I. BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That no person shall henceforth be slaves within this commonwealth, except such as were so on the first day of this present session of assembly, and the descendants of the females of them. Slaves which shall hereafter be brought into this commonwealth, and kept therein one whole year together, or so long at different times as shall amount to one year, shall be free.
II. No negro or mulatto shall be a witness, except in pleas of the commonwealth against negroes or mulattoes, or in civil pleas wherein negroes or mulattoes alone shall be parties.
III. No slave shall go from the tenements of his master or other person with whom he lives, without a pass, or some letter or token whereby it may appear that he is proceeding by authority from his master, employer, or overseer: If he does, it shall be lawful for any person to apprehend and carry him before a justice of the peace, to be by his order punished with stripes or not, in his discretion.
IV. No slave shall keep any arms whatever, nor pass unless with written orders from his master or employer, or in his company with arms, from one place to another. Arms in possession of a slave contrary to this prohibition, shall be forfeited to him who will seize them. Riots, routs, unlawful assemblies, trespasses, and seditious speeches, by a slave or slaves, shall be punished with stripes, at the discretion of a justice of the peace, and he who will may apprehend and carry him, her, or them, before such justice.
V. Provided, That nothing in this act contained, shall be construed to extend to those who may incline to remove from any of the United States and become citizens of this; if within ten days after such removal he or she shall take the following oath before some justice of the peace of this commonwealth: "I A. B. do swear that my removal into the state of Virginia, was with no intent of evading the laws for preventing the further importation of slaves, nor have I brought with me any slaves with an intention of selling them, nor have any of the slaves which I have brought with me been imported from Africa, or any of the West India islands, since the first day of Novemeber, 1778. So help me God." Nor to any persons claiming slaves by descent, marriage, or devise; or to any citizens of this commonwealth, being now the actual owners of slaves within any of the United States and removing such hither; nor to travellers and others making a transient stay, and bringing slaves for necessary attendance, and carrying them out again.
VI. And be it further enacted, That no person whatsoever shall buy, sell, or receive of, to or from a slave, any commodity whatsoever without the leave or consent of the master, owner, or overseer of such slave. And if any person shall presume to deal with any slave without such leave or consent, he or she so offending, shall forfeit and pay to the master or owner of such slave four times the value of the thing so bought, sold, or received, to be recovered with costs, by action upon the case, in any court of record within this commonwealth; and shall also forfeit and pay the further sum of five pounds, to any person who will sue for the same, to be recovered with costs, by summons and petition, in the same manner as other debts not exceeding five pounds, nor under twenty-five shillings are, or receive on his or her bare back thirty-nine lashes well laid on at the public whipping-post, but shall nevertheless be liable to pay the costs of such summons and petition.
VII. This act shall commence and be in force from and after the first day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven.
Bibliographic Information
Source: Hening, ed., The Statutes at Large, vol. 12, p. 182-183.
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