pp. 254 and 255.
Meetings for religious worship, before sunrise, or after 9 o'clock p m., unless a majority are white persons, are forbidden; and magistrates are required to disperse them.—p. 261.
A slave who lets loose any boat from the place where the owner has fastened it, for the first offence shall receive thirty-nine lashes, and for the second shall have one ear cut off.—p. 228.
James' Digest.—Penalty for killing a slave, on sudden heat of passion, or by undue correction, a fine of $500 and imprisonment not over six months.—p. 392.
NORTH CAROLINA.—Haywood's Manual.—Act of 1798, Sec. 3, enacts, that the killing of a slave shall be punished like that of a free man; except in the case of a slave out-lawed,[1] or a slave offering to resist his master, or a slave dying under moderate correction. —p. 530.
Act of 1799.—Any slave set free, except for meritorious services, to be adjudged of by the county court, may be seized by any freeholder, committed to jail, and sold to the highest bidder.[2]— p. 525.
Patrols are not liable to the master for punishing his slave, unless their conduct clearly shows malice against the master.—Hawk's Reps., vol. i., p. 418.
