IMPORTANT ACTS, Passed at the First Session of the XXXIst Congress, which commenced December 3, 1849, and closed September 30, 1950. Admission of California. For the admission of the State of California into the Union. Whereas, the people of California have presented a constitution and asked admission into the Union, which constitution was submitted to Congress by the President of the United States, by message, dated February thirteenth, eighteen hundred and fifty, and which, on due examination, is found to be republican in its form of government Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the State of California shall be one, and is hereby declared to be one, of the United States of America, and admitted into the Union on an equal footing with the original States, in all respects whatever. SECT. 2. And be it further enacted, That until the representatives in Congress shall be apportioned according to an actual enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States, the State of California shall be entitled to two representatives in Congress. SECT. 3. And be it further enacted, That the said State of California is admitted into the Union upon the express condition that the people of said State, through their legislature or otherwise, shall never interfere with the primary disposal of the public lands within its limits, and shall pass no law, and do no act, whereby the title of the United States to, and right to dispose of the same, shall be impaired or questioned; and they shall never lay any tax or assessment of any description whatsoever upon the public domain of the United States; and in no case shall non-resident proprietors, who are citizens of the United States, be taxed higher than residents; and that all the navigable waters within the said State shall be common highways, and for ever free, as well to the inhabitants of said State as to the citizens of the United States, without any tax, impost, or duty therefor: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed as recognizing or rejecting the propositions tendered by the people of California as articles of compact in the ordinance adopted by the convention which formed the constitution of that State. Approved, September 9, 1850. The Texas Boundary. AN ACT at which the meridian of one hundred degrees weat from Greenwich is intersected by the parallel of thirty-six degrees and thirty minutes north latitude, and shall run from said point due west to the meridian of one hundred and three degrees west from Greenwich; thence her boundary shall run due south to the thirty-second degree of north latitude; thence on the said parallel of thirty-two degrees of north latitude to the Rio Bravo del Norte; and thence with the channel of said river to the gulf of Mexico. Second. The State of Texas cedes to the United States all her claims to territory exterior to the limits and boundaries, which she agrees to establish by the first article of this agreement. Third. The State of Texas relinquishes all claim upon the United States for liability of the debts of Texas, and for compensation or indemnity for the surrender to the United States of her ships, forts, arsenals, customhouses, customhouse revenue, arms and munitious of war, and public buildings, with their sites, which became the property of the United States at the time of the annexation. Fourth. The United States, in consideration of said establishment of boundaries,cession of claims to territory, and relinquishment of claims, will pay to the State of Texas the sum of ten millions of dollars in a stock bearing five per cent. interest, and redeemable at the end of fourteen years, the interest payable half-yearly at the treasury of the United States. Fifth. Immediately after the President of the United States shall have been furnished with an authentic copy of the act of the general assembly of Texas, accepting these propositions, he shall cause the stock to be issued in favor of the State of Texas, as provided for in the fourth article of this agreement. Provided also, That no more than five millions of said stock shall be issued until the creditors of the State, holding bonds and other certificates of stock of Texas, for which duties on imports were specially pledged, shall first file, at the treasury of the United States, releases of all claims against the United States for or on account of said bonds or certificates in such form as shall be prescribed by the secretary of the treasury and approved by the President of the United States. Organization of New Mexico. A bill proposing the organization of New Mexico as a Territory of the United States, Proposing to the State of Texas the establishment of her which had passed the Senate separately, was Northern and Western Boundaries, the relinquishment by the said State of all Territory claimed by her exterior fastened to the above boundary bill in the to said Boundaries, and of all her Claims upon the Uni-House, and thus, after two defeats, finally carted States, and to establish a Territorial Government ried through (Sept. 6th) by a vote of 108 to for New Mexico. