1890_SLAVERY_ORDINANCE — Page 2

ORDINANCE No. 1 OF 1844.

Slavery.

conditioned for non-removal of flare.

Slave to be sup- ported and ap- prenticed in case of his not re maining with former owner, or of former owner not entering into bond.

Slave found in service of former owner proof of

due hiring to lay upon former owner.

Liabilities incur-

red by any person not giving infor- mation of owner of slaves inha- biting his house,

Penalties to be cumulatory.

Rule for inter- peting this and other ordinances.

:

Majesty in the sum of five hundred dollars, conditioned against the removal of such previous slave from the Colony of Hongkong by his said former owner, without the said previous slave having been produced before the Chief Magistrate, or any other Justice of the Peace of the said Colony of Hongkong, and examined apart as to his voluntarily departing with his said former owner, and being informed that by his so doing be will revert to his former state of slavery.

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6. And be it enacted in case any such previous slave shall at any time leave his former owner, or in case such former owner shall be unable or unwilling to enter into such bond as aforesaid, that such previous slave shall be maintained at the public cost, until such time as he is enabled to gain his own livelihood; and the Chief Magistrate aforesaid is hereby authorized, with the approbation of the Governor in Council, to apprentice or otherwise place out such previous slave as aforesaid, with a view to his obtaining a livelihood by his own labour.

7. And be it enacted, if any such previous slave as last aforesaid shall be thereafter found in the possession or employment of his former owner, that such possession or employment shall be deemed prima facie proof of such owner having unduly repossessed himself of the said previous slave; and such owner in default of rebutting such presumption shall be liable to the penalties herein affixed to the treating or using any one as a slave in Hongkong..

8. And be it enacted, that any person knowingly receiving in his house any one having any person previously a slave in his possession, or a person used or intended to be used or clained as such, and not giving immediate information thereof to the Chief Magistrate of Hongkong or the nearest Justice of the Peace, shall upon conviction thereof before the Chief Magistrate, or such Court at Hongkong as herein aforesaid, be liable to be imprisoned for any period not exceeding three months, with or without hard labour and corporal punishment, and shall forfeit such sum not exceeding one hundred dollars for each offence, and also such sum not exceeding fifty dollars to be paid to the person giving information of the same, as shall be adjudged in manner aforesaid.

9. And be it enacted that the punishments and penalties herein provided shall be held and deemed to be in addition to those inflicted by the law of England for any offence mentioned herein, and not in any way in the stead, lieu, or substitution thereof. Provided always and it is hereby enacted that no part of any sum forfeited, and declared by the laws of England to be payable to any informer, shall be paid to such informer without the express direction of the Chief Magistrate or Court aforesaid, who shall have full power to make such deductions therefrom as may be deemed expedient.

10. And be it enacted that whenever this or any other ordinance, in describing or referring to any offence, or the subject matter on, or with respect to which it shall be committed, or the offender or the party affected or intended to be affected by the offence, hath used or shall use words importing the singular number or the masculine gender only, yet the ordinance shall be understood to include several