Inmates sentenced to the penitentiary for life, or any term of time, by any court of this state or of the United States held within this state, shall be received into the penitentiary by the warden of the penitentiary, when delivered upon proper authority, and there kept in pursuance of the sentence.
Code 1858, § 5494 (deriv. Acts 1829, ch. 38, § 28); Shan., § 7514; Code 1932, § 12110; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 41-202.