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Represen98. The Senate concurred in the conjunctatines of the United States of America in Congress tion, and the double bill became a law. The assembled, That the following propositions shall following are the more material provisions be, and the same hereby are, offered to the State of Texas, which, when agreed to by the said State of the New Mexico end of the Texas bill: in an act passed by the general assembly, shall be The second section of this act enacts that all that binding and obligatory upon the United States and portion of territory of the United States, bounded upon the said State of Texas: Provided, That said as follows, to wit: beginning at a point in the agreement by the said general assembly shall be Colorado river where the boundary line of the regiven on or before the first day of December, eigh-public of Mexico crosses the same; thence eastteen hundred and fifty. wardly with said boundary line to the Rio Grande; thence following the main channel of said river to the parallel of the thirty-second degree of north First. The State of Texas will agree that her boundary on the north shall commence at the point latitude; thence eastward with said degree to its intersection with the one hundred and third degree of longitude west from Greenwich; thence north with said degree of longitude to the parallel of the thirty-eighth degree of north latitude; thence west with said parallel to the summit of the Sierra Madre; thence south with the crest of said mountains to the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude; thence west with the said parallel to its intersection with the boundary line of the State of California; thence with the said boundary line to the place of beginning, be, and the same is hereby erected into a temporary government by the name of the Territory of New Mexico: Provided, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to inhibit the government of the United States from dividing said Territory into two or more Territories, in such manner and at such times as Congress shall deem convenient and proper, or from attaching any portion thereof to any other Territory or State: Provided further, That when admitted as a State, the said Territory, or any portion of the same, shall be received into the Union, with or without slavery, as their constitution may prescribe at the time of their admission. miles' travel, in going to and returning from the [We have omitted several matter-of-course provisions.] The eighteenth section enacts that the provisions of this act be suspended until the boundary United States Laws and Judicial Sys tein for California. AN ACT between the United States and the State of Texas shall be adjusted; and when such adjustment shall have been effected, the President of the To provide for extending the Laws and the Judicial SysUnited States shall issue his proclamation declaring this act to be in full force and operation, and stall proceed to appoint the officers herein vided to be appointed for the said Territory. Approved, September 9, 1850. Organization of Utah. AN ACT To establish a Territorial Government for Utali. tem of the United States to the State of California Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Represen pro-tatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all the laws of the United States which are not locally inapplicable shall have the same force and effect within the said State of California as elsewhere within the United States. SECT. 2. And be it further enacted, That the said State shall compose two districts, to be called the northern and southern districts of California, diviBe it enacted by the Senate and House of Represen-ded by the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude. tatives of the United States of America in Congress And for the purpose of trying all issues of fact triassembled, That all that part of the territory of the able by a jury in said districts, a district court United States included within the following limits, shall be held in said districts, to consist of one to wit: bounded on the west by the State of Cali- judge, who shall reside within the district to which fornia, on the north by the Territory of Oregon, on he is appointed, and be called a district judge, and the east by the summit of the Rocky mountains, shall in all things have and exercise the same juand on the south by the thirty-seventh parallel of risdiction and powers which were by law given north latitude, be, and the same is hereby, created to the judge of the southern district of New York; into a temporary government, by the name of the the said judge shall appoint a clerk at the place at Territory of Utah; and when admitted as a State, which a court is holden within the district, who the said Territory, or any portion of the same, shall be received into the Union, with or without slave-hall reside and keep the records of the court at ry, as their constitution may prescribe at the time for the services they may perform, for the first four the place of holding the same; and shall receive of their admission: Provided, That nothing in this act contained shall be construed to inhibit the gov-years after the passage of this act, double the ornment of the United States from dividing said amount allowed to the clerk of the southern district of New York; and thereafter shall receive Territory into two or more Territories, in such manner and at such time as Congress shall deem convenient and proper, or from attaching any portion of said Territory to any other State or Territory of the United States. only the fees allowed to the clerk of the said southern district of New York, and may appoint a deputy. their opinion require the same. SECT. 3. And be it further enacted, That the judges of the districts of California shall hold extra ses{The act proceeds to provide for the appoint-sions at any time when the public interest may in ment of a territorial governor, secretary, marshal, judges, &c., &c., and for the election of a council of thirteen and a house of representatives of twenty-six members; also for a delegate in Congress. All recognised citizens to be voters.] SECT. 4. And be it further enacted, That the judge of the northern district of California shall hold two regular sessions annually at San Francisco, and one regular session annually at San José, SacraThe governor shall receive an annual salary of mento, and Stockton, at the times following, to fifteen hundred dollars as governor, and one thou- wit: ut San Francisco, on the first Mondays