Barabados Slave Code (1661)

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1661 West Indies (Barbados)
Sep. 27

{Barbados General
Assembly }
An Act for the better ordering and Governing of
Negroes

Signed by Humphrey Walrond
Original and Photostat

BL 369
BR

An Act for the better ordering and
Governing of Negroes.

Whereas heretofore many good Lawes and Ordinances
have been made for the Governing regulating and ordering
the Negro Slaves. in this Island and Sundry punishments
appointed to many their misdemeanours, crimes and offences
which yet have not met the effect hath been desired and might
have reasonably been expected, had the Masters of Families
and other the Inhabitants of this Island been so carefull of
their obedience and compliance with the said Lawes as they
ought to have been, and those former Lawes being in many
clauses imperfect and not fully comprehending the true
constitution of this Government in relation to their Slaves the
Negroes an Heathenish, Brutish and an uncertaine and
dangerous kind of People, to whom (if surely in any thing) wee
may extend the legislative power given Us of Provisionary
Laws for the benefit and good of this Plantation not being
contradictory to the Laws of England, there being in all the
Body of that Law no Tract to guide Us where to walk, nor any
Rule set Us how to Governe such Slaves Yet Wee well
know that by the right rule of reason and order wee are not
to leave them to the Arbitrary Cruell and outragious will of every
evill disposed person, but so farr to Protect them as Wee doe mens
other goods and Chattells, and also somewhat further as being
created men, though without the knowledge of God in the world
Wee have therefore upon mature and serious consideration of
the premisses thought good to renew and revive whatsoever wee
have found necessary and usefull in the former Laws of this
Island concerning the Governing and ordering of Negroes

and to add thereunto such further Laws and Ordinances
as at the time Wee think absolutely needfull for the
publick safety and may prove in the future behoofull to
the peace and utility of the Island by this Act repealing
and dissolving all other former Laws made concerning
the said Negroes And for the time to come Bee it Enacted
ordained and published And it is by the President, Councill
and Assembly of this Island and by the authority of the
same enacted, ordained and published That no Master
Mistris, Commander or Overseer of any Family in this
Island shall give their Negroes leave on Sabboth days
Holy days or at any other time to goe out of their
Plantations except such Negroes as usually waite
upon them at home and abroad, and then with a
Tickett under his Master, Mistres, Commander or
Overseers hand the said Ticketts specifying the time of his
or her coming from the Plantation and the time allowed
for his or her returne and no other Negro except upon
some necessary busines and then to send a Christian or
Negro Overseer along with them with a Tickett as
aforesaid upon peine of forfeiting for every Negro soe
Licensed to goe abroad Five hundred pounds of Muscovado
Sugar, halfe of the said Fine to bee to the Informer and
the other to the publick Treasury, and of any Mast[-]
or Mistris, Commander or Overseer of a Plantation
shall find any Negro or Negroes in their Plantation ,
at any time without a Tickett and businesse from
his said Master &c and do not apprehend them or
endeavour so ^to doe, and having apprehended them shall
not punish them by a moderate whipping shall

forfeit Five hundred pounds of like Sugar to bee disposed
of us aforesaid the said penalties to bee recovered before any
one Justice of the Peaces of that Precinct where such
Default shall bee made who is hereby authorized and
required upon complaint made to examine upon Oath to
hear and determine the same and by Warrant under his
hand directed to the Constable to cause the said Penalty to
[{?} ]as in case of [ {?} ]Wages the said Constable
to receive for his paines as in the Act of Servants Wages
is appointed.

It is farther Enacted, ordained and published that if
any Negro ^either Man or Woman shall offer any violence to
any Christian, as by striking or the like, such Negro
shall for his or her first offence by information given to
the next Justice bee severely whipped by the Contable by
order of said Justice, For his second offence of that nature by
order of the Justice of the Peace hee shall bee severely whipped,
his Nose slitt, and bee burned in some part of his Face, and
for his Third offence of that nature by Order of the Governor
and Councill such greater Corporall punishments as they
shall think meet to inflict. Provided always that such stiking
or Conflict bee not in the lawfull defence of their Masters
Mistresses or Owner of their families or of their Goods And it
is hereby further Enacted that the Negroes shall have
Clothes to cover their Nakednesse once every yeare (that is
to say) Drawes and Capps for Men, and Petticoates for Women.

