Transcript
Chap. 752; No. XIII
An Act Concerning Patrols
Section 1st. Be in enacted by the Governor and Legislative Council of the Territory of Florida, That it shall be the duty of the captains of the several district companies within this Territory to cause their respective districts to be divided into convenient patrol districts, which divisions shall not be altered unless by the consent of a majority of the officers of said company, and in case the captain of any district company shall neglect to perform the duty herein before required of him, he shall forfeit and pay the sum of ten dollars, to be recovered before any magistrate in said captain’s district.
Section 2: Be it further enacted that it shall be the duty of the commanding officers of each district company to cause to be made out a roll for each patrol district, which shall include the names of all the free white male inhabitants above the age of eighteen years residing within the said patrol district: provided that nothing herein contained shall be construed to compel any male inhabitant of any district to perform patrol duty, either in person or by substitute, who may have attained the age of forty five years.
Section 3rd. Be it further enacted that it shall be the duty of the commanding officers of each and every captain’s company at every regular petty muster to prick off from the roll of each patrol district, at his discretion, any number of persons who shall perform the duty hereinafter prescribed until the next regular petty muster; and to every patrol, the commanding officer of the company shall appoint some prudent and discreet person as commander, and in case the commanding officer of the company shall fail to prick off such patrol, he shall forfeit and pay the sum of ten dollars for every such neglect, to be recovered before any Justice of the Peace.
Section 4th. Be it further enacted that it shall be the duty of the commander of every patrol, at least as often as once a fortnight, to call out the patrol under his command, and to take up all slaves who may be found without the limits of their owner’s plantations, under suspicious circumstances, or at a suspicious distance therefrom; and to correct all such slaves by a moderate whipping with a switch or cowskin, commonly called cowhide, not exceeding twenty nine lashes, unless the said slave shall have a ticket or letter to show the reasonableness of his or her absence, or shall have some white person in company to give an account of the business of such slave or slaves. And if any white man shall beat or abuse any slave, quietly and peaceably being in his or her master’s plantation, or found any where without the same, with a lawful ticket, he shall forfeit the sum of fifty dollars to be recovered by the owner, and to his use, by action of debt; besides being liable to the owner in an action of trespass for damages.
Section 5th. Be it further enacted that the said patrols in their respective divisions are hereby authorized and required to enter into any disorderly house, or into any other house, vessel or boat, suspected of harboring, trafficking, or trading with negroes, whether the same be occupied by white persons, free negroes, mulattoes, mustizoes or slaves, and to apprehend and correct all slaves found there by whipping as herein before directed; and the said patrols are moreover authorized and required to give information of such white persons as may be found in such house, vessel or boat, and to detain in their possession such produce, or articles for trafficking, as may be found in such house, vessel or boat, if such detention be authorized by any three householders, or by any Justice of the Peace, until the same shall be recovered according to law; and the said patrols are moreover authorized and required to disperse all assemblies of slaves where three in number or more may have assembled together under any pretext whatever, except for ordinary labour, without at least two respectable white persons being with them who will give satisfactory assurance of their orderly conduct; and should it be necessary for the purposes herein mentioned the said patrols may correct said slaves so assembled by whipping, not exceeding ten lashes each.
Sect. 6. Be it further enacted that if any person competent to take an oath shall, before a Justice of the Peace, make oath or affirmation in writing that he or his neighbor or neighbors have, in his belief, been pillaged by runaway slave or slaves, or that his neighborhood is infested by the same, the said Justice shall send a certified copy of the said oath or affirmation to the captain or other commanding officer of the militia company, in the bounds of which the person co complaining may reside, who shall on receiving the copy as aforesaid order out so many men of his company as he shall judge necessary to scour the country and arrest the said runaway slave or slaves; and for every slave so arrested and delivered over to jail, or his owner, the said owner shall pay five dollars to the captain of said company, to be equally divided between all those who were ordered on said duty.
Sect 7 Be it further enacted that the captain of the militia company, or officer commanding the same, who shall fail or refuse to perform the duties required by the last preceding section of this act, shall, for every such default, forfeit and pay the sum of fifteen dollars to the party complaining, to be recovered before any magistrate in the said captain’s district; and the said captain shall, in like manner, recover of each man under his command who shall fail to attend, or refuse, or neglect to perform the said duty, the sum of five dollars for every such failure, refusal or neglect.
Sect 8 Be it further enacted that the commander of every patrol shall have power to keep the men under his command in good order and demeanor during their term of service, and in case any patrol man shall misbehave himself, or neglect or disobey the orders of his commander, he shall be subject to a fine of not more than two dollars, to be imposed by the company court martial, to which such offender shall belong, or before any Justice of the Peace, to be paid to the county for the use of the county.
Sect 9. Be it further enacted that if any captain of a patrol shall act disorderly while on duty, so as to defeat the orderly performance or execution of the patrol laws agreeably to the true intent and meaning thereof, he shall be liable to be returned by any of the members of his patrol or other persons competent to give evidence, to the commanding officer of the district or any Justice of the Peace in the district, who shall order a court martial for such trial, and upon sufficient evidence being given of the charge such captain of the patrol shall be fined in the sum of five dollars, to be recovered and applied as aforesaid to the use of the county.
Sect 10. Be it further enacted that it shall be lawful for any person or persons hereby declared liable to perform patrol duty, to send any able-bodied white man between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years to perform patrol duty for him or them; and if any patrol man shall neglect or refuse to perform the duty required of him by this act, or procure a substitute to perform the same without a legal excuse, he shall forfeit and pay a fine of two dollars for each and every default, recovered as aforesaid before a court martial of the company of which the offender may be a member, or before a Justice of the Peace, to the use of the county for county purposes; and in all cases where a substitute is provided, the person employing him shall be liable for his default.
Sec 11th. Be it further enacted that each captain of patrol shall make a return, upon oath, of the performance of the duties of his office as commander of such patrol, to the captain or officer commanding the district company at the regular time required by this act, under the penalty of a fine of ten dollars, to be recovered as aforesaid.
Sec 12th Be it further enacted that it shall be lawful for any person or persons who may be engaged in dispersing any unlawful assembly of slaves, free negroes, mulattoes or mustizoes to enter into all such places as the said persons may be assembled at, and if resisted they may break open doors, gates or windows.
Sect. 13 Be it further enacted that it shall be the duty of the captain or commanding officer of each company to read this act to his company at least once in twelve months.
Sect. 14 Be it further enacted that nothing herein contained shall be so construed as to deprive the corporate authorities of any incorporated town of any power heretofore vested in them to regulate and order out patrols within the limits of such corporation.
Sect 15 Be it further enacted that if any person or persons shall commence an action against any patrol or other person for any trespass by him committed in carrying the provisions of this act into execution and at the trial thereof shall fail to recover, he, she or they shall be liable and adjudged to pay to the party so sued treble costs.
Sect. 16 Be it further enacted that in counties where the militia has not been organized into captains’ companies, it shall be the duty of the Justice of the Peace in said district, or if there be no Justice of the Peace, then the Justice of the next adjoining district, to make the same provision for the appointment of patrols, under the same penalty as is provided in this act against captains of districts.
Sect. 17th And be it further enacted that all laws that are now in force in this Territory on the subject of patrols be, and the same are hereby repealed.
Passed February 6th 1834
Jos. B. Lancaster, Clk.
John Warren
President of the Legislative Council
Approved February 11th 1834
Wm P Duval, Governor of the Territory of Florida
Listen: The Blues Program