of sand dollars as superintendent of Indian affairs. December and June; at San José, on the first MonThe chief-justice and associate justices shall each day in April; at Sacramento, on the first Monday receive an annual salary of eighteen hundred dol-in September; and at Stockton, on the second lars. The secretary shall receive an annual salary Monday in October. of eighteen hundred dollars. The said salaries SECT 5. And be it further enacted, That the judge shall be paid quarter-yearly, at the treasury of the of the southern district of California shall hold one United States. The members of the legislative as- regular session annually at the following places, sembly shall be entitled to receive each three dol- to wit: at Monterey, on the first Monday in June; lars per day during their attendance at the sessions and at Los Angelos, on the second Monday in De thereof, and three dollars each for every twenty cember. IMPORTANT ACTS OF CONGRESS. SECT. 6. And be it further enacted, And should the judges of either of the said district courts fail to attend at the time and place of holding any one of the regular terms of the court for either of said districts before the close of the fourth day of any such term, the business pending in such court shall stand adjourned to the next regular term thereof: Provided, That whenever the judge of either of said courts, from any cause, shall fail to hold a regular term of said courts, it shall be his duty, if, in his opinion, the business in said court shall require, to hold an intermediate term of said court at such time as he shall, by his order, under his hand and seal, direct, addressed to the clerk and marshal of said court at least thirty days previous to the commencement of said term, and to be published in the several newspapers published in the bounds of said district the same length of time; and at any and all such intermediate terms, the business of any such courts of every nature and description whatsoever, shall have reference to, and be proceeded with, in the same manner as if the same were a regular term of said court. for which exemplification the clerk of said court The Fugitive Slave Law. AN ACT To amend, and supplementary to, the Act entitled “An Act respecting Fugitives from Justice, and Persons esca. ping from the Service of their Masters," approved February 12, 1793. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Represen SECT. 7. And be it further enacted, That there tatives of the United States of America in Congress shall be allowed to the judge of the northern dis-assembled, That the persons who have been or trict aforesaid an annual compensation of three may hereafter be appointed commissioners in virthousand five hundred dollars, and to the judge of tue of any act of Congress by the circuit courts of the southern district aforesaid an annual compen- the United States, and who, in consequence of sation of twenty-eight hundred dollars, to com- such appointment, are authorized to exercise the mence from the date of their appointments respec-powers that any justice of the peace or other ma tively. gistrate of any of the United States may exercise SECT. 8. And be it further enacted, That there in respect to offenders for any crime or offence shall be appointed in each of said districts a person against the United States, by arresting, imprisonlearned in the law, to act as attorney for the Uni-ing, or bailing the same under and by virtue of the ted States, who shall, in addition to his fees of thirty-third section of the act of the twenty-fourth office, which, for the first four years after the pas- of September, seventeen hundred and eighty-nine, sage of this act, shall be double those of the south-entitled "An act to establish the judicial courts of ern district of New York; and thereafter he shall be entitled to receive the same fees as the attorney of the said southern district of New York, and a salary of five hundred dollars annually as a full compensation for all extra services. the United States," shall be, and are hereby authorized and required to exercise and discharge all the powers and duties conferred by this act. SECT. 2. And be it further enacted, That the superior court of each organized Territory of the SECT. 9. And be it further enacted, That a mar-United States shall have the same power to ap shal shall be appointed in each of said districts, point commissioners to take acknowledgments of who shall perform the same duties, be subject to the bail and affidavits, and to take depositions of witsame regulations and penalties, and be entitled to nesses in civil causes, which is now possessed by the receive for the first four years after the passage of circuit court of the United States; and all commis this act double the amount of fees which are pre- sioners who shall hereafter be appointed for such scribed to marshals in the southern district of New purposes by the superior court of any organized York, and thereafter he shall be entitled to receive Territory of the United States shall possess all the the fees of the marshal of the said southern dis-powers and exercise all the duties conferred by trict of New York. and shall, moreover, be entitled to the sum of five hundred dollars annually, as a compensation for all extra services; and the said marshal shall have the right to appoint as many deputies as the duties of his office shall require. law upon the commissioners appointed by the circuit courts of the United States for similar purposes, and shall moreover exercise and discharge all the powers and duties conferred by this act. SECT. S. And be it further enacted, That the circuit courts of the United States and the superior SECT. 10. And be it further enacted, That in addi- courts of each organized Territory of the United tion to the ordinary jurisdiction and powers of a States