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![handle is hein.slavery/extasc0001 and id is 1 raw text is:
Second edition of 10,000.
[No. 1]
Read and Circulate.
EXTRACTS FROM THE AM1ERICAN SLAVE CODE.
rhe following are mostly abridged selections from the statutts of the slave States and of the
United States. They give but a faint view of the cruel oppression to which the slaves are subject,
but a strong one enough, it is thought, to fill every honest heart with a deep abhorrence of the
atrocious system. tost of the important provisions here cited, though placed under the name of
only one state, prevail in nearly all the States, with slight variations in language, and come diversi-
ty in the penalties. The extracts have been made in part from Stroud's Sketch of the Slave
Laws, but chiefly from authorized editions of the Statute books referred to, found in the Philade!-
phia Law Library. As the compiler has not had access to many of the latter enactments of the
several states, nearly all he has cited are acts of an earlier date than that of the present anti-slave-
ry movement, so that their severity cannet be ascribed to its influence.
The cardinal principle of slavery, that the slave is not to be ranked among sentient beings, but
among things-is an article of property-a chattel personal, obtains as undoubted law in all the Slave
States.-Stroud's Sketch, p. 22.
The dominion of the master is as unlimited, as is that which is tolerated by the laws of any civilized
country, in relation to brute animals--to quadrupeds; to use the word of the civil Iaw-lb. 24.
Slaves cannot even contract matrimony.t-lb. 61.
LOUISIANA.-A slave is one who is in the power of his master, to whom he belongs. The mas-
ter may sell him, dispose of his person, his industry and his labor he can do nothing, possess no-
thing, nor acquire any thing but what must belong to his master.-CiVil Code, Art. 35.
Slaves are incapable of inheriting or transmitting property.- Civil Code, Art. 945 ; also Art. 175,
and Code of Practice, Art. 103.
Martin's Digest, act of June 7, 1806. Slaves shall always be reputed and considered real estate;
shall be as such subject to be mortgaged, according to the rules prescribed by law, and they shall be
seized and sold as real estate.-l'T. I. p. 612.
Dig. Slat. Sec. 13.-No owner of slaves shall hire his slaves to themselves, under a penalty of S25,
for each offene.-l -o. I. p. 102.
Sect 15.-No slave can possess any thing in his own right or dispose of the produce of his own
industry, without the consent of his master.-p. 103.
See. 16.-No slave can be party in a civil suit, or witness in a civil or criminal matter, against any
white person, p. 103. See also Civil Code, Art. 117, p. 28.
See. 18.-A slave's subordination to his master is susceptible of no restriction, (except in what in-
cites to crime,) and he owes to him and all his family, respect without bounds, and absolute obedi-
ene.-p. 103.
Sec. 25.-Every slave found on horseback, without a written permission from his master, shall re-
ceive twenty-five lashes.-p. 105.
Sec. 32,-Any freeholder may seize and correct any slave found absent from his usual place of
work or residence, without some white person, and if the slave resist or try to escape, he may use
arms, and if the slave assaul* and strike him, he may kill the slave.-p. 108.
Sec. 35.-It is lawful to fire upon runaway negroes who are armed, and upon those who, when
pmrsued, refuse to surrender.-p. 109.
Sec. 38.-No slave may buy, sell or exchange any kind of goods, or hold any boat, or bring up for
his own use any hor-es or cattle, under a penalty of forfeiting the whole.-p. 110.
See. 7.-Slaves or free colored persons are punished with dalh for wilfully burning or destroying
any stack of produce or any building.--p. 115.
See. 15.-The punishment of a slave for striking a white person, shall be for the first and second
offences at the discretion of the court,§ but not extending to life or limb, and for the third offence
death ; but for grievously wounding or mutilating a white person, death for the first offence : pro-
vided, if the blow or wound is given in defence of the person or properly of his master, or the person
having charge of him, he is entirely justitled.
Act. ofFeb. 22, 1824, See 2.-A slave for wilfully striking his master or mistress, or the child
* In accordance with this doctrine, an set of Maryland, 1798, enumerates among articles of personal
property. 1sloves, sworking beasts, animals sferry kind, stolek,fsrniture, plate, arid eofsrth.-lb. 23.
t A slsve is riot admonished for incontlinence, punished for- adultery, nor prosecuted lot higamy.-sit.
tsrney General of .'lasyland, .lld. Rep. Us'. 1. 5lt.
T The legal meaning of assault is in offer to do personal violence.
J A court for the trial nf slaves consists of one Justice of the Peace and three freeholders, and the Jus-
tice and one treeholder, i. e. one half of the court, may convict, though the other two are for acquittalt-
.lartin's Dig. I. 648.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.slavery/extasc0001&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)