Investment of surplus. OF MASTERS, APPRENTICES AND SERVANTS. CHAPTER 79. collect or receive the money so invested; or to sell, transfer, or satisfy any judgment, or other security, taken for the same. SEC. 5. If a guardian shall have in hand money of his ward uninvested, and not needed for the guardianship, he may dispose of the same according to Chapter 96. Binding minors. Who may bind, Two justices. Two trustees, Illegitimate children. SECTION 1. Minors may be bound apprentices to trades, or otherwise, or as servants; males until the age of twenty-one years, females until the age of eighteen years: but white persons shall be bound as apprentices not as servants. SEC. 2. The father, or if there be no father residing in the State, the guardian, or if there also be no guardian, the mother of a minor shall have power to bind him; and a minor over fourteen years old, who has no father, guardian, or mother in the State, may bind himself, with the approbation, in either case, of a justice of the peace of the county where the master resides. And any two justices of the peace, acting together, in either county, shall have power to bind any minor who has no parent residing in this State, and who has not property sufficient for his maintenance; and also any minor, who has not parents able to maintain and bring him up to industry and suitable employment. Also any two trustees of the poor shall have power to bind any minor in the almshouse. An illegitimate child shall be regarded as having no father; but the justices, upon application of his putative father, may, in their discretion, issue process to bring before them such child and the mother, or person having charge of it, and may bind such child, if OF MASTERS, APPRENTICES AND SERVANTS. CHAPTER 79. they think proper to do so. Such binding shall not in any manner effect the security given by the putative father, or the mother, to indemnify the county. SEC. 3. Any two justices of the peace, on receiving information Justices to issue of any negro, or mulatto, child in their county, having no parents process. in this State, or who, being under the age of fifteen years, has not parents able to maintain them, or who do not bring them up to industry and suitable employment, shall issue process to a constable commanding him to bring such child before them at a specified time and place, and to give notice thereof to the parents, if any, and Notice. shall thereupon inquire into their circumstances; and if it appear to be a proper case for biuding such child, they shall proceed to bind said child as a servant, unless they shall deem the binding, under the circumstances, to be inexpedient. Such indenture shall, Terms. in addition to the stipulations required by section 5 of this chapter, oblige the master to pay to the parent, if there be any, twenty dollars for a male child under nine years old, thirty dollars for a male child between nine and fifteen years old, ten dollars for a female child under nine years old, and fifteen dollars for a female child between nine and fifteen years old, viz: one-fourth thereof at the binding, and the balance in three equal annual payments, and also ten dollars to the person bound, at the expiration of his servitude, if inexpedient to stipulate for education in reading and writing. It shall be the duty of every constable, knowing of any such Constable's duty. child, to give notice to the parents, if there be any, that unless they provide a suitable home with some respectable white person for such child, within thirty days, such child will be bound as aforesaid, and if after such notice, the parents neglect to find such home for the child within said time, the said constable shall give information thereof to some justice of the peace of the county, to the end that further proceedings may be taken for binding the same. The oath of the constable shall be taken as evidence of the notice, and he shall receive from the master two dollars for every child bound in consequence thereof. It shall be the duty of every justice of the peace, knowing or Justice's duty. being informed of any child coming within the provisions of this section, to proceed as herein required. If any minor, having no parents living in this State, appears or is peacefully brought before the justice as aforesaid, the power to bind may be exercised without the issuing of any process. SEC. 4. But if the parent, or guardian, of any such child, or Indemnity to the person with whom he lives, shall, within five days from such hear-county. ing, give sufficient security to indemnify the county against the *Without expressing any opinion as to the legality of binding negroes in a different manner from white persons, it is deemed advisable to publish this Chapter entire with a few necessary omissions, as it should be a matter for judicial decision, and is not in the province of a compiler or codifier, without Legislative action, to omit anything if there is the least probable doubt, as to its invalidity. (From Code of 1874.) Binding; form: erms. Indenture to be recorded in sixty days. Penalty. When assignable How. Record of. When transmissible. How. Assignee's rights No binding to a non-resident. OF MASTERS, APPRENTICES AND SERVANTS. CHAPTER 79. maintenance of such child, and shall pay the same costs as for binding, the justice shall not bind the child, but shall take such security, by bond to the trustees of the poor, with surety, in two hundred dollars, conditioned for such indemnity. SEC. 5. The binding of any minor shall be by indenture, signed and sealed by the parties. The minor need not be a party, except in case of binding himself. His age shall be inserted as correctly as it can be ascertained; but this shall be open to inquiry and correction. The master shall stipulate to give the minor reasonable education in reading and writing; to well support and clothe him; and at the expiration of his term, to furnish him with two suits of clothes suitable to his condition; or, in case of a black child, to pay such a sum of money as may be deemed proper, if inexpedient to stipulate for education. Any other terms may be agreed on, and any consideration advanced, shall be inserted; and the approval of he justice, or justices, or trustees, must also appear. SEC. 6. The officer by or before whom such indenture shall be executed, shall deliver the same within sixty days to the recorder of deeds of his county, with the fee for recording the same (which he is authorized to demand from the master at the time of binding:) and for neglecting this duty, he shall forfeit and pay to said recorder five dollars. SEC. 7. If a minor be bound to a person and his executors, a , admininistrators and assigns, he may be assigned from person to person by assignment executed, under seal, by both assignor and assignee, with the approbation of any judge of the State, or any two justices of the peace, whose approval must appear on the assignThe assignment must be recorded with the indenture, in sixty days, or it shall be void. ment. Such apprentice, or servant shall also be transmissible to executors or administrators, who may hold or assign