shall from time to time enlarge the number district court of the United States with which the of commissioners with a view to afford reasonable southern district court of New York has been in-facilities to reclaim fugitives from labor, and to vested, the said courts be, and hereby are, invested the prompt discharge of the duties imposed by respectively, within the limits of its district, with this act. the exercise of concurrent jurisdiction and powers SECT. 4 And be it further enacted, That the comin all civil cases now exercised by the circuit missioners above named shall have concurrent jacourts of the United States, and that in all cases risdiction with the judges of the circuit and diawhere said courts shall exercise such jurisdiction, trict courts of the United States, in their respecappeals may be taken from the judginents, orders, tive circuits and districts within the several States, or decrees of said courts, to the supreme court of and the judges of the superior courts of the Terri the United States, in the same manner and upon tories, severally and collectively, in term time and the same conditions as appeals may be taken from vacation; and shail grant certificates to such claimthe circuit courts. ants, upon satisfactory proof being made, with anthority to take and remove such fugitives from service or labor, under the restrictions herein contained, to the State or Territory from which such persons may have escaped or fled. SECT. 11. And be it further enacted, That all civil causes now pending in any of the courts of California, the jurisdiction of which may properly belong to the courts of the United States herein established, shall be removed to the said United States courts, either by writ of certiorari, or by a transfer of the original papers with an exemplification from the record or docket entry, under the seal of the court from which they shall be removed, SECT. 5. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of all marshals and deputy-marshal to obey and execute all warrants and precepts is sued under the provisions of this act, when to them directed; and should any marshal or deputy. WHIG ALMANAC, 1851. setting forth the substantial facts as to the service or labor due from such fugitive to the claimant, and of his or her escape from the State of Territory in which such service or labor was due, to the State or Territory in which he or she was arrested, with authority to such claimant, or his or her agent or attorney, to use such reasonable force and restraint as may be necessary, under the circumstancez of the case, to take and remove such fugitive person back to the State or Territory whence he or she may have escaped as aforesaid. In no trial or hearing under this act shall the testimony of such alleged fugitive be admitted in evidence; and the certificates in this and the first section mentioned shall be conclusive of the right of the person or persons in whose favor granted to remove such fugitive to the State or Territory from which he escaped, and shall prevent all molestation of such person or persons by any process issued by any court, judge, magistrate, or other person whomsoever. marshal refuse to receive such warrant or other process, when tendered, or to use all proper means diligently to execute the same, he shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in the sum of one thousand dollars to the use of such clainant, on the motion of such claimant, by the circuit or district court for the district of such marsha!; and after arreat of such fugitive by such marshal or his deputy, or while at any time in his custody under the provisions of this act, should such fugitive escape, whether with or without the assent of such marshal or his deputy, such marshal shall be liable on his official bond to be prosecuted for the benefit of such claimant, for the full value of the service or labor of said fugitive in the State, Territory, or District, whence he escaped; and the better to enable the said commissioners, when thus appointed, to execute their duties faithfully and efficiently, in conformity with the requirements of the constitution of the United States and of this act, and they are hereby authorized and empowered, within their counties respectively, to appoint, in writing under SECT. 7. And be it further enacted, That any pertheir hands, any one or more suitable persons, from son who shall knowingly and willingly obstruct, time to time, to execute all such warrants and hinder, or prevent such claimant, his agent or atother process as may be issued by them in the torney, or any person or persons lawfully assisting lawful performance of their respective duties, with him, her, or them, from arresting such a fugitive authority to such commissioners, or the persons to from service or labor, either with or without probe appointed by them, to execute process as afore- cess as aforesaid; or shall rescue, or attempt to said, to summon and call to their aid the bystand-rescue, such fugitive from service or labor from ers or posse comitatus of the proper county, when the custody of such claimant, his or her agent or necessary to insure a faithful observance of the attorney, or other person or persons lawfully asclause of the constitution referred to, in conform-sisting as aforesaid, when so arrested, pursuant to ity with the provisions of this act; and all good the antherity herein given and declared, or shall citizens are hereby commanded to aid and assist aid, abet, or assist such person so owing service or in the prompt and efficient execution of this law. labor as aforesaid, directly or indirectly, to escape whenever their services may be required, as afore- from such claimant, his agent or attorney, or other said, for that purpose, and said warrants shall run person or persons legally authorized as aforesaid; and be