Note 787 — Chapter IX

Section 3 of the law of 1793 provided that "the person to whom such labour or service may be due, his agent or attorney, is hereby empowered to seize and arrest such fugitive from labour, and to take him or her before any judge of the circuit or district courts of the United States, ... within the state, or before any magistrate of a county (etc.) ... wherein such seizure ... shall be made, and upon proof to the satisfaction of such judge or magistrate ... it shall be the duty of such judge or magistrate to give a certificate thereof ... which shall be a sufficient warrant for removing the said fugitive ... to the state or territory from which he or she fled."

Section 6 of the act of 1850 provides that "the person or persons to whom such service or labour may be due, or his, her, or their agent or attorney ... may pursue and reclaim such fugitive person, either by procuring a warrant ... 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 ... in a summary manner; and upon satisfactory proof ... to make out and deliver to such claimant, his or her agent or attorney, a certificate ... with authority ... to use such reasonable force ... as may be necessary ... to take and remove such fugitive person back to the State or Territory whence he or she may have escaped as aforesaid."