306 LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. tion punishable with death. 18. Compensation to owners of slaves executed. 19. Justices may compel any to give evidence. 20. Penalty for concealing accused slave. 21. Duties of constables. 22. Penalty for working on Sunday. 23. Slaves not to carry fire-arms without a ticket. 24. Slaves who strike a white person, how to be dealt with. 25. Runaway slaves, how to be disposed of. 26. The duty of the wardens of the work-houses. 27. Proceedings when apprehended runaway slave is delivered to warden, &c. 28. Slaves, in custody eighteen months, to be sold. 29. Penalty on free negroes or slaves for harboring runaways. 30, 31. Slaves in Charleston not to buy or sell except, &c. 32, 33. Respecting selling liquors and giving tickets of leave to slaves. 34. Prohibits slaves from trading or keeping boats, horses, cattle, &c. 35. Slaves allowed to buy and sell provisions, &c., with a ticket. 36. Not to be absent, or to keep arms, horns, &c. 37. "And whereas, cruelty is not only highly unbecoming those who profess themselves Christians, but is odious in the eyes of all men who have any sense of virtue or humanity; therefore to restrain and prevent barbarity being exercised towards slaves." That if any person shall "wilfully murder " his own or another's slave, he shall on conviction, forfeit seven hundred pounds, current money, and be incapable of holding office, &c. In case of inability to pay, to be kept at hard labor in the work-house, &c., for seven years. If any person shall, on sudden heat and passion, or by undue correction, kill his own slave, or another's, he shall forfeit three hundred and fifty pounds. For mutilation, &c., or "cruel punishment, other than by beating with," &c., &c., the forfeiture of one hundred pounds. 38. Slaves to be provided with sufficient Many of the provisions in the laws of the various States applying to runaways, may, with greater strictness in the usage of language, be said to apply to negroes who are either not proved to belong to some owner, or who cannot, when arrested, prove that they are not slaves, or their right to freedom. Compare Stroud, 2d ed. p. 131. State v. Gee, 1 Bay's R., 164, (1791,) by counsel for the State-" the frequency of the offence owing to the nature of the punishment." State v. Fleming, (1847), 2 Strobhart's R., 464, a case under a later act, (1821,) it was held that an indictment does not lie at common law for the homicide of a slave; it is, in S. C., purely a statutory offence. Compare Stroud, p. 63. In White v. Chambers, (1796,) 2 Bay's R. 70, an action by the master for battery of the slave by a stranger, will lie under the customary law of the province and State; even, it would seem, when there is no proof of a consequent loss of service. LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 307 clothing and food, under penalty.' 39. "Whereas, by reason of the extent and distance of plantations in this province, the inhabitants are far removed from each other, and many cruelties may be committed on slaves, because no white person may be present to give evidence of the same," &c., enacts that if any slave shall suffer in life, limb or member, or be maimed, &c., contrary to the meaning of the act, and no white person able or willing to give evidence, then the owner or person having the care of such slave, is to be deemed guilty of the offence, unless such owner or other person can make the contrary appear by evidence, "or shall, by his own oath, clear and exculpate himself," which oath shall discharge, "if clear proof of the offence be not made by two witnesses at least." 40. Appeal to be given to slaves, its quality limited. 41. Against firing guns at night. 42. Slaves are not to rent houses or plantations. 43. Nor travel on the highway in numbers. 44. "And whereas, many owners, &c., do confine them so closely to hard labor, that they have not sufficient time for natural rest," that if any shall work slaves "more than fifteen hours in twenty-four, from March to September, and fourteen hours in twenty-four from September to March," they shall forfeit a sum not over twenty and not under five pounds. 45. "And whereas, the having slaves taught to write, or suffering them to be employed in writing, may be attended with great inconveniences," that any person who shall teach any slave to write or employ any slave as a scribe in any writing, shall forfeit one hundred pounds. 46. No person to keep slaves on a plantation without a white person with them. 47-50. Rewards for white persons or free Indians bringing in alive, from Florida fugitive negroes, or their scalps, in certain cases, &c., &c. 51-55. Penalty on persons failing to carry this act into execution, &c., &c. 56. Sanctions the unauthorized execution of certain negroes during a 1 See under this act, in 1849, the State v. Bowen, 3 Strobhart's R. 573. Stroud's Sketch, 49. State v. Welch, (1791.) 1 Bay's R., 172. No person can exculpate himself by his own oath, for killing a slave, not being the master, overseer, or some person having immediate charge of such negro. 308 LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA. previous rebellion. This act was for three years, but was reenacted, and has continued to be, essentially, the principal law on this subject. 