PRIMARY DOCUMENT

“An Act for repealing an Act for Irish Servants” (1660)

ORIGINAL IMAGES
Hening's Statutes at LargeHening's Statutes at Large
CONTEXT

This law, “An Act for repealing an Act for Irish Servants,” passed by the General Assembly in its March 1660 (New Style) session, repeals an earlier act that established the terms of service specifically for immigrants from Ireland who arrived in Virginia without indentures.

FULL TEXT

— page 538 —
Hening's Statutes at Large

WHEREAS the act for Irish servants comeing in without indentures enjoyning them to serve six yeeres, carried with it both rigour and inconvenience,

— page 539 —
Hening's Statutes at Large

many by the length of time they have to serve being discouraged from comeing into the country, And by that meanes the peopling of the country retarded, And these inconveniences augmented by the addition of the last clause in that act, That all aliens should be included, Bee it therefore enacted and confirmed, That the whole act be repealed and made void and null, And that for the future no servant comeing into the country without indentures, of what christian nation soever, shall serve longer then those of our own country, of the like age: And it is further enacted, That what alien soever arrive here before that clause was inserted and that hath been by vertue of that last clause inforced to serve any time longer then the custom of the countrey did oblige them to shall be allowed competent wages by their severall masters for the time they have overserved, Any act, order of court or judgment to the contrary notwithstanding, Provided alwaies that all such aliens as came in servants during the time that the said clause was in force shall serve according to the tenor of that act.

CITE THIS ENTRY
APA Citation:
General Assembly. “An Act for repealing an Act for Irish Servants” (1660). (2020, December 07). In Encyclopedia Virginia. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/an-act-for-repealing-an-act-for-irish-servants-1660.
MLA Citation:
General Assembly. "“An Act for repealing an Act for Irish Servants” (1660)" Encyclopedia Virginia. Virginia Humanities, (07 Dec. 2020). Web. 08 Dec. 2023
Last updated: 2020, December 07
Feedback
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Sponsors