with the County Clerk of said county, their assent in writing under seal to said extension of time, which instrument shall be acknowledged in open court.

DANIEL S. DONELSON,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.
JOHN C. BURCH,

Passed March 1, 1858.

Speaker of the Senate.

CHAPTER 42.

AN ACT for the distribution of the Public Acts.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of

State to

give

the State of Tennessee, That the time allowed to the Secretary of Secretary of State under the act of 1809, to furnish co- copy in five days. pies of the Public Acts passed at each General Assembly, to the Public Printer, shall be limited to five days after the passage of this act.

SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That the Public Printer shall not be allowed more than five days, after the same are furnished, to publish the same in his newspaper; and the papers employed under the act of 1829, shall copy the same at Nashville within five days, and at Knoxville and Jackson, within ten days, after the same shall be published by the Public Printer.

limited

SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, That the Public Print- Public er shall, within twenty days after the end of each session days. of the General Assembly, and as much sooner as may be practicable, furnish to the Secretary of State, three hundred and fifty copies of the Public Acts, stitched, trimmed, and in paper covers.

Printer

to

SEC. 4. Be it further enacted, That the Secretary of State shall, within twenty days after the end of each General Assembly, and as much sooner as may be practicable, direct one copy of the Public Acts to each judge in this State; one copy to each clerk of the circuit, coun- Secretary of ty, and criminal courts; and one copy to each member of the General Assembly; pay the postage on the same, and place the same in the Post Office, to be forwarded by

mail.

SEC. 5. Be it further enacted, That the Comptroller, on the Secretary of State depositing with him the receipts of the Post Master for said copies of the Public

State.

20

Acts, shall issue his warrant for the postage, provided they
have been forwarded in the time prescribed; and a failure
of the Secretary of State to file his receipts within twenty
days, or if when filed it shall not be in compliance with the
law, he shall, under the penalty of five hundred dollars, to
be recovered by any person who will sue therefor or pro-
ceed against the Public Printer, or Secretary of State, as
the facts may require, by indictment for failure to per-
form the duties imposed by this act; and also for a penalty,
and a forfeiture of the Public Printer to procure the pro-
per receipt of the Secretary of State, or on proof that the
same were not delivered in due time, shall be entitled to
recover for the use of the State the sum of five hundred
dollars; and if the Public Printer has furnished the copies
of the Public Acts required, in proper time, the Comp-
troller shall be entitled on production of his receipts, to
recover of the Secretary of State five hundred dollars for
the use of the State, unless he shall show that the said
copies were mailed in proper time and with the proper di-
rections.

SEC. 6. Be it enacted, That the present Public Printers
be instructed to comply with the provisions of this act, if
practicable, by printing in the time prescribed the Public
Acts of this session, not including the Code, and the Sec-
retary of State be directed to distribute the same under
the provisions of this act.

DANIEL S. DONELSON,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.
JOHN C. BURCH,

1

1

Passed March 1st, 1858.

Speaker of the Senate.

CHAPTER 43.

AN ACT to fix and mark the boundary lines between Tennessee and Virginia.

WHEREAS, The line run between the State of Tennessee and the State of Virginia, in the year eighteen hundred and two, by joint commissioners of those States, a due west course, beginning on the summit of the mountain generally known by the name of the White Top Mountain, where the north-eastern corner of Tennessee terminates, to the top of the Cumberland Mountain, where the south-western corner of Virginia ends, has by the lapse of time, the improvements of the country, natural waste

and destruction, become uncertain and to some extent unknown, so that many inconveniences and difficulties occur between the citizens of the respective States, and in the administration of the governments of those States, for remedy therefor:

Appointment of

ers.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, That the Executive be authorized to appoint two commissioners, whose duty it shall be to two commission meet commissioners, who have been or may be appointed by the State of Virginia, to again run and mark said line; and where there is no growing timber on any part of the line by which it may be plainly marked, if the aid marks are obliterated, that the said commissioners shall cause monuments of stone to be permanently planted on the line, at least one in every five miles or less, where it may seem proper by said commissioners to do so, that the line may be readily identified for its entire length.

SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That the Governor shall be and is hereby authorized to pay one half of all the expenses, which may be incurred in running and marking out said line, as aforesaid; and also, the sum of two dollars per day, for each commissioner appointed by the Ex- To pay one-h If ecutive of this State, for each day he may be engaged in of expenses. performing the service, and ten cents per mile for each mile he may travel to and from his residence in going to and returning from the line aforesaid, to be paid upon the order of the Governor, out of any money in the Treasury, not otherwise appropriated.

SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, That the commissioners of the two States aforesaid shall prepare duplicate reports of their proceedings, one of which they shall return in due time to the Governor of Tennessee, and the other to such department of the Government of the State of Virginia as the commissioners of said State shall require.

SEC. 4. Be it further enacted, That this act shall take effect from and after its passage.

SEC. 5. Be it further enacted, That said commissioners in connection with such commissioners as may be or have been appointed by the Legislature of Virginia, have full power and authority, and it is hereby made their duty, to employ a Field Party, to consist of one engineer, one Field party. surveyor, one backsightman, and one axman, and such others as may be necessary. The engineer and surveyor, to be well qualified to make said survey upon scientific principles; said commissioners to superintend the work, and to employ said field party at such rates as they may agree upon; and when said service is rendered, said commissioners upon the part of Tennessee, shall notify the

Executive of the State, that said service has been rendered,
and he is hereby authorized to pay such persons as may
be employed by the commissioners of this State, or such
proportionable part as may be agreed upon by said com-
missioners.

CHAPTER 44.

AN ACT to amend an act passed February 28, 1856, entitled, "An act to guard against
accidents on Railroads."

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of
the State of Tennessee, That from and after the first day
of April, 1858, each and every railroad company in this
State, shall employ white men, and none other than white
men, as engineers on their respective roads.

SEC. 2. Be it further enacted, That in all such cases where any railroad company shall be sued for the killing or injuring of any stock, the burden of proof that the accident was unavoidable, shall be on the company, as required by the 10th section of said act of February 28, 1856, chapter 94, before said company shall be excused for the killing or injuring stock; and the engineer, agent, or employee of said company shall in no case be a witness for the company.

SEC. 3. Be it further enacted, That the 8th section of said act be so amended and construed as to require all railroad companies to keep the engineer, fireman, or some one else, always on the look out ahead, when the train is in motion.

DANIEL S. DONELSON,

Speaker of the House of Representatives.
JOHN C. BURCH,

Speaker of the Senate.

H

Passed March 2, 1858.

CHAPTER 45.

AN ACT providing for the voluntary enslavement of free persons of color in this State.

May

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, That it shall and may be lawful master. for any free person of color, resident within this State, of the age of eighteen years, to choose his or her master, and convey him or herself into slavery, upon the terms and conditions hereinafter mentioned.

choose a

or chancery court.

SEC. 2. Be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That when any free person of color as aforesaid, desires to go into slavery, such person shall file a petition in the circuit or Petition in circuit chancery court of the county in which such free person of color resides, setting forth his or her desires to choose an owner, and go into slavery, and setting forth the name of such person, as he or she desires to become his or her owner, which petition shall be signed by such free person of color, or in the presence of at least two subscribing witnesses.

SEC. 3. Be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the clerk of the court in which such petition shall have been filed, shall, upon the filing of said petition, order a notice, that such petition has been filed to be forthwith printed in Notice. some newspaper published in the town where said court is held, or if no newspaper is published in said town, then to be posted at the front door of the court house for at least one month, and shall issue a summons to appear at the succeeding term of the court, both the petitioner and the person designated in said petition.

SEC. 4. Be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That upon the appearance of both the petitioner and the person designated in the petition, the court shall proceed to examine such party separately, as well as such other persons as said court may see fit, and if upon such examination the court shall be satisfied there is no fraud practiced upon the petitioner, and that there is no good reason to the contrary, the said court shall have power to grant the prayer of the petitioner, and if it determine so to do, that the court shall appoint three disinterested commissioners who shall bree examine and report to the court what in their opinion would be the cash value of such free person of color; which report shall be entered upon the record, and the person to whom said free person of color desires to sell him or herself, into slavery, shall pay into the clerk's office one tenth of said assessed value, which shall be paid over by said clerk to the trustee of said county for the use of common schools within the same, and the clerks of the dif

sioners.

commis