Act to be full proof against her and heirs.

Widows and unmarried women authorized to bind

themselves.

Manner in

which married

nounce in favor

shall be annexed to the act, which act, when executed as herein provided for, shall furnish full proof against her and her heirs, and be as binding in law and equity in all courts of this State, and have the same effect, as if made by a femme sole.

C. C. 128; D. sec. 2434, 3983; 34 A. 822.

SEC. 1716. It shall be lawful for the widows and unmarried women of age to bind themselves as sureties or endorsers for other persons in the same manner and with the same validity as men who are of full age.

C. C. 25 (25), 1782 (1775); D. sec. 3739, 3984.

SEC. 1717. Married women above the age of twenty-one years shall have the right, with the consent of their husbands, by act passed bewomen may re. fore a notary public, to renounce in favor of third persons their matof third persons rimonial, dotal, paraphernal and other rights; provided, that the notary public, before receiving the signature of any married woman, shall detail in the act and explain verbally to said married woman, out of the presence of her husband, the nature of her rights and of the contract she agrees to.

Provided.

Power of mar

ried women to

appoint agents in certain cases,

C. C. 129; D. sec. 2518, 3985.

SEC. 1718. It shall be lawful for any married woman having a mortgage or privilege on the property of her husband, to appoint one or more agents, with power in her behalf, during her temporary or permanent absence from the State, to intervene in any contract of mortgage or sale made by her husband, and sign in her behalf such renunciation of said mortgage or privilege as the wife herself might do if personally present; and the said power may be either general or special, and may be executed in the United States before any judge or justice of the peace, or notary, or commissioners of this State, and in foreign countries before any consul, vice-consul, or consular or commercial agent of the United States.

C. C. 130; D. sec. 3986.

SEC. 1719. (Suits for separation may be brought when the husband is domiciliated abroad, in certain cases. An attorney to be appointed to represent the husband.) See D. 1198.

C. C. 142, 2437; Act 1855, p. 9.

SEC. 1720. (Bigamy.) See D. 800.

C. C. 80 (81); D. sec. 2210.

IMMIGRATION.

commissioners

Officers of the

SEC. 1721. In order to attract immigration and capital to Louisiana, and to aid in developing her resources, the governor is hereby Appointment of authorized and directed, by and with the advice of the senate, to ap- of immigration. point six commissioners, two of whom shall hold their office for the term of two years, two for four years and two for six years; and upon the expiration of their several terms of office their places shall be filled as aforesaid for the term of six years. The governor of this State and the president of the German society shall, by virtue of their respective offices, be commissioners as aforesaid. The said commissioners shall be known as the "commissioners of immigra- Title. tion," and by that title shall be capable of suing and being sued. The said commissioners shall appoint one of their number to act as president of the board and general agent of the commission. All money commssion. appropriated for said commission by the general assembly, or received for commutation, as hereafter provided, shall be paid out on the warrant of said commissioners or a majority of them. It shall be the duty of the said commissioners to provide for the maintenance and support of such of the persons for whom commutation money shall have been paid, as hereinafter provided, or on whose accounts bonds shall have been taken, as would otherwise become a charge on any city, town or parish of this State; and the said commissioners shall appropriate the moneys for that purpose in such manner as to indemnify, so far as may be, the several cities, towns and parishes of the State for any expense or charge which may be incurred for the maintenance and support of the persons hereinafter mentioned. And the more fully to effect the object contemplated by this act, the said commissioners are authorized to apply, in their discretion, any part of the said money to aid in removing any of said persons from any part of this State to another part of this or any other State, or from this State, or in assisting them to procure employment, and thus prevent them from becoming a public charge.

D. sec. 1662; Act 1869, p. 106; Act 1874, p. 271, No. 154; Act 1880, p. 54, No. 56.

or

Duties of commissioners.

Masters of vessels to report foreign passen

SEC. 1722. Within twenty-four hours after the landing of any passenger or passengers from any ship or vessel arriving at the port of New Orleans from any of the United States, other than this State, from any country out of the United States, the master or commander of the ship or vessel from which such passenger or passengers shall immigration.

gers to the com

missioners of

What report to contain.

Penalty for no compliance.

Bonds and commutation.

have been landed, shall make a report in writing, on oath or affirmation, to the "commissioners of immigration," or to such person as they may designate and appoint as their agent, which report shall state the name, place of birth, last legal residence, age and occupation of every person or passenger who shall have landed from such ship or vessel, on her last voyage to said port, not being a citizen of the United States, and who shall have, within the last twelve months, arrived from any country out of the United States at any place within the United States, and who shall not have paid the commutation money or been bonded according to the provisions of this act. The same report shall contain a like statement of all such persons or passengers aforesaid as shall have been landed or been suffered to land from any such ship or vessel at any place during such last voyage, or who shall have been put on board or suffered to go on board of any other ship, vessel or boat, with the intention of proceeding to and landing at the said city of New Orleans or elsewhere within the limits of this State. The said report shall further specify whether any of the said passengers so reported are lunatic, idiot, deaf, dumb, blind, infirm, maimed, or above the age of sixty years; also designating all such passengers as shall be under the age of thirteen, or widows having families, or women without husbands having families, with the names and ages of their families; and shall further specify particularly the names, last place of residence and ages of all passengers who may have died during the said last voyage of such vessel; also the names and residences of the owner or owners of such vessel. In case any such master or commander shall omit or neglect to report as aforesaid any such person or passenger, with the particulars. aforesaid, or shall make any false report or statement in respect to any such person or passenger, or in respect to the owner or owners of any such vessel, or in respect to any of the particulars hereinbefore specified, such master or commander shall forfeit the sum of one hundred dollars for every such passenger in regard to whom any such omission or neglect shall have occurred, or any such false report or statement shall be made, for which the owner or owners, consignee or consignees of every such ship or vessel shall also be liable, jointly and severally, and which may be sued for and recovered as hereinafter provided.

