"Decree No. 56," May 5, 1828

Summary: In order to stimulate more immigration, the Congress decreed that all contracts in foreign countries between emigrants and their laborers were valid in Texas.

The Congress of the State of Coahuila and Texas, attending to the deficiency of working men to give activity to agriculture and the other arts, and desiring to facilitate their introduction into the State, as well as the growth and prosperity of the said branches, has thought proper to decree:

All contracts, not in opposition to the laws of the State, that have been entered into in foreign countries, between emigrants who come to settle in this State, or between the inhabitants thereof, and the servants and day laborers or working men whom they introduce, are hereby guaranteed to be valid in said State.

For its fulfilment, the Governor of the State shall cause it to be printed, published, and circulated.

Given at the city of Leona Vicario on the 5th of May, 1828.

[The same Signers.]

Source Copy Consulted: "Decree No. 56," May 5, 1828, reprinted in H.P.H. Gammel, The Laws of Texas, 1822-1897, 12 vols., (Austin: Gammel Book Co., 1898), 1:213. http://texinfo.library.unt.edu/lawsoftexas