And whereas the Inhabitants of this Island have much
suffred by the runing away of their Negroes and by the
injurious keeping of such Runaway or Fugitive Negroes by
severall persons in their Plantations It is hereby Enacted
published and declared by the authority aforesaid that all
persons who are now possessed of any Fugitive or

Runaway Negroes do within six dayes after the
publication of this Act in the Parish Churches bring them
in and deliver them to the proper Owners or into the
Custody of the Provost Marshall for the time being or his
appointed Deputy at the Towne of St. Michaels upon
paine of paying Ten Thousand pounds as good Merchantable
Muscovado Sugar for damage unto the Owner to bee by
[the said Owner received] in the Court of Common Pleas for
the precincts where such Trespasser lives by Action of Debt
or Information in which no Essoine, Protection, Injunction
or Wager of Law shall bee permitted or allowed, and if
any Christian Servant so possessed of any such Negroe or
Negroes not acquanting his Master thereof do faile or
neglect to bring in with in the time before limitted as is
before enjoined, the said Servant shall immediately upon
Conviction thereof recieve Thirty Nyne Lashes upon his
Naked back by Order from the next Justice of Peace to some
Constable or the common Executioner and after the
expiration of his time of service shall serve the Owner of the
said Negro or Negroes the full Terme and space of Seaven
yeares and a Record thereof to be made by the Justice
before whom such Conviction shall bee had And farther
it is Enacted by the authority aforesaid that all
Overseers of Plantations do twice in every weeke search
their Negroe Houses for Runaway Negroes and what
Overseer shall neglect to do the same shall forfeit One
Hundred pound of Sugar for every default, the one halfe to
the informer, the other halfe to the publick use.

And Bee it farther Enacted by the authority aforesaid
that whosoever hereafter shall take up any Runaway
Negro that such person shall within Eight and Forty

houres after bring the said Runaways to his proper
Owners or to the Provost Marshall or his Deputy upon paine
of Forfeiture for every day they shall keep such Negroe
or Negroes beyond the said Eight and Forty houres and
thereof bee convicted by Confession or Verdict the Sume or
quantity of One thousand pounds of good Merchantable
Muscovado Sugar to bee levyed by the Provost Marshall
or his Deputy by order from the Governor for the time
being upon the person so neglecting to bring the said
Runaway upon his Lands, Goods or Chattells, the one halfe
thereof to bee to the owner of the said Negro, and the other
to him or them that shall informe thereof out of which
the said Marshall’s Fees shall bee deducted and if the said
person or persons informing bee servant or Servants to the
party so deteining the said Negroe that then the said person or
persons so informing shall bee from thenceforth absolutely
free and cleare from his service Any Indenture, or usage to
the contrary notwithstanding

And it is further Enacted by the authority aforesaid that
all persons that shall hereafter take up any Runaway or Fugative
Negroes and shall so bring them unto the Provost Marshall or his
Deputy shall receive one hundred pound of Muscavado Sugar or
a note for soe much (that the person may dispose of his own Sugar)
immediately upon the delivery of them from the Treasurer for the
time being who is hereby appointed to pay the same and in case
hee shall refuse to make the said payment upon the Presentment
of the said Negroes and thereof Oath to bee made before any
Justice of the Peace, the said Justice is hereby authorized and
required to direct his Warrant to any Constable to cause the
value thereof to bee immediately levyed out of the Goods of
the said Treasurer and the said Goods bee delivered unto the
said party.

And bee it further Enacted by the Authority aforesaid
that it shall and may be lawfull for the said Provost Marshall
to reteine and keep in his Custody the Bodys of all such
Runaways, untill the Owners of them shall pay unto
the said Treasurer One hundred and ten pounds of Muscovado
Sugar and also unto the said Provost Marshall Four pounds
of like Sugar for every Four and Twenty houres the said
fugitive Negroe hath been in his Custody and also [{?}]
have a discharge under the hand of the aforesaid Treasurer
or his Storehouskeeper Provided alwaies that the said
Provost Marshall do furnish the said Negro with sufficient
Food and drink.

And it is farther Provided and ordained by the
authority aforesaid that if any of the said Negroes shall
dye for want of Food or dry and convenient Lodgings the
said Provast Marshall shall bee responsible for them to
the Owners, and if the said Marshall shall suffer any
Negro to escape before hee bee duty delivered by a discharge in
writing under the hand of the aforesaid Treasurer, the
Provest Marshall shall pay unto him the aforesaid hundred
and Ten pounds of Sugar and shall bee further censured to
the Owner of the said Negro as by the Governor and Councell
for the time being shall bee thought fit and convenient.

