Resistance and Revolt
• The Slave Laws
– In each Caribbean colony where slavery existed, a series of slave
laws existed to govern the lives of the enslaved
• They were given different names according to the territories
• Slave laws were deemed necessary for slavery to exist as an
institution, because the whites:
1. Felt that laws provided a legal basis for slavery.
2. Realized that they were a vulnerable minority within the slave
society, and were fearful of revolts and other acts of slave
defiance
3. Hoped that harsh laws would help to control the enslaved and
prevent offenses such as running away, theft, rebellion
4. Expected the laws to preserve public order and help them
maintain their supremacy
The Spanish Slave Laws:
The Siete Partidas
(drawn up by Spain)
• The enslaved person was
viewed as both a property and
a person.
– Protected the enslaved
from unwarranted
punishment, assault or
inhumane treatment by his
masters
– The Spanish recognised
freedom as a natural state
of man, and so, the laws
allowed their enslaved to
manumit/ free themselves
They included the following:
1. A slave master could lose his
property if it was proven he illtreated his enslaved.
2. Enslaved could be compulsory
manumitted for certain kinds
of abuse.
3. Audiencias were instructed to
hear cases were slaves claimed
to be free.
4. When slaves of mixed blood
were to be sold, their fathers
were able to buy them to grant
their freedom.
5. The enslaved could buy their
own freedom in installments
Siete Partidas (cont’d)
Since the enslaved was regarded as a person he had certain
rights under the law:
• Had a right to purchase his freedom without consent
• The enslaved could report/ complain inhumane treatment
to the courts (Audencias)
• The enslaved had a right to be taught religion (to be
baptised and instructed in the Christian faith
• Were entitled to Sundays and Holy Days as free days
• Had a right to marry without consent of owner
• Had the right to be provided with food, clothing, shelter
and to be taken care of, by his master, in his old age
French Slave Laws:
The Code Noir 1685
• Were drawn up to meet the
needs of French colonial
society
• Were similar to the Spanish
slave laws:
– Reflected the strong
influence of the Roman
Catholic Church
– Were laws of the crown
and applicable through
the French colonies
– Drawn up by the
metropolis ( mother
country)
• The French gov’t drafted
these laws so that:
– The colonies would have a
unified set of laws
– Codes were essential for
the continued
maintenance of slavery (
to govern slavery and the
relationships among social
groups)
– To control the slaves in the
French West Indian
colonies
Code Noir cont’d
• Provisions of Code Noir
– Slaves had the right to:
1. Be baptised and
instructed in the
Catholic religion
2. To observe Sundays
and Holy Days
3. To be buried in holy
ground
4. To marry without the
consent of their owner
5. To be cared for by
their masters for life
6. To be provided with
food and clothing
7. Not to be separated
from their families
when they were sold
8. To appeal to the legal
official if the master
failed to subsist them,
or ill treated them.
Code Noir cont’d
Provisions with respect
to manumission of
slaves:
1. Masters of 20 years and
over could manumit
their slaves.
2. If a freedman had
children with a slave
concubine, and later
married the woman,
both she and the
children became free
3. Once free, the former
slave was to be treated
as a freeborn subject of
the king, entitled to the
same rights as other
subjects, but he had to
respect his previous
master, his masters
widow and his children.
English Slave Laws
For the British West Indian Colonies, there was not
one single slave code:
• Each British colony had its own legislature/law making body,
which passed its own slave laws, and so it was the colonies’
responsibilities to make their own laws.
• These laws were passed after slavery was instituted, and
they were amended from time to time as conditions
changed.
• The British government’s policy was more pro- planter as
slaves were seen as private property, and the planters could
handle their property as they wished
• The official Church of England differed from the Catholic
Churches in Spanish and French colonies and had no
influence over the slave owners and chose not to interfere
with slavery
English Slave Laws (cont’d)
• The enslaved was seen as
• Laws in respect to manumission:
property
1. The law penalized those
1. They were bought and
who aided runaways
sold as merchandise
2. A slave could only buy his
(could be sold for
freedom ONLY with the
debts, mortgages or
consent of his owner.
disposed of)
3. The law also sought to
2. No provision was
prevent the manumission of
made for their
slaves unless the public was
manumission, so
compensated beforehand.
many ran away
British Slave Laws (cont’d)
• Provisions with respect to
the rights of the slaves
– Considered as property,
slaves few rights:
1. Food should be provided
for slaves
2. A Montserrat regulation
of 1693 stated that one
acre of provisions should
be cultivated for every
eight slaves on a
plantation
3. Old and disabled
slaves should not be
abandoned by their
owners.
4. Clothing and shelter
were to be provided
for slaves
5. The willful killing,
dismemberment and
mutilation of slaves
were forbidden