executed by said officers anywhere in the or shall harbor or conceal such fugitive, so as to State within which they are issued. prevent the discovery and arrest of such person, after notice or knowledge of the fact that such person was a fugitive from service or labor as afore said, shall, for either of said offences, be subject to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisonment not exceeding six months, by indictment and conviction before the district court of the United States for the district in which such offence may have been committed, or before the proper court of criminal jurisdiction, if committed within any one of the organized Territories of the United States and shall moreover forfeit and pay, by way. of civil damages, to the party injured by such ille-: gal conduct, the sum of one thousand dollars for each fugitive so lost as aforesaid, to be recovered by action of debt, in any of the district or territoríal courts aforesaid, within whose jurisdiction the said offence may have been committed. SECT. 8. And be it further enacted, That the mar SECT. S. And be it further enacted, That when & person held to service or labor in any State or Territory of the United States has heretofore or shall hereafter escape into another State or Territory of the United States, the person or persons to whom such service or labor may be due, or his, her, or their agent or attorney, duly authorized, by power of attorney, in writing, acknowledged and certified under the seal of some legal officer or court of the State or Territory in which the same may be executed, may pursue and reclaim such fugitive person, either by procuring a warrant from some one of the courts, judges, or commissioners aforesaid, of the proper circuit, district, or county, for the apprehension of such fugitive from service or labor, or by seizing and arresting such fugitive, where the same can be done without process, and by taking, or causing such person to be taken, forthwith before such court, judge, or commission-shals, their deputies, and the clerks of the said dis er, whose duty it shall be to hear and determine the case of such claimant in a summary manner; and upon satisfactory proof being made, by deposition or affidavit, in writing, to be taken and certified by such court, judge, or commissioner, or by other satisfactory testimony, duly taken and certified by some court, magistrate, justice of the peace, or other legal officer authorized to administer an oath and take depositions under the laws of the State or Territory from which such person owing service or labor may have escaped, with a certificate of such magistracy or other authority, as aforesaid, with the seal of the proper court or officer thereto attached, which seal shall be sufficient to establish the competency of the proof, and with proof, also by affidavit, of the identity of the person whose service or labor is claimed to be due as aforesaid, that the person so arrested does in fact owe service or labor to the person or persons claiming him or her, in the State or Territory from which such fugitive may have escaped as aforesaid, and that said person escaped, to make out and deliver to such claimant, his or her agent or attorney, a certificate trict and territorial courts, shall be paid for their services the like fees as may be allowed to them for similar services in other cases; and where such services are rendered exclusively in the arrest, custody, and delivery of the fugitive to the claimant, his or her agent or attorney, or where such supposed fugitive may be discharged out of custody for the want of sufficient proof as aforesaid, then such fees are to be paid in the whole by such claimant, his agent, or attorney; and in all cases where the proceedings are before a commissioner, he shall be entitled to a fee of ten dollars in full for his services in each case, upon the delivery of the said certificate to the claimant, his or her agent or attorney; or a fee of five dollars in cases where the proof shall not, in the opinion of such commissioner, warrant such certificate and delivery, inclusive of all services incident to such arrest and examination, to be paid, in either case, by the claimant, his or her agent or attorney. The person or persons authorized to execute the process to be issued by such commissioners for the arrest and detention of fugitives from service or labor as IMPORTANT ACTS OF CONGRESS. Suppression of the Slave-Trade in the AN ACT To suppress the Slave-Trade in the District of Columbia. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Represen tatives of the United States of America in Congres assembled, That from and after the first day of January, 1851, it shall not be lawful to bring into the District of Columbia any slave whatever, for the purpose of being sold, or for the purpose of being placed in depot, to be subsequently transferred to any other State or place, to be sold as merchandise And if any slave shall be brought into the said District by its owner, or by the authority or consent of its owner, contrary to the provisions of this act, such slave shall thereupon become liberated and free. aforesaid, shall also be entitled to a fee of five dol-service or labor as aforesaid, which certificate lars each for each person he or they may arrest shall authorize such claimant to seize or arrest and and take before any such commissioner as afore-transport such person to the State or Territory said, at the instance and request of such claimant, from which he escaped: Provided, That nothing with such other fees as may be deemed reasonable herein contained shall be construed as requiring by such commissioner for such other additional the production of a transcript of such record as services as may be necessarily performed by him evidence as aforesaid. But in its absence the or them; such