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SECTION 1. The judge of the orphans' court shall bind out as apprentices, all orphan children, whose estate, real and personal, is not sufficient for their maintenance and education, all children suffering through the indigence of their parents, children of beggars, and all illegitimate children, until such children, if male, reach the age of twenty-one years, if female, the age of eighteen.

SEC. 2. When, however, any child shall be brought before the judge of the orphans' court to be bound out as an apprentice, if any relation or other person shall enter into bond, in the penalty of three hundred dollars, with sufficient surety to be approved by the said court, for the comfortable maintenance and clothing of the child, and also for his reasonable education, the court shall not bind him out, but such bond shall be filed in the orphans' court, subject to suit on the breach of its condition.

SEC. 3. The levy court, or any member thereof, may bind out any orphan, or other poor child under their care in the poor-house, subject to the provisions of this chapter, and it shall be the duty of the court, or such member, to return the indenture of apprenticeship to the orphans' court for record, as hereinafter provided.

SEC. 4. Any father, and in case of his death or incompetency, any mother, may bind out his or her child as an apprentice, on reasonable terms, until the age of twenty-one years, if male, or eighteen if female; and when any child is to be bound out by the orphans' court or by the levy court or a member of the same, the parent of such child, if living within this District, shall be summoned or notified to appear, and the wishes of such parent, so far as they may be reasonable, shall be consulted in the choice of the person to whom the child shall be bound.

SEC. 5. No child shall be bound out as aforesaid except by an indenture, executed under the hand and seal of the party taking the apprentice, and having the consent of the judge of the orphans' court, or of the levy court or some member thereof, or of the father or mother, as the case may require, endorsed thereon, and in such indenture shall be stated the name, sex, and age of such apprentice, and the terms or contract of apprenticeship.

SEC. 6. It shall be the duty of the judge of the orphans' court, or other court or person herein authorized to bind out apprentices, in selecting masters for them, to prefer tradesmen and mechanics, or others of useful occupation, who shall always be bound to teach the

apprentice the trade or occupation they follow. When it can be done, the indenture shall set out this obligation, and that the apprentice shall receive reasonable education in reading, writing, and arithmetic, as a part of the contract; and in all cases it shall recite as a part of the duty of the master that he shall provide suitable clothing and maintenance for the apprentice.

SEC. 7. When the judge of the orphan's court, or the levy court or a member thereof, shall bind out an apprentice, direction shall be given whether the master, besides maintaining the apprentice and teaching him as before provided, shall pay anything for his services, and if anything, how much, and for which year or years. The money which the master is to pay for the last year shall be paid at the end thereof to the apprentice; the rest may be paid at the end of each year to the father or mother, or part to each, as the court may direct, or it also may be reserved to be paid to the apprentice at the end of his term, with interest. To secure such payments, bond with security shall be taken, and the obligation of the master shall be recited in the contract of apprenticeship.

SEC. 8. Such indenture shall be lodged with the register of wills of the orphans' court, whose duty it shall be to receive and record the same, the fee therefor being paid by the master. When the apprentice is bound out by his father or mother, or by a member of the levy court, it shall be the duty of each of them, under a penalty of twenty dollars, to deliver the indenture within three months from the date of its execution to the register for record.

SEC. 9. If the terms of any contract of apprenticeship shall be considered by the judge of the orphans' court hard and unreasonable, he may, upon the petition in writing of the apprentice, reasonable notice being given by summons or publication to the master to appear, discharge the apprentice from the same and provide him with a new

master.

SEC. 10. The judge of the orphan's court may, on the petition in writing of any apprentice, and notice as aforesaid to the master being given, inquire into the conduct of the master, and if it shall appear that the contract of apprenticeship has been violated on the part of the master, he shall be fined for the first offence a sum not exceeding twenty dollars, and for the second a sum not exceeding fifty dollars; and the said judge may, in his discretion, for such violation of the

contract, or any ill-behavior or imposition of the master, discharge the apprentice, and shall provide for him a new master, and one, if practicable, of the same trade or occupation with the first. Fines imposed under this section shall be for the use of the apprentice, and shall be secured for him as directed by the court.

SEC. 11. The judge of the orphans' court may also, on the petition in writing of the master, and the appearance of the apprentice by guardian, discharge the master from his contract, if it shall appear that the apprentice has shown incorrigible ill-temper, or has otherwise seriously misbehaved. The judge shall also have power, should the apprentice become seriously disabled by sickness or otherwise, to relieve the master from the payment, in whole or in part, of any money agreed upon.

