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THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT OF 1866
Act of April 9, 1866
An Act to protect all Persons in the United States in their Civil Rights,
and furnish the Means of their Vindication.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
States of America in Congress assembled, That all persons born in the
United States and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not
taxed, are hereby declared to be citizens of the United States; and such
citizens, of every race and color, without regard to any previous
condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for
crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall have the
same right, in every State and Territory in the United States, to make and
enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and give evidence, to inherit,
purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property, and to
full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of
person and property, as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject
to like punishment, pains, and penalties, and to none other, any law,
statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, to the contrary
notwithstanding.
Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That any person who, under color of any
law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, shall subject, or cause to
be subjected, any inhabitant of any State or Territory to the deprivation
of any right secured or protected by this act, or to different punishment,
pains, or penalties on account of such person having at any time been held
in a condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment
for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, or by reason
of his color or race, than is prescribed for the punishment of white
persons, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction,
shall be punished by fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, or
imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both, in the discretion of the
court.
Sec. 3. And be it further enacted, That the district courts of the United
States, within their respective districts, shall have, exclusively of the
courts of the several States, cognizance of all crimes and offences
committed against the provisions of this act, and also, concurrently with
the circuit courts of the United States, of all causes, civil and
criminal, affecting persons who are denied or cannot enforce in the courts
or judicial tribunals of the State or locality where they may be any of
the rights secured to them by the first section of this act; and if any
suit or prosecution, civil or criminal, has been or shall be commenced in
any State court, against any such person, for any cause whatsoever, or
against any officer, civil or military, or other person, for any arrest or
imprisonment, trespasses, or wrongs done or committed by virtue or under
color of authority derived from this act or the act establishing a Bureau
for the relief of Freedmen and Refugees, and all acts amendatory thereof,
or for refusing to do any act upon the ground that it would be
inconsistent with this act, such defendant shall have the right to remove
such cause for trial to the proper district or circuit court in the manner
prescribed by the "Act relating to habeas corpus and regulating judicial
proceedings in certain cases," approved March three, eighteen hundred and
sixty-three, and all act amendatory thereof. The jurisdiction in civil and
criminal matters hereby conferred on the district and circuit courts of
the United States shall be exercised and enforced in conformity with the
laws of the United States, so far as such laws are suitable to carry the
same into effect; but in all cases where such laws are not adapted to the
object, or are deficient in the provisions necessary to furnish suitable
remedies and punish offences against law, the common law, as modified and
changed by the constitution and statutes of the State wherein the court
having jurisdiction of the cause, civil or criminal, is held, so far as
the same is not inconsistent with the Constitution and laws of the United
States, shall be extended to and govern said courts in the trial and
disposition of such cause, and, if of a criminal nature, in the infliction
of punishment on the party found guilty.
Sec. 4. And be it further enacted, That the district attorneys, marshals,
and deputy marshals of the United States, the commissioners appointed by
the circuit and territorial courts of the United States, with powers of
arresting, imprisoning, or bailing offenders against the laws of the
United States, the officers and agents of the Freedmens Bureau, and every
other officer who may be specially empowered by the President of the
United States, shall be, and they are hereby, specially authorized and
required, at the expense of the United States, to institute proceedings
against all and every person who shall violate the provisions of this act,
and cause him or them to be arrested and imprisoned, or bailed, as the
case may be, for trial before such court of the United States or
territorial court as by this act has cognizance of the offence. And with a
view to affording reasonable protection to all persons in their
constitutional rights of equality before the law, without distinction of
race or color, or previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude,
except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly
convicted, and to the prompt discharge of the duties of this act, it shall
be the duty of the circuit courts of the United States and the superior
courts of the Territories of the United States, from time to time, to
increase the number of commissioners, so as to afford a speedy and
convenient means for the arrest and examination of persons charged with a
violation of this act; and such commissioners are hereby authorized and
required to exercise and discharge all the powers and duties conferred on
them by this act, and the same duties with regard to offences created by
this act, as they are authorized by law to exercise with regard to other
offences against the laws of the United States.
Sec. 5. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of all
marshals and deputy marshals to obey and execute all warrants and precepts
issued under the provisions of this act, when to them directed; and should
any marshal or deputy marshal refuse to receive such warrant or other
process when tendered, or to sue all proper means diligently to execute
the same, he shall, on conviction thereof, be fined in the sum of one
thousand dollars, to the use of the person upon whom the accused is
alleged to have committed the offence. And the better to enable the said
commissioners to execute their duties faithfully and efficiently, in
conformity with the Constitution of the United States and the requirements
of this act, they are hereby authorized and empowered, within their
counties respectively, to appoint, in writing, under their hands, any one
or more suitable persons, from time to time, to execute all such warrants
and other process as may be issued by them in the lawful performance of
their respective duties; and the persons so appointed to execute any
warrant or process as aforesaid shall have authority to summon and call to
their aid the bystanders or posse comitatus of the proper county, or such
portion of the land or naval forces of the United States, or of the
militia, as may be necessary to the performance of the duty with which
they are charged, and to insure a faithful observance of the clause of the
Constitution which prohibits slavery, in conformity with the provisions of
this act; and said warrants shall run and be executed by said officers
anywhere in the State or Territory within which they are issued.
Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That any person who shall knowingly and
wilfully obstruct, hinder, or prevent any officer, or other person charged
with the execution of any warrant or process issued under the provisions
of this act, or any person or persons lawfully assisting him or them, from
arresting any person for whose apprehension such warrant or process may
have been issued, or shall rescue or attempt to rescue such person from
the custody of the officer, other person or persons, or those lawfully
assisting as aforesaid, when so arrested pursuant to the authority herein
given and declared, or shall aid, abet, or assist any person so arrested
as aforesaid, directly or indirectly, to escape from the custody of the
officer or other person legally authorized as aforesaid, or shall harbor
or conceal any person for whose arrest a warrant or process shall have
been issued as aforesaid, so as to prevent his discovery and arrest after
notice or knowledge of the fact that a warrant has been issued for the
apprehension of such personal, shall, for either of said offences, be
subject to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, and imprisonment not
exceeding six months, by indictment and conviction before the district
court of the United States for the district in which said offence may have
been committed, or before the proper court of criminal jurisdiction, if
committed within any one of the organized Territories of the United
States.
Sec. 7. And be it further enacted, That the district attorneys, the
marshals, their deputies, and the clerks of the said district and
territorial courts shall be paid for their services the like fees as may
be allowed to them for similar services in other cases; and in all cases
where the proceedings are before a commissioner, he shall be entitled to a
fee of ten dollars in full for his services in each case, inclusive of all
services incident to such arrest and examination. The person or persons
authorized to execute the process to be issued by such commissioners for
the arrest of offenders against the provisions of this act shall be
entitled to a fee of five dollars for each person he or they may arrest
and take before any such commissioner as aforesaid, with such other fees
as may be deemed reasonable by such commissioner for such other additional
services as may be necessarily performed by him or them, such as attending
at the examination, keeping the prisoner in custody, and providing him
with food and lodging during his detention, and until the final
determination of such commissioner, and in general for performing such
other duties as may be required in the premises; such fees to be made up
in conformity with the fees usually charged by the officers of the courts
of justice within the proper district or county, as near as may be
practicable, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States on the
certificate of the judge of the district within which the arrest is made,
and to be recoverable from the defendant as part of the judgment in case
of conviction.
Sec. 8. And be it further enacted, That whenever the President of the
United States shall have reason to believe that offences have been or are
likely to be committed against the provisions of this act within any
judicial district, it shall be lawful for him, in his discretion, to
direct the judge, marshal, and district attorney of such district to
attend at such place within the district, and for such time as he may
designate, for the purpose of the more speedy arrest and trial of persons
charged with a violation of this act; and it shall be the duty of every
judge or other officer, when any such requisition shall be received by
him, to attend at the place and for the time therein designated.
Sec. 9. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the
President of the United States, or such person as he may empower for that
purpose, to employ such part of the land or naval forces of the United
States, or of the militia, as shall be necessary to prevent the violation
and enforce the due execution of this act.
Sec. 10. And be it further enacted, That upon all questions of law arising
in any cause under the provisions of this act a final appeal may be taken
to the Supreme Court of the United States.
SCHUYLER COLFAX,
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
LA FAYETTE S. FOSTER,
President of the Senate, pro tempore.
In the Senate of the United States, April 6, 1866.
The President of the United States having returned to the Senate, in which
it originated, the bill entitled "An act to protect all persons in the
United States in their civil rights, and furnish the means of their
vindication," with his objections thereto, the Senate proceeded, in
pursuance of the Constitution, to reconsider the same; and,
Resolved, That the said bill do pass, two-thirds of the Senate agreeing to
pass the same.
Attest: J.W. Forney,
Secretary of the Senate
In the House of Representatives U.S. April 9th, 1866.
The House of Representatives having proceeded, in pursuance of the
Constitution, to reconsider the bill entitled "An act to protect all
persons in the United States in their civil rights, and furnish the means
of their vindication," returned to the Senate by the President of the
United States, with his objections, and sent by the Senate to the House of
Representatives, with the message of the President returning the bill:
Resolved, That the bill do pass, two-thirds of the House of
Representatives agreeing to pass the same.
Attest: Edward McPherson, Clerk,
by Clinton Lloyd, Chief Clerk. Please Go
To Civil Rights Act
of 1866 (Long-Edited) |