as attending at the examination, claim shall be heard and determined upon other keeping the fugitive in custody, and providing him satisfactory proofs competent in law. with food and lodging during his detention, and Approved, September 18, 1850. until the final determination of such commissioner; and in general for performing such other duties as may be required by such claimant, his or her attorney or agent, or commissioner in the premises; such fees to be made up in conformity with the fees usually charged by the officers of the courts of justice within the proper district or county, as near as may be practicable, and paid by such claimants, their agents or attorneys, whether such supposed fugitives from service or labor be ordered to be delivered to such claimants by the final determination of such commissioners or not. SECT. 9. And be it further enacted, That upon affidavit made by the claimant of such fugitive, his agent or attorney, after such certificate has been issued, that he has reason to apprehend that such fugitive will be rescued by force from his or their possession, before he can be taken beyond the limits of the State in which the arrest is made, it shall be the duty of the officer making the arrest to reSECT. 2. And be it further enacted, That it shall tain such fugitive in his custody, and to remove and may be lawful for each of the corporations of him to the State whence he fled, and there to de- the cities of Washington and Georgetown, from liver him to said claimant, his agent or attorney. time to time, and as often as may be necessary, to And to this end, the officer aforesaid is hereby abate, break up, and abolish any depot or place of authorized and required to employ so many per- confinement of slaves brought into the said Dis eons as he may deem necessary to overcome such trict as merchandise, contrary to the provisions of force, and to retain them in his service so long as this act, by such appropriate means as may appear circumstances may require. The said officer and to either of the said corporations expedient and his assistants, while so employed, to receive the proper. And the same power is hereby vested in same compensation, and to be allowed the same the levy court of Washington county, if any atexpenses, as are now allowed by law for the trans-tempt shall be made within its jurisdictional limits portation of criminals, to be certified by the judge to establish a depot or place of confinement for of the district within which the arrest is made, and slaves brought into the said District as merchanpaid out of the treasury of the United States. dise for sale contrary to this act. Approved, September 20, 1850. Surveyor-General of Oregon.-Gr ants of Land to Settlers. SECT. 10. And be it further enacted. That when any person held to service or labor in any State or Territory, or in the District of Columbia, shall escape therefrom, the party to whom such service or labor shall be due, his, her, or their agent or attorney, IN September, 1850, Congress passed an may apply to any court of record therein, or judge thereof in vacation, and make satisfactory proof to act to create the office of Surveyor-General such court, or judge in vacation, of the escape of the Public Lands in Oregon, and provide aforesaid, and that the person escaping owed ser- for the survey and to make donations of land vice or labor to such party. Whereupon the court shall cause a record to be made of the matters so to settlers in that Territory. The bill proproved, and also a general description of the per- vides that the Surveyor General shall possess son so escaping, with such convenient certainty as essentially the same power and perform the may be; and a transcript of such record, authenti- game duties of the Surveyor of the United cated by the attestation of the clerk and of the seal of the said court, being produced in any other States northwest of the Ohio. His annual State, Territory, or District, in which the person salary is fixed at two thousand five hundred so escaping may be found, and being exhibited to dollars. The 4th section of the bill provides any judge, commissioner, or other officer authoras follows:-ized by the law of the United States to cause persons escaping from service or labor to be delivered That there shall be, and hereby is, granted to up, shall be held and taken to be full and conclu- every settler or occupant of the public lands, Amereive evidence of the fact of escape, and that the ican half-breed Indians included above the age of service or labor of the person escaping is due to eighteen years, being a citizen of the United States, the party in euch record mentioned. And upon or having made a declaration according to law, of the production by the said party of other and fur- his intention to become a citizen, or who shall ther evidence, if necessary, either oral or by affi- make such declaration on or before the first day of davit, in addition to what is contained in the said December, eighteen hundred and fifty-one, now re record of the identity of the person escaping, he siding in said Territory, or who shall become a or she shall be delivered up to the claimant. And resident thereof on or before the first day of De the said court, commissioner, judge, or other per cember, eighteen hundred and fifty, and who shall Don authorized by this act to grant certificates to have resided upon and cultivated the same for four claimants to fugitives, shall, apon the production consecutive years, and shall otherwise conform to of the record and other evidences aforesaid, grant the provisions of this act, the quantity of one half to each claimant a certificate of his right to take section, or three hundred and twenty acres of land, sny such person identified, and proved to be owing if a single man, and if a married man, or if he shall |