him as aforesaid. But if any master of a female apprentice, or servant, shall die without disposing of her, and shall leave a widow, the widow shall have the residue of her term, without being accountable therefor to her husband's estate, if she shall live so long. SEC. 8. Such assignee, executor, administrator, or widow, shall take and hold the minor upon the terms of the original binding, and shall be liable for all its unperformed covenants. No assignment shall be approved except to a suitable person capable of fulfilling all such covenants and if any person, taking such minor by transmission, be incapable of so fulfilling them, he shall assign, or release, the in denture. SEC. 9. A minor shall not be bound to a person not having a settled residence in this State: nor shall he be assigned to any such person, unless with the assent of the father, or guardian, or if there be neither, of the minor himself, being over fourteen years old, and OF MASTERS, APPRENTICES AND SERVANTS. CHAPTER 79. unless, &c. also with the approbation of a judge of the State, or of two justices Nor assignment, of the peace; and if any master shall assign his apprentice, or indentured servant, contrary to this section, or shall remove, or attempt to remove, him from the State without the assent and appro- Penalty. bation aforesaid, he shall forfeit all right and authority to, or over, said apprentice, or servant, and shall be liable to him in damages therefor; except that an apprentice, or indentured servant, bound or Exceptions. assigned to a mariner, or waterman, to learn that business, may be lawfully taken out of this State in the due course of his employment; and that a person occupying land through which the State line runs, may employ such apprentice, or servant, on every part of such land; and that a master may take or send such apprentice, or servant, to an adjoining State on an errand to return directly, or for a visit, or temporary purpose, not to exceed ninety days' absence, unless a judge of the State, or two justices as aforesaid, shall have approved of his longer stay. Such taking, or sending out of the State, must be in good faith, and the apprentice, or servant, must be duly returned. SEC. 10. The master, whether original or by assignment, or trans- Master's rights, mission, shall have right to the faithful services of the minor, so bound, during the term of apprenticeship, or servitude; and shall have the custody and charge of such minor, with authority to enforce his orderly and industrious behavior and obedience to lawful commands, by moderate correction, and by suitable and sufficient means. SEC. 11. If any apprentice, or servant, whether by indenture, or Running away. otherwise, shall run away, or without leave, absent himself from his master's service, he shall make full compensation for lost time, Penalty. and the expenses of recovering him, by service after the expiration of his regular term; and the Superior Court shall have power so Conviction for to extend the term. And if an apprentice or servant shall, on conviction, have judgment against him for any fine, penalty, or costs, and the master shall pay the same, he shall be obliged to make compensation in like manner. a penalty. Compensation. indentures; effect of. SEC. 12. The effect of an order of court extending the time of Extension of any apprentice, or servant, shall be to extend the apprenticeship or servitude, to the end of such enlarged term; with all the rights, obligations, and incidents of the original binding or sale, subject in like manner to assignment, transmission, and futher extension. Such order shall be recorded with the indenture, or order of sale. SEC. 13. If a female, bound as an apprentice, or servant, shall For bastardy. bear a bastard child within the time of her apprenticeship, or servitude, she shall serve one year after the expiration of the original term for which she was bound, and shall forfeit her freedom dues. If a servant contract marriage during his term of servitude with- For marriage. out the written consent of his master, the term of his servitude shall Indentured negroes deemed to the crime of kidnapping. OF MASTERS, APPRENTICES AND SERVANTS. CHAPTER 79. be extended six months after the expiration of the original term of servitude. SEC. 14. A negro, or mulatto indentured apprentice, or servant, free in reference shall be deemed a free negro in any criminal proceeding; and if his master shall sell, dispose of, or deliver such negro, or mulatto apprentice, or servant, with intent that he shall be removed from this State and enslaved, or shall fraudulently in any way remove him, or aid in his removal from this State, with intent that he shall be enslaved, such master, and also any person who shall aid, or assist him therein, shall be deemed guilty of kidnapping and felony, and shall be punished accordingly. Runaways, Arrest. Notice. Relief against master. Proviso. Record. Remedy for master. SEC. 15. Any apprentice, or servant, who shall run away, may be imprisoned in the public jail. It shall be the duty of a justice of the peace, on proper application, under oath, to issue a warrant for his arrest and commitment. If his master shall not pay the legal charges and take him within twenty days, he shall be discharged from prison. The sheriff shall, on his commitment, notify the master by mail, if known, and if not, shall give notice by advertisement in one or more newspapers of this State. SEC. 16. If any apprentice, or indentured servant, shall have cause of complaint against his master for cruelty, ill usage, breach of contract, or for the illegality or invalidity of the binding, or other sufficient matter, he shall have remedy by petition to the Superior Court, or to any judge thereof, or the chancellor; who shall hear such complaint, upon due notice to the master by summons; and shall have power either to annul the indenture and discharge the petitioner; to order the master to assign him to some other person; to give directions concerning his treatment; to rebind the petitioner to the same or to another person, if such rebinding is judged proper, and upon such terms as the said court or judge shall deem just; to order the master to pay costs; and to enforce any such order by attachment and imprisonment. And the said court, or judge, may annex to any order, or decree in the premises, any terms which may be deemed just or equitable. A rebinding shall be under seal of court, or hand and seal of the judge, and of the master; and all the provisions of this chapter shall apply to such an indenture. Provided that when the binding is under section 3 of this chapter, the said court, chancellor, or judge, shall not inquire into the circumstances under which the indenture was executed, but shall only inquire as to cruelty, ill usage, treatment not conformable to the terms of binding, and breach of contract. Every order, or decree, made upon the petition of an apprentice, or servant, shall be recorded with the indenture. SEC. 17. If an apprentice, or indentured servant, shall, through sickness, or otherwise, be incapable of the service, or occupation, to |