Act 1874, p. 271, No. 154, sec. 4.

SEC. 1723. It shall be the duty of the said commissioners of immigration, or their appointed agent, by an endorsement to be made on said report, to require the owner or consignee of the ship or vessel from which such persons were landed, to give a several bond to the people of the State, in a penalty of three hundred dollars, for each and

every person or passenger included in said report; such bond being secured as hereinafter provided, and conditioned to indemnify and save harmless the commissioners of immigration, and each and every city, town or parish, in this State, from any cost which said commissioners or such city, town or parish shall incur for the relief or support of the person named in the bond, within five years from the date of such bonds; and also to indemnify and refund, to the said commissioners of immigration any expense or charge they may necessarily incur for the support or medical care of the persons named therein. Each and every bond shall be secured by two or more sufficient securities, being residents of the State of Louisiana, each of whom shall prove by oath or otherwise that he is owner of a freehold in the State of the value of three hundred dollars over and above all and any claim or lien thereon or against him, including therein any contingent claim which may accrue from or upon any former bond given under the provisions of this act; or such bond may, at the option of the party, be secured by mortgage of real estate, or by pledge and transfer of public stock of the United States or of the State of Louisiana, or of the city of New Orleans, or by deposit of the amount of penalty in some bank or trust company, such security, real or personal, having been first approved by the said commissioners of immigration. It shall be lawful for any owner or consignee, at any time within twentyfour hours after the landing of such persons or passengers from any ship or vessel in the port of New Orleans, except as in the section herein provided, to commute for the bond or bonds so required by paying to the commissioners of immigration, or their appointed agent, the sum of two dollars for each and every passenger reported by him as by law required. The receipt of such sum by said commissioner or agent shall be deemed a full and sufficient discharge from the requirements of giving bonds as above provided. But no owner or consignee shall be authorized to commute for the bond so required for any passenger arriving in the port of New Orleans who may be sent to any hospital from shipboard by the health officer, or by the authority of the board of health of the city of New Orleans, on account of illness from ship-fever, cholera or yellow fever. The commissioners of immigration shall have authority to commute specially for any bond in such cases, at such rates and in such mauner as shall appear to them equitable and proper. It shall be the duty of the health officer to report without delay to the commissioners of immigration the names of all passengers sent by his order, during the above-mentioned period, from shipboard to any hospital, on account of illness from shipfever, cholera or yellow fever.

Act 1874, p. 271, No. 154, sec. 5.

missioners with

SEC. 1724. It shall be the duty of the commissioners of immigration Duties of com- to examine into the condition of passengers arriving at the port of regard to for New Orleans in any ship or vessel, and for that purpose all or any of eigners likely to become a public the said commissioners, or such other person or persons as they shall

charge.

appoint, shall be authorized to go on board and through any such ship or vessel, and if, on such examination, there shall be found among such passengers any lunatic, idiot, deaf, dumb, blind, maimed or infirm person or persons, above the age of sixty years, or widow with a child or children, or any woman without a husband and with a child or children, or any person unable to take care of himself or herself without becoming a publle charge, or who, from sickness or disease existing at the time of departure from the foreign port, are or are likely soon to become a public charge; or, if it shall appear from the report of the master or commander of said ship or vessel, that any of the class of persons described in this section of this act as likely to become a public charge, have been brought on the said ship or vessel on her last voyage,thereupon the said commissioners of immigration, or their appoin. ted agent, shall require, in addition to the commutation money, that the owner or consignee of such ship or vessel, wtih one or more sufficient sureties, shall execute a joint and several bond to the people of the State, in a penalty of five hundred dollars for every such passenger, conditioned to indemnify and save harmless the commissioners of immigration, and each and every city, town or parish within the State, from any further cost or charge which said commissioners, or any such city, town or parish, shall incur for the maintenance or support of the person or persons named in such bond, or any of them, within five years from the date of such bond. The securities to the said bonds shall be re. quired to justify, before and to the satisfaction of the officer making such endorsement, and by their oath or affirmation shall satisfy such officer, that they are respectively residents of the State of Louisiana, and worth double the amount of the penalty of such bond over and above all debts, liabilities and all property exempt from execution. The subsequent endorsement authorized in this section may be made at any time within thirty days of such examination or of the landing of any such passenger or person. The commissioners of immigration shall have authority to commute especially for any bond in such cases at such rates and in such manner as shall appear to them equitable and proper.

Act 1874, p. 271, No. 154, sec. 8.

SEC. 1725. In case any of the persons for whom commutation money has been paid as aforesaid, or for whom a bond has been given as aforesaid, shall, at any time within five years from the payment of such money or the execution of such bond, become chargeable upon any