7 St. at L., 418, 425. Compare the abstracts of its provisions in 2 Hildr., p. 421. 1740. An act for the better establishing and regulating patrols. 3 St. at L., 568. "Forasmuch as many late horrible and barbarous massacres have been actually committed, and many more designed, on the white inhabitants of this Province by negro slaves, who are generally prone to such cruel practices," &c. Sec. 8. Defines the duties and powers of the patrol men in respect to slaves. Enacted for three years, but probably re vived in later acts. 1743. An act for the better securing this Province against the insurrections and other wicked attempts of negroes and other slaves; and for revising, &c. 3 St. at L., 608. 1744. An act for the better governing and regulating of white servants, &c. 3 Stat. at L., 621. 1745. An act amending and continuing the act of 1740, 3 St. at L., 647. 1751. Additional and explanatory of the same act. 7 St. at L., 420. L., 739. 426. An act laying new duties on slaves imported. 3 St. at 1754. An act to prevent slave-stealing, &c. 7 St. at L. 1764. An act for laying an additional duty upon all negroes hereafter to be imported, &c. 4 St. at L., 187. Recites Whereas an importation of negroes, equal in number to what haveb een imported of late years, may prove of the most dangerous consequence in many respects to this Province, and the best way to obviate such danger will be by imposing such an additional duty upon them as may totally prevent the evils."1 1775-76. An act to revive and continue certain acts, 1 In 1760, an act was passed by the Provincial Assembly to prevent the further importation of slaves, but was disallowed by the crown. The Governor of S. C. was rebuked for having assented to it, and a circular letter sent to all the other Governors, prohibiting their assent to similar act. 1 Burge's Comm. 737. The trade was declared to be "beneficial and necessary to the mother country." Stevens' Georgia, 285. among which are the acts already described respecting slaves. 4 St. at L., 331, 348.' 1775. Nov.-to 1776 March-A Provincial Congress; adopts a constitution for the State, does not contain any declaration of private rights. Art. 11, of elections; "The qualification of electors shall be the same as required by law." § 230. LEGISLATION OF GEORGIA. The district lying between the Savannah and St. John's rivers had been included in the grant to the Lords Proprietary of Carolina. The laws which were enacted under their government for the portion of "Carolina south of Cape Fear," may be supposed to have had territorial extent in the territory now occupied by the State of Georgia. The Proprietaries made retrocession of their territory and jurisdiction in 1729 (ante, p. 293.) By a charter dated 9th June, 1732, a body corporate called "the Trustees for establishing the Colony of Georgia," in the district south and west of the Savannah river, was created; their trust being limited to twenty-one years. This charter repealed the laws of South Carolina, in and for Georgia." The importation of indented servants was especially contemplated by the Trustees, but they prohibited the introduction. 1 The code of S. C., has been stringently coercive compared with those of the other colonies and slave-holding States; not only by the immunity of power which it has given to the owners; but also in the authority which it has conferred, and indeed imposed as an obligation, on each white inhabitant, in reference to the slaves and free persons of color. It illustrates, moreover, how, even in the superiority which is conferred upon him by law, the action of the free inhabitant, though not himself a slaveowner, may, in many respects, be restricted through the existence of a slave-class. 2 See the charter in Stevens' Hist. of Ga., and the State Digest. It declares that "all and every the persons which shall happen to be born within the said Province, and every one of their children and posterity, shall have and enjoy all liberties, franchises and immunities of free denizens and natural born subjects within any of our dominions, as if abiding and born within this our kingdom of Great Britain, or any other dominion." It also provided that "all and every person or persons who shall at any time hereafter inhabit or reside within our said Province, shall be and hereby are declared to be free, and shall not be subject to or be bound to obey any laws, orders, statutes or constitutions, which have been heretofore made, ordered and enacted, or which hereafter shall be made, &c., by, for or as the laws, orders, statutes or constitutions of our said Province of South Carolina, but shall be subject to and bound to obey such orders, &c., as shall from time to time be made, &c., for the bet ter government of the said Province of Georgia, in the manner herein after declared. And we do hereby, &c., &c., that for and during the term of twenty-one years, to of slaves. It was soon however advocated by the wealthy planters. "A considerable number of negroes had been already introduced from Carolina, as hired servants, under indentures for life or a hundred years," and after a long controversy on the subject (2 Hildr. 360, 371,) the Trustees in 1747 "passed an ordinance allowing slavery with certain restrictions on their numbers, mode of employment