And further it is ordained and Enacted by the authority
aforesaid that all such persons as shall apprehend and
bring downe any Runaway Negro to St. Michael’s Towne
unto the Treasurer for the time being or to the Prison shall
upon such bringing downe such Runaway Negroes deliver
unto the said Treasurer (before hee shall receive the
consideration before appointed) an account of his name, and

place of aboade with the time when and place where hee
apprehended such fugitive Negro which the said Treasurer is
hereby required to take and enter in a Book to the intent that
all Owners of such Negroes may come to the right knowledge
and understanding when their Negroes were apprehended and
by whom and whether they might bee wrongfully taken up
or not, and that the keeper of the Prison at the delivery of any
Negro do take a Receipt of the person to whom delivered and therein
incert the mark or discription of the Negro delivered, any usage
or Custome to the Contrary heretofore had in any wise
notwithstanding. And it is hereby farther Enacted and
published by the authority aforesaid that every Overseer of
a Family in the Island shall cause all his Negro houses to
bee searched diligently and effectually once every Fourteen
days for Clubbs, Wooden Swords and other mischievous
Weapons and finding any to take them away and cause
them to be burned, As also for Clothes, Goods or any other
things and Commodities (and particularly suspected Flesh)
that is not given them by their Master, Mistress or Commander
or Overseer and honestly come by in whose Custody they find
any thing of that kind and suspect or know to be stolen goods
the same they shall seize and take into their Custody and a
full and ample description of the particulars thereof in
writing within six dayes after the discovery thereof to send
to the Clerk of the Parish for the time being, who is hereby
required to receive the same and to enter upon it the day of
its Receipt and the particulars ^to File and keep to himselfe
but to sett up upon the Post of the Church Door A short Breife
that such lost Goods are found whereby any person that
hath lost of his goods may the better come to the knowledge

where it is ^by farther enquiry of the Clerk, who is not to shew
the particulars untill the party enquiring for stolen
Goods shall first declare what hee hath lost, and the mark
and description thereof and paid him Twelve pence for
the same, by which if the said Clerk shall bee convinced
that any part of the said goods Certifyed unto him to bee
found appertaines to the party inquired hee is to
direct the said Party inquiring to the Place and Person
where the Goods bee who is hereby required to make
restitution of what is in being to the true Owner upon
the penalties of the Forfeiture of Two hundred pounds
of Muscovado Sugar for the neglect by the
Overseer or Clerk aforesaid in any of the particulars
to bee levyed upon his Goods and Chattells for the breach
of either of the two last Clauses in this Branch by
precept or Warrant from the Judge or Justice before
whom the Conviction shall bee had, The one halfe
of the Fine aforesaid to goe to the publique Treasury
the other halfe to the person that shall informe.

And that all Negroes likewise may receive
encouragement to take up fugitive and Runaway
Negroes it is farther ordained and Enacted by the
authority aforesaid that whatsoever Negroe shall at
any time of his own accord take up any Runaway
Negroe that hath been out about Twelve Moneths shall
have for his so doing Five hundred pounds of Muscovado
Sugar to bee paid by the Owner (if hee will redeeme him)
within one moneth durng which time the Master
of the Negro that took up such Runaway hath power
to keep him for the purpose aforesaid But if the

Master or Mistresses Service (to whom they are
Slaves) out of designe and intent to carry away
any of them out of this Island or howsoever to defraud
their said Masters &c of them and bee thereof convicted
by their own Confession or the Oath of two Credible
Witnesses or by the confession of such Negroe or Negroes
with reasonable circumstances concurring shall
bee by the Governor of the Island for the time being
or by any Judge of Record or any two Justices of
the Peace adjudged to pay the Master of the said
Negro or Negroes Five thousand pounds of Muscovado
Sugar by precept or Warrant from the aforesaid
Governor, Judges, Justices before whom the
conviction is made, to bee levyed upon the Lands
Goods andor Chattells of the person so offending by
such Constable to whom the aforesaid Warrant
shall bee directed and bee delivered to the party
grieved by way of dammage and the surplusage
(if any shall bee) returned to the Owner and in
case the party offending shall not bee found worth
Lands, Goods or Chattells to the value aforesaid,
then the said Governor, Judge or Justices adjudge
him Servant to the party injured for Seaven
yeares and so deliver him over to him and make
Record thereof But if any man shall be so tempt and
practice any person’s Negroes and them actually
so tempted Convey, carry or send off the the Island and

