Page:Race distinctions in American Law (IA racedistinctions00stepiala).pdf/71

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made with the master's authority, nor for any acts of the servant unless done within the scope of his authority or in the course of his employment It was the master's duty to protect his servant from violence at the hands of others and to aid him in getting redress for injuries.

For a person to deprive the master of the services of his servant, knowing him to be such, by enticing him away, harboring him, detaining him, beating, confining, disabling, or in any way injuring him was punishable by a fine of from twenty dollars to two hundred dollars, and imprisonment or hard labor for not over sixty days. In addition, the master might recover damages for loss of such services.

The master had the right to command the servant to aid him in the defence of his own person, family, premises, or property. He did not have to furnish medicine or medical assistance to the servant unless he especially agreed to do so.

The master might inform a prospective employer of the character of a Negro who had been in his service, and this was a privileged communication unless falsely and maliciously made. The servant could not make a new contract without producing the discharge of his former master or of the district judge or magistrate.

If the master was convicted of a felony or if he managed or controlled his servants so as to make them a nuisance to the neighborhood, any white freeholder might complain to the district judge and have the contract annulled, and the master could not employ any colored servant within two years.

A servant had the right to leave his master's service for: (1) an insufficient supply of food; (2) an unauthorized