BE IT enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America 
in Congress assembled, That the persons who have been, or may hereafter be, appointed 
commissioners, in virtue of any act of Congress, by the Circuit Courts of the United States, 
and Who, in consequence of such appointment, are authorized to exercise the powers that 
any justice of the peace, or other magistrate of any of the United States, may exercise in 
respect to offenders for any crime or offense against the United States, by arresting, 
imprisoning, or bailing the same under and by the virtue of the thirty-third section of the act 
of the twenty-fourth of September seventeen hundred and eighty-nine, entitled "An Act to 
establish the judicial courts of the United States" shall be, and are hereby, authorized and 
required to exercise and discharge all the powers and duties conferred by this act.

SEC. 2. And be it further enacted, That the Superior Court of each organized Territory of the 
United States shall have the same power to appoint commissioners to take acknowledgments 
of bail and affidavits, and to take depositions of witnesses in civil causes, which is now 
possessed by the Circuit Court of the United States; and all commissioners who shall hereafter 
be appointed for such purposes by the Superior Court of any organized Territory of the United 
States, shall possess all the powers, and exercise all the duties, conferred by 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.

SEC. 3. And be it further enacted, That the Circuit Courts of the United States shall from time 
to time enlarge the number of the commissioners, with a view to afford reasonable facilities to 
reclaim fugitives from labor, and to the prompt discharge of the duties imposed by this act.

SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That the commissioners above named shall have concurrent 
jurisdiction with the judges of the Circuit and District Courts of the United States, in their 
respective circuits and districts within the several States, and the judges of the Superior Courts 
of the Territories, severally and collectively, in term-time and vacation; shall grant certificates to 
such claimants, upon satisfactory proof being made, with authority to ake 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.

SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of all marshals and deputy marshals 
to obey and execute all warrants and precepts issued under the provisions of this act, when to 
them directed; and should any marshal or deputy 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 
claimant, on the motion of such claimant, by the Circuit or District Court for the district of such 
marshal; and after arrest of such fugitive, by such marshal or his deputy, or whilst 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, 
they are hereby authorized and empowered, within their counties respectively, to appoint, in 
writing under their hands, any one or more suitable persons, from time to time, to execute all 
such warrants and other process as may be issued by them in the lawful performance of their 
respective duties; with authority to such commissioners, or the persons to be appointed by 
them, to execute process as aforesaid, to summon and call to their aid the bystanders, or 
posse comitatus of the proper county, when necessary to ensure a faithful observance of the 
clause of the Constitution referred to, in conformity with the provisions of this act; and all 
good citizens are hereby commanded to aid and assist in the prompt and efficient execution 
of this law, whenever their services may be required, as aforesaid, for that purpose; and said 
warrants shall run, and be executed by said officers, any where in the State within which 
they are issued.

SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That when a person held to service or labor in any State or 
Territory of the United States, ha: heretofore or shall hereafter escape into another State or 
Territory of the United States, the person or persons to whom such service 01 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 
commissioner, 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 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 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 circumstances 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 [fourth] section mentioned, shall be 
conclusive of the right of the person or persons in whose favor granted, to remove such f
ugitive 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.

SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That any person who shall knowingly and willingly 
obstruct, hinder, or prevent such claimant, his agent or attorney, or any person or persons 
lawfully assisting him, her, or them, from arresting such a fugitive from service or labor, either 
with or without process as aforesaid, or shall rescue, or attempt to rescue, such fugitive from 
service or labor, from the custody of such claimant, his or her agent or attorney, or other 
person or persons lawfully assisting as aforesaid, when so arrested, pursuant to the authority 
herein given and declared; or shall aid, abet, or assist such person so owing service or labor 
as aforesaid, directly or indirectly, to escape from such claimant, his agent or attorney, or 
other person or persons legally authorized as aforesaid; or shall harbor or conceal such 
fugitive, so as to 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 aforesaid, 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 illegal 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 Territorial Courts aforesaid, within 
whose jurisdiction the said offence may have been committed.

Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That the marshals, their deputies, and the clerks of the said 
District and Territorial Courts, shall be paid, for their services, the like fees as may be allowed 
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 whole by such claimant, his or her 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 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 commissioner for the arrest and detention of fugitives from service or labor as 
aforesaid, shall also be entitled to a fee of five dollars each for each person he or they may 
arrest, and take before any commissioner as aforesaid, at the instance and request of such 
claimant, with such other fees as may be deemed reasonable by such commissioner for such 
other additional services as may be necessarily performed by him or them; such as attending 
at the examination, keeping the fugitive in custody, and providing him with food and lodging 
during his detention, and until the final determination of such commissioners; 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 claimant by 
the final determination of such commissioner or not.

SEC. 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 retain such fugitive in his custody, and to remove him to the State whence 
he fled, and there to deliver him to said claimant, his agent, or attorney. And to this end, the 
officer aforesaid is hereby authorized and required to employ so many persons as he may 
deem necessary to overcome such force, and to retain them in his service so long as 
circumstances may require. The said officer and his assistants, while so employed, to receive 
the same compensation, and to be allowed the same expenses, as are now allowed by law for 
transportation of criminals, to be certified by the judge of the district within which the arrest is 
made, and paid out of the treasury of the United States.

SEC. 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, may apply to any court of 
record therein, or judge thereof in vacation, and make satisfactory proof to such court, or 
judge in vacation, of the escape aforesaid, and that the person escaping owed service or labor 
to such party. Whereupon the court shall cause a record to be made of the matters so proved, 
and also a general description of the person so escaping, with such convenient certainty as 
may be; and a transcript of such record, authenticated by the attestation of the clerk and of 
the seal of the said court, being produced in any other State, Territory, or district in which the 
person so escaping may be found, and being exhibited to any judge, commissioner, or other 
officer authorized by the law of the United States to cause persons escaping from service or 
labor to be delivered up, shall be held and taken to be full and conclusive evidence of the fact 
of escape, and that the service or labor of the person escaping is due to the party in such r
ecord mentioned. And upon the production by the said party of other and further evidence if 
necessary, either oral or by affidavit, in addition to what is contained in the said record of the 
identity of the person escaping, he or she shall be delivered up to the claimant. And the said 
court, commissioner, judge, or other person authorized by this act to grant certificates to 
claimants or fugitives, shall, upon the production of the record and other evidences aforesaid, 
grant to such claimant a certificate of his right to take any such person identified and proved 
to be owing service or labor as aforesaid, which certificate shall authorize such claimant to 
seize or arrest and transport such person to the State or Territory from which he escaped: 
Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be construed as requiring the production of a 
transcript of such record as evidence as aforesaid. But in its absence the claim shall be 
heard and determined upon other satisfactory proofs, competent in law.

Approved, September 18, 1850





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