Owner of the said Runaway will not or doth not dedeeme
him within the said time, then the Master in whose Custody
hee is hath hereby power to sell the said Fugitive or Runaway
Negro and to take Five hundred pounds of the Sugar to himselfe,
for his Negro, The rest to returne to the Master of the
Negro so taken up, and whosoever shall deprive or deteine
any Negro that hath taken up any fugitive of the Boon
or Reward given him by this Law for so doing shall
Forfeit three thousand pounds of Muscovado Sugar, One
third to the Countrey, One third to the Informer and One
third to the Negro wronged which guift and foreiture
shall bee justly imployed by the Master of the Negro in
Clothes for the said Negro to weare with a Badge of A Red
Crosse on the Right Arme whereby hee may bee knowne and
cherished by all good People for his good service to the
Country. The aforesaid Fine to bee recovered in by him that
shall sue for it in any Court of Record by Action of Debt
or Information, in which no essoigne, protection,
injunction or wager of Law shall bee permitted or
allowed.

And whereas divers evill disposed persons have
heretofore attempted to steale away Negroes by specious
pretences of promising them Freedome in another
Country against which pernicious practice noe
punishment sutable hath been yet provided Bee
it therefore Enacted and ordained by the Authority
aforesaid that what person soever shall directly or
indirectly at any time after publication hereof
tempt or persuade any Negroes to leave their

bee after apprehended in the Island for the same
hee shall bee by the Governour and Councell for the
time being condemned to pay the Owner of such Negro
three times the value of them in Sugar and
Execution for the same from the Governor to issue
accordingly unto the Provost Marshall or his
Deputy.

And Whereas many heynous and grievous crimes
as Murther and Burglarys and Robbing in the
Highway, Burning of Houses or Canes bee many
times committed by Negroes which Offenders for danger
of escape are not long to bee imprisoned and being
brutish slaves deserve not for the basenesse of their
Condition to bee tryed by the Legall Tryall of Twelve
men of their Peers or Neighbourhood, which neither
truely can bee rightly done as the subjects of England
are, nor is execution to bee defrayed towards them in
case of such horrid Crimes committed, It is therefore
Enacted, Ordeined and published by the President
Councell and Assembly and by the authority of the
same that when any such Crimes as aforesaid shall
bee committed by any Negroe or Negroes Slave or
Slaves and the said Criminalls bee apprehended and
brought before any of His Majesties Justices of the Peace
within this Island the Justice before whom the
said Criminalls are brought shall take security
for their forthcoming or send them to Prison and

with all convenient speed shall joine to him the
next Justice of the Peace and those two Justices shall
by their Warrant or Precept call to them three able
good and legall Free holdersof the place neerest where
the said Crimes were committed and those Five
persons Vizt. The two Justices and the three
Freeholders shall hear and examine all Evidence
proof and Testimonys of this Fact committed, and
if they shall find such Negro or Negroes &c guilty
thereof, they shall give sentence of Death upon him or
them accordingly as is provided by Law for such
Capitall Offenders, the said Freeholders being first
sworne before the two Justices, who are hereby impowred
to administer the same and forthwith by their
Warrant, cause Execution to bee done upon such
Negro or Negroes, Slave, or Slaves by the common
Executioner or by what other Executioner can bee
gott, Negro or other. It is farther provided that if
any Freeholder shall make default to appear upon
such Summons before the Justices as is beforementioned
or appearing refuse to joine with them as afore is
appointed and do shew no good Cause for such defualt to
bee approved by the said Justices that then the aforesaid
Justices sett a Fine upon him of Five hundred pounds
of Muscovado Sugar and forthwith by their Warrant
or precept to the next Constable or what Constable they
shall think fitt to levy the same upon the aforesaid

Freeholder his Goods or Chattells accordingly.

Provided alwayes neverthelesse that all
Petty Fellonys under the value of twelve pence and all
small broyles and misdemeanours shall bee heard
and determined by the Master of the Negro or Negroes
committing the same upon the complaint of the partys
injured but if such Master shall not give such Negroe
punishment in the presence of the Complainant to his
satisfaction the party injured shall carry his Complaint
to the next Justice of the Peace who is hereby required
and authorized to hear the same and upon Conviction
by Confession or Witnesse or Oath of the party injured
to inflict such Corporall peines or punishment (not
injurious to Life, Limb or Member) as hee in his discretion
shall judge fit and reasonable.