SEC. 12. If it shall appear that a contract of apprenticeship, though defective in form, has been partly executed, the judge of the orphans' court may order the terms, or any part of the terms thereof, to be performed by the master or the apprentice, as justice and equity may require, and the master of any apprentice may detain him in his service until he be discharged by the judge aforesaid; and the master may maintain such actions against strangers, as he could, had the apprentice been legally bound to serve.

SEC. 13. If any apprentice shall absent himself from the service of his master, the judge of the orphans' court may, at any time during the remainder of his term, or within three years from the expiration thereof, award such compensation to be made by the apprentice to his master, either by service or the payment of money, as justice and equity may require; and may enforce the payment of the money so awarded by an attachment of contempt against his person, or by attachment and sequestration of his property.

SEC. 14. When the master of any male apprentice shall die, the widow of such master may, with the approbation of the orphans' court, if the apprentice was bound out by the same, or by the levy court or a member thereof; or with the approbation of the father or mother, if bound by either of them; assign the whole residue of the contract, on such consideration as she shall agree, to some other person of the same trade or occupation as the first master; and the new master and apprentice shall be bound to perform the residue of the contract as if the new master had been the original party thereto.

SEC. 15. When the consent of the father or mother of such apprentice is necessary and cannot be obtained by the widow to the assignment of the residue of the contract, it shall be the duty of the judge of the orphans' court to appoint three persons of the same trade or occupation with the deceased master, any two of whom shall value, upon oath, the residue of the contract, when, if the father or mother, as the case may be, fails to pay the widow such valuation, she may, with the approbation of the orphans' court, assign without his or her

consent.

SEC. 16. Upon the death of any master of a female apprentice, such apprentice shall serve out the residue of her time with his widow, who shall comply strictly with the terms of the contract made by her deceased husband; provided, that if the widow shall prefer not to keep such apprentice, and shall, within four months after her husband's death, carry her to the orphans' court and deliver her up, the widow shall be released, and the apprentice be bound out anew, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.

SEC. 17. Every apprentice whose master shall die leaving a widow, shall continue at his business, and be subject to the control of the widow, until otherwise ordered by the judge of the orphans' court, who shall have authority to continue any apprentice with the widow so long as she fulfils the contract made by her husband.

SEC. 18. No master of any apprentice bound out within this District shall, except in the case of a mariner's apprentice, send or carry him out of the same; and any justice of the peace having reason to suspect an intended violation of this section may demand of such master a bond, with good security, conditioned to be forfeited if the master shall, directly or indirectly, carry or send the apprentice away contrary to the provision of the same. If the master refuse to give such bond, the apprentice shall be discharged, and a new master be provided by the orphans' court.

SEC. 19. If any apprentice shall be convicted of an offence, on which judgment shall be entered against him for any fine or penalty and costs, the court passing the same shall enter on the record the time during which the apprentice shall serve his master, after the expiration of his apprenticeship, in case the master shall pay the fine or penalty and costs; and on the master paying the same, the apprentice shall be obliged to serve for the time so adjudged: provided, however, that he may free himself from such obligation to serve, by

reimbursing at any time his master the sum so paid, with interest thereon.

SEC. 20. Any person who shall conceal, harbor, or entice away, any apprentice, shall, on conviction thereof, be fined a sum not exceeding fifty dollars, and shall be liable in an action to the master for double the damages sustained by him.

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SECTION 1. When any person other than a married woman shall be sentenced to confinement in the penitentiary, the estate of such convict, both real and personal, shall, subject to the provisions of sections twelve and thirteen of chapter seventy, be disposed of and managed as follows:

SEC. 2. On application being made to the circuit court, by the petition of any one interested therein, the estate of such convict shall be committed to a person selected by said court; who, on giving bond in such penalty as may be prescribed, shall have charge of said estate until such convict is discharged from confinement.

SEC. 3. Such committee may sue and be sued in respect to debts due by or to such convict.

SEC. 4. The circuit court may direct, when it can be done without prejudice to the rights of creditors, an allowance to be made for the maintenance of the wife and family of the convict; and the wife shall be entitled, so long as the convict may be confined, to the profits of such portion of his estate as she could have if he had died intestate.

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