FUGITIVE SLAVE. ,One who, held in bondage, flees from his master's power.
2. Prior to the adoption of the constitution of the United States, the duty of surrender ing slaves fleeing beyond the jurisdiction of the state or colony where they were held to service was not regarded as a perfect obliga tion, though, on the ground of inter-state comity, they were frequently surrendered to the master. Instances of such surrender or permission to reclaim occur in the history of the colonies as early as 1685. Hurd. flab. Corp. 592. As slavery disappeared in some states, the difficulty of recovering in them slaves fleeing from those where it remained was greatly increased, and on some occasions reclamation became quite impracticable. The subject engaged the attention of the conven tion of 1787 ; and, at the instance of members from slaveholding states, a provision was in serted in the constitution for the surrender of such persons escaping from the state where they owed service, into another, which provision was considered a valuable acces sion to the security of that species of pro perty. 4 Elliott, Debates, 487, 492 ; 5 id. 176, 286.
This provision is contained in art. iv. sec. 2 of the constitution, and is as follows :— " No person held to service or labor in one state, under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or labor may be due." 3. Congress, conceiving it to be the duty of the federal government to provide by law, with adequate sanctions, for the execution of the duty thus enjoined by the constitution, by the act of Feb. 12, 1793, and again by the amendatory and supplementary act of Sept. 18, 1850, regulated the mode of arrest, trial, and surrender of such fugitives. Some of the states have, also, at times passed acts relating to the subject; but it has been decided by the supreme court of the United States that the power of legislation in the matter was tested exclusively in congress, and that all state legislation inconsistent with the laws of congress was unconstitutional and void.
16 Pet. 608 ; 11 III. 332.
These acts of congress have been held to be constitutional and valid in all their pro visions. 16 Pet. 608 ; 5 Serg. & R. Penn. 62 ; 9 Johns. N. Y. 67; 12 Wend. N. Y. 311, 507 ; 2 Pick. Mass. 11; 2 Paine, C. C. 348 ; 7 Cush. Mass. 285 ; 6 McLean, C. C. 355 ; 16 Barb. N. Y. 268 ; 21 How. 506.
4. Act of 1793. By the 3d and 4th sec tions of the act of Feb. 12, 1793, 1 U. S. Stat. at Large, 302, it is provided that when a person held to labor 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 labor or service may be due, his agent or attorney, may seize or arrest such fugitive and take, him before any judge of the circuit or district courts of the United States residing or being within the state, or before any magistrate of a county, city, or town corporate wherein such seizure or arrest shall be made, and on proof to the satisfac tion of such judge or magistrate, either by oral testimony or affidavit taken before and certified by a magistrate of any such state or territory, that the person so seized or arrested owed service or labor to the person claiming him, under the laws of the state or territory from which he fled, the judge or magistrate shall give a certificate thereof, which certifi cate shall be sufficient warrant for removing the fugitive to the state or territory from which he fled.
The knowingly and willingly obstructing or hindering the claimant, his agent or at torney, in so seizing or arresting the fugitive, the rescue of the fugitive when so arrested, and the harboring or concealing him after notice that he is such a fugitive, are declared offences, and the offender is subjected to a penalty of five hundred dollars, recoverable by and for the benefit of the claimant by action of debt in any court proper to try the same. The claimant is also entitled to his right of action for any injuries sustained by such illegal acts.