An Act to Amend the Criminal Laws of This State, ch. 81, §§ 2-3, 1856 Tenn. Acts 92, 92 (G. C. Torbett and Company).

"CHAPTER 81.
AN ACT to Amend the Criminal Laws of this State.

    Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee, That when any person shall be indicted in the Circuit Courts, or any other court having criminal jurisdiction, for malicious shooting, and the jury trying the cause, after having all the evidence, shall be of the opinion that the defendant is not guilty of the malice, they shall have the power to find the defendant guilty of an assault, or an assault and battery, and judgment shall be given accordingly.
    SEC. 2. Be it enacted, That, hereafter, it shall be unlawful for any person to sell, loan, or give, to any minor a pistol, bowie-knife, dirk, or Arkansas tooth-pick, or hunter's knife; and whoever shall so sell, loan, or give, to any minor any such weapon, on conviction thereof, upon indictment or presentment, shall be fined not less than twenty-five dollars, and be liable to imprisonment, at the discretion of the Court: Provided, that this act shall not be construed so as to prevent the sale, loan, or gift, to any minor of a gun for hunting.
    SEC. 3. Be it enacted, That it shall be the duty of the Circuit Judges and the Judges of the Criminal Courts to give this act in charge to the Grand Juries: Provided, said minor be travelling on a journey, he shall be exempted.
    SEC. 3.¹ Be it enacted, That this act shall be in force from and after its passage."

Acts of the State of Tennessee, Passed at the First Session of the Thirty-First General Assembly for the Years 1855-6 (Nashville, TN: G. C. Torbett & Company, 1856), 92. Chapter 81—An Act to Amend the Criminal Laws of this State, §§ 2-3. Passed February 26, 1856.

1. Sic.