And Whereas severall petty Larcenys and Trespasses
are dayly committed by Negroes as in maiming one
another and killing of Horses or Cattle, Stealing of Hoggs and
divers other of like nature, which would bee too tedious and
chargeable if the party injured should bee compelled to
take the Ordinary course of Justice against them for the
more speedy proceedings therein for the future Bee it
Enacted and Ordained by the authority aforesaid that
upon complaint made to any of His Majesties Justices of
the Peace dwelling in the Parish where the Offence is
Committed, the said Justice shall issue his Warrant
for the apprehending the Negro or Negroes complanted
of, and for all persons that can give Evidence against

them and if upon Examination it do probably
appear that the said Negroe or Negores are guilty of
the Crimes complained of then the said Justice is to
certify the same to the Justice next dwelling to him,
and to desire him by vertue of this Act to associate
himselfe to him which such Justice is hereby required
on such desire to doe and both of them Associated are
to Issue out their Summons to three sufficient
Freeholders of the said Parish where the Fact
complained of was committed acquainting them with
the said matter and appointing them a day, houre,
and place where and when the same shall bee heard
and determined by the Judgement of the said Freeholders
and themselves or the major part of them at which
day, houre and place the said Justices and Freeholders
shall repaire and cause all the said Offenders and
Evidences against them to bee produced and if they
shall upon the said Evidence or Confession of the said
Offender or Offenders adjudge them guilty of the Fact
complained of, they shall then condemne the Owner
or Owners of the said Offender or Offenders respectively
to make reparation and satisfaction to the Complainant
for the damage which hee hath received which if
the said Owner or Owners shall refuse to make
according to his or their proportion by the said Justices
and Freeholders or the Major part of them adjudged
and appointed, then and in such Case the said offending

Negro or Negroes belonging to such Owner or Owners soe
refusing shall by Judgement of that Court first recieve such
Corporall punishment as the said Judge shall think fitt
and after bee awarded to the said party injured to have
and to hold the said Negro to the injured party and his
heires for ever and in case the said Justices and Freeholders
or any or either of them shall neglect or refuse to performe
the Duties which by this Act is required of them they shall
severally for such their respective faults forfeite the just
quantity of Five thousand pound of Muscovado Sugar the
one halfe to the publique Treasury and the other halfe to
the party grieved if hee shall prosecute for the same in the
Court of that precinct where ^{the said} default is made.

It is further Enacted ordained and published by the
President, Councell and Assembly and by authority of the
same That if any Negroes shall make Insurrection or
Rise in Rebellion against this place or People or
make preparation of Armes, Powder, Bulletts or
offensive Weapons or hold any Councell or Conspiracy
for raising mutiny or Rebellion in the Island as hath
formerly been attempted, that then for speedy
remedy thereof the Governor of the Island or Superiour
Officer for the time being appoint a Colonel and the Field
Officers of the Regiments of the Islands or any Four of
them to meet in Councell and proceed by Marshall
Law against the Actors, Contrivers, Raisers, Fomenters,
and Concealers of such mutiny or Rebellion and them
punish by death or other paines, as their Crimes shall

deserve and as to the aforesaid Colonel and Field Officers or
any Four of them shall seeme fit, and that no Master,
Mistris or Commander of a Family should bee afrighted
by fear of Loss to search into and discover their own Negroes
so evilly intended, It is further Enacted and ordained that
the loss of Negroes so executed shall bee borne by the
publick and when the present Treasury is not sufficient to
satisfy the loss, A publique Levy shall bee presently made upon
the Inhabitants for a Reparation of the same.

