Slave codes section

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slaves were treated as a sort of “conscious commodity”. A master could be charged with neglect if the slave was not fed enough or otherwise rendered to a state where they could no longer work. However, this did not prevent the slave master from beating or abusing the slave in any way they saw fit, only from doing it to “excess”. The only other “protection” would be a slave being returned to the slave master if the slave were found outside of the owner’s property.   if a slave traveled more than 10 miles from the owner’s property without a note, they would be apprehended and returned. If someone (slave or free man) convinced a slave to run away, and the slave did, the person who convinced them would have to pay the price of the slave to the owner to make up for the “lost property”.  if the slave did anything illegal, the slave was held responsible, though not the owner. This means that if an owner ordered a slave to commit an illegal act, threatened with death if they did not comply, then the slave would still be punished since the slave master can claim that they never gave any such order to the slave. The only way that a slave master could be held accountable for their act is if the slave owner confessed to the court, which would rationally never happen. if a free man tried to smuggle slaves out of the colonies on their boat without an official release note from the owner, the free man would be fined and the slaves returned to the master.  if a slave was punished, it was brutal and physical (e.g. slicing off their ear or being lashed), whereas a free person would only be fined. This fine would either be a flat fine (such as five pounds or shillings) or a fine based on the length of time the slave was absent in order to make up for the time that they could have been working.  if the slave were trained in economics, they could be entrusted with the master’s financial documents and allowed to handle the master’s financial affairs, but nothing else. The master would then be liable for what they call upon the slave to do so long as the master testifies to giving the slave that permission (which, as stated earlier, is a testimony that may never happen if the master wanted to avoid punishment). These types of laws were typically derived from Roman law where slaves would be trained and educated in certain fields in order to serve the master in those respective fields.  slaves were held under incredible oppression from every possible angle. Slave masters were “entitled” to their “property” and granted protection of that “property”, whereas slaves were taught through harsh treatment that they were nothing more than “property” and not human beings. This way of living circulated the system of having white, land owning men as the highest class of society and enslaved african men and women as the lowest class, as well as enforcing unto other members of society that this was “the correct and justified way of living.”

Courtesy of case study, and Agrusti.