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An Act for
the Abolition of Slavery throughout the British Colonies; for
promoting the Industry of the manumitted Slaves; and for
compensating the Persons hitherto entitled to the Services of such
Slaves.
'Whereas divers
Persons are holden in Slavery within divers of
His Majesty's Colonies, and it is just and expedient that all such
Persons should be manumitted and set free, and that a reasonable
Compensation should be made to the Persons hitherto entitled to
the Services of such Slaves for the Loss which they will incur by
being deprived of their Right to such Services: And whereas it is
also expedient that Provision should be made for promoting the
Industry and securing the good Conduct of the Persons so to be
manumitted, for a limited Period after such their Manumission: And
whereas it is necessary that the Laws now in force in the said
several Colonies should forthwith be adapted to the new State and
Relations of Society therein which will follow upon such general
Manumission as aforesaid of the said Slaves; and that, in order to
afford the necessary Time for such Adaptation of the said Laws, a
short Interval should elapse before such Manumission should take
effect;'
Be it therefore enacted by the King's most Excellent Majesty, by
and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and
Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and
by the Authority of the same, That from and after the first Day of
August One thousand eight hundred and thirty-four all Persons who
in conformity with the Laws now in force in the said Colonies
respectively shall on or before the first Day of August One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-four have been duly registered
as Slaves in any such Colony, and who on the said first Day of
August One thousand eight hundred and thirty-four shall be
actually within any such Colony, and who shall
by such Registries appear to be on the said first Day of August
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-four of the full Age of Six
Years or upwards, shall by force and virtue of this Act, and
without the previous Execution of any Indenture of Apprenticeship,
or other Deed or Instrument for that Purpose, become and be
apprenticed Labourers; provided that, for the Purposes aforesaid,
every Slave engaged in his ordinary Occupation on the Seas shall
be deemed and taken to be
within the Colony to which such Slave shall belong.
[28th August 1833.]
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