And Whereas divers Negroes at this present are and long
since have been runaway into Woods and other Fastnesses of
the Island doing continually much mischief to severall the
Inhabitants of this Island hideing themselves, sometimes in
one place and sometimes in another, so that with much
difficultie they are to bee found unlesse by sudden atte[…]
Bee is therefore ordained and Enacted and is hereby
ordained and Enacted that from and after publication hereof
it shall and maybee lawfull for any Justice of Peace; Constable
or Captain of a Company within this Island that shall have
notice of the residence or hyding place of any Runaway
Negroes fugitive and outlawed to raise and Arme any
Number of Men not exceeding Twenty to apprehend and take
them either alive or dead, and for every Negro that they
shall take alive having been runaway from his Master
above six moneths they shall receive Five hundred pounds
of Muscovado Sugar and for every Negro which hath bin runaway
above two moneths one Thousand pounds of Sugar from
the Owner Master or Commander of the said Negro, if killed in
taking, they shall receive Five hundred pounds of Sugar from
the publique (any Act or Statute heretofore ^made to the contrary
in any wise notwithstanding.

And it is further ordained and Enacted by the Authority aforesaid
that if any Negro under punishment by his Master or his order for
runing away or any other Crime or misdemeanour towards his
said Master shall suffer in Life or in Member no person whatsoever
shall bee accomptable to any Law therefore But if any man
shall of wantonesse or only bloudy mindedness & cruell intention
wilfully kill a Negro if his own, hee shall pay into the publique
Treasury Three thousand pounds of Sugar. But if hee shall so
kill another man’s, hee shall pay to the Owner of the Negro
double the value, and into the publique Treasury Five thousand
pounds of Sugar, and hee shall further by the next Justice of the
Peace bee bound to the good behaviour during the Pleasure of the
Governor and Councell and not bee lyable to any other punishment
or forfeiture for the same; neither shall hee that kills another
man’s Negro by accident bee lyable to any other penalty but the
Owners Action at Law.

But if any poor Woman small Freeholder or other person kill
a Negro by night out of the Road and Common path & stealing
his Provision, Swyne, or other Goods hee shall not bee accomptable
for it, Any Law, Statute or Ordinance to the contrary notwithstanding
And to the intent it maybee always certainly known what
Negroes are out in Rebellion to their Owners & the publick Peace
It is by the authority aforesaid Enacted and ordained that
all Owners of Negroes within this Island do within Ten days
after publication hereof send an Account to the Secretary for the time
being in writing what Negroes hee hath fled & runaway &
of the time they have been gone and so for the time to come
within Ten days after any Negro shall absent himselfe from
his service under penalty of paying One Thousand pounds of
Muscovado Sugar whereof One halfe to bee to the Informer the
other halfe to the publique Treasury to bee recovered by him
that shall sue for it in any Court of Record by action of Debt or
Information, in which no essoigne, protection, injunction or

Wager of Law shall bee permitted or allowed.

And because the Negroes of this Island in these
late years past are very much increased and growne to such
a great number as can not bee safely or easily Governed
when Wee have a considerable Number of Christians to
ballance and equall their Strength and the richest men of
thee Island looking upon present profit, stock themselves
onely with almost all Negroes neglecting Christian Servants
and so consequently their own and the publick safety.

Bee it therefore Enacted and ordained by the President
Councell and Assembly and it is Enacted and ordained by
the authority of the same that within Twelve months after
the publication hereof every Freeholder provide himselfe of
a Christian Servant for every Twenty Acres of Land that
hee enjoyes and possesseth and from the said Twelve moneths
forward that every Freeholder possessed of Thirty […]
or more keep no lesse than one Christian man servant
for every Twenty Acres of Land hee is Master or Owner or
Occupier of upon the penalty of Forfeiting Three thousand
pounds of Muscovado Sugar, One Thousand to bee to the
Informer, One Thousand to the Governor or Superior Officer
of the Island for the time being and One Thousand to the
Churchwardens or Overseers of the poor for the use of such
poor where and in what Parish such default is [[?]]
bee recovered against the Person refusing or neglecting
obedience herein in any Court of Record &c by the party
which shall sue for it, and the Fine to bee new layd upon
every person every Six moneths that hee continues his
Contumacy and refuse or neglect to performe obedience
hereunto, provided that in case Christian Servants

cannot possibly bee gotten, that then those that want the
proportion in this Act named do supply themselves with a
like number of hyred men which are to bee hyred for six
moneths at least that then they bee not lyable to the aforesaid
Forfeiture.

Lastly and to the intent this Act and every Clause and
branch thereof may recieve full Execution and no person
plead ignorance therein, It is ordained and Enacted by the
authority aforesaid That this Act bee read and published
in all the respective parish Churches in this Island the
first Sunday in February and the first Sunday in
August in every yeare ensueing the date and first
publication thereof.

Given under my hand this 27th of September 1661.
Hum Walrond

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