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of claims presented.

not been heretofore barred by any act of limitation, as shall be presented before the time aforesaid, with the certificates, or other documents in support thereof, and to cause a record to be made of the names of the persons, and of the time when the said claims are presented; which record shall be made in the presence of the person or persons presenting the same, and shall be the only evidence that the said claims were presented, during the time limited by this act.

Officers of the treasury to report to Congress claims deemed invalid.Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the accounting officers of the treasury to make report to Congress, upon all such of the said claims as shall not be allowed to be valid, according to the usual forms of the treasury.

Approved, February 12, 1793.

Statute Ⅱ.
Feb. 12, 1793

Chap. VII.An Act respecting fugitives from justice, and persons escaping from the service of their masters.[1]

Fugitives from justice how to be apprehended and secured.Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That whenever the executive authority of any state in the Union, or of either of the territories northwest or south of the river Ohio, shall demand any person as a fugitive from justice, of the executive authority of any such state or territory to which such person shall have fled, Copy of indictment, or affidavit charging the commission of the crime to be produced.and shall moreover produce the copy of an indictment found, or an affidavit made before a magistrate of any state or territory as aforesaid, charging the person so demanded, with having committed treason, felony or other crime, certified as authentic by the governor or chief magistrate of the state or territory from whence the person so charged fled, Notice of the arrest to be given to the executive authority making the demand.
Fugitive to be delivered to the agent of the executive, or if no agent appointed within six months, to be discharged.
Expenses of apprehending.
it shall be the duty of the executive authority of the state or territory to which such person shall have fled, to cause him or her to be arrested and secured, and notice of the arrest to be given to the executive authority making such demand, or to the agent of such authority appointed to receive the fugitive, and to cause the fugitive to be delivered to such agent when he shall appear: But if no such agent shall appear within six months from the time of the arrest, the prisoner may be discharged. And all costs or expenses incurred in the apprehending, securing, and transmitting such fugitive to the state or territory making such demand, shall be paid by such state or territory.

Agent to transport the fugitive.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That any agent, appointed as aforesaid, who shall receive the fugitive into his custody, shall be empowered to transport him or her to the state or territory from which he or she shall have fled. And if any person or persons shall by force set at liberty, or rescue the fugitive from such agent while transporting, as aforesaid,Penalty on persons rescuing fugitive. the person or persons so offending shall, on conviction, be fined not exceeding five hundred dollars, and be imprisoned not exceeding one year.

Proceedings to be had on escape of persons held to labour.Sec. 3. And be it also enacted, That when a person held to labour in any of the United States, or in either of the territories on the northwest or south of the river Ohio, under the laws thereof, shall escape into any other of the said states or territory, the person to whom such labour or service may be due, his agent or attorney, is hereby empowered to seize or arrest such fugitive from labour,[2] and to take him or her before

  1. Fugitives from justice. Holmes v. Jennison, governor of Vermont, 14 Peters, 540.

    A foreign government has no right, by the law of nations, to demand of the government of the United States a surrender of a citizen or subject of such foreign government, who has committed a crime in his own country, and is afterwards found within the limits of the United States. It is a right which has no existence without, and can only be secured by a treaty stipulation. Case of Jose Ferrierados Santos, 2 Brockenb. C. C. R. 493.

  2. Fugitives from labour. In an action for the penalty by the owner of a fugitive slave, for obstructing the plaintiff in arresting and seizing his slave, under the 4th section of the act of Congress of Feb-