As demands for more effective laws in the southern states rose, the second runaway slave law, drafted by James Murray Mason, the grandson of Virginia Mason, a U.S. Senator from Virginia, was part of the 1850 agreement. It was enacted on May 18. The Special Enforcement Officer of the Enforcement Slavery Act resides in the Federal District and District Courts and the lower courts of the Territories, and the fugitives are not allowed to argue for themselves, and the jury trial is no longer available.
Fines were imposed on sheriffs who refused to enforce the law, sheriffs who missed them and individuals who helped them to escape. The sheriff could convene a militia.