The revised law also explicitly charged township overseers of the poor with removing Black or mulatto persons found to be either unable to support themselves or in violation of the registration laws. In essence, the overseers of the poor, whose general charge was poor relief and enforcement of settlement laws, now became enforcers of the black laws as well. Black newcomers, in turn, faced two sets of overlaid and intertwined regulations: one particular to people of African descent that required registration in the county courts, and the other compatible with settlement laws and enforceable at
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