1852 GEORGIA "BLACK LAWS." State of Georgia can Imprison Free and Enslaved Blacks for being a "Nuisance."

A fascinating volume of Southern laws published during the same period as the passing of the Fugitive Slave Act, etc., and a sort of "case in point," illustrating the non-personed way in which enslaved persons and free people of color in the South were thought of and treated by the legal structures of the time.

Note that even with the very meagre protections provided here, a footnote to the Act indicates that, according to the Decision of the [State] Supreme Court, it is not actually necessary for the magistrate to afford persons of color any due process.

The heading of the Act: Insane Slaves or Free Persons of Color. An Act to protect the citizens of this State from danger, by the running at large of lunatic and insane slaves or free persons of color. Approved January 17, 1852.

The Act becomes rather more clear when it defines "lunacy" as any black person who is "a public nuisance" or perceived as being "dangerous to the community." In other words, if a black person makes a white person uncomfortable, they're going to jail. 

In addition to the transparent aim of keeping people of color out of the public view, the Act had a secondary task. The act empowered the law to seize any person of color seen in public and confine them long enough to confirm they were not a fugitive. It essentially gave the State of Georgia the right to imprison any person of color, free or not, who appeared in public not under the direct care of a plantation owner. 

[Slavery, Black Laws]. Acts of the General Assembly of the State of Georgia, Passed in Milledgeville, at a Biennial Session in November, December, and January, 1851-1852. Macon. Samuel J. Ray. State Printer. 1852. 602pp.

Original half calf with mineral blue paper boards; heavily worn with boards shaken, as shown. Interior generally solid, but handled with occasional states. Fair.