Slave Laws

• Slave laws


  • Introduced into the colonies
  • Main method used to control slaves
• British Slave Laws


  • A slave could not own property
  • A slave could not grow or sell sugar, cotton or coffee but could sell things he made like baskets, pots, jewellery
  • He could not give evidence against a free man in court
  • He could not hire himself out without his owners' permission
  • He was forbidden to get married
  • They were not to be taught to read or write
  • They were forbidden to become Christians
• Spanish Slave Laws (Las Siete Partidas)


  • The Spanish regarded the slave as a person as well as property
  • The laws offered him protection against unwarranted assault or punishment, or other forms of inhumane treatment by his master
  • The Spanish acknowledged that slavery was contrary to natural justice and was evil, but a necessary evil for the economic development of the colonies
  • The Spanish authorities recognized the right of slaves to seek their freedom to remove the danger of revolt by other means than repressive legislation
• Rights of slaves under Spanish Slave Laws

  • A slave had the right to purchase his freedom with or without the consent of his owner by repaying his purchase price and, if necessary, by periodic repayments
  • A slave could appeal to the courts (Audiencia) if he was ill-treated
  • A slave had the right to be baptized and instructed in the Catholic Faith
  • Plantation slaves held the right to be free from work on Sundays and Holy Days
  • A slave had the right to marry with or without the consent of his owner
  • A slave had the right to be provided with food, clothing, shelter, and to be taken care of by his master in his old age
  • A slave had the right to his plot of land without the consent of his master
  • The owner could not kill or ill-treat him to the point of suffering. He could not overwork or underfeed his slaves
  • All judges were required to promote freedom because freedom was natural
• French Slave Laws (Code Noir)


  • All slaves to be baptised
  • Slaves should not be worked on Sundays or Holy Days
  • Slave marriage to be encouraged. The owner's consent must be given
  • Sexual intercourse between master and his slave to be punished by the confiscation of the slave. If between another man and the slave, a fine to be imposed. Children of such unions would take the status of the mother
  • Rations and clothes to be provided. Old and sick slaves to be fed and maintained
  • Slaves to be forbidden to own property and anything they acquired to belong to their owner
  • Promises, contracts and gifts made by slaves to be null and void
  • Slaves to be forbidden to sell sugar, or any other produce, without their owner's permission
  • Death penalty to be inflicted for striking master or mistress, and in some cases, any free person
  • Absenteeism of one month to be punished by cutting off ears and branding on the shoulder. Absent two times in one month to be punished by cutting off the buttock and branding the other shoulder. Absent three in one month to be punished by death
  • Owner to be compensated if slave executed on owner's own denunciation
  • Torture and mutilation to be prohibited under penalty of confiscation of the slave
  • Slaves to be regarded as movable property and liable to be sold apart from the rest of their family
  • The plantation and slaves to be regarded as one
  • Owners and drivers to treat slaves humanely
  • Owners to have right to free slave after twenty years' service
  • Manumitted slaves to have the same rights as free persons
• The Code Noir was more humane than the British laws. For example, Christianity, marriage and humane treatment were expressly ordered. However, punishment was equally harsh and in many other ways. French laws were similar to those in the British colonies.
• Slave Laws: Similarities and Differences

  Similarities: prohibition of education, mobility restrictions, punishment, and forced labor. Differences: regional variations, enforcement, emancipation provisions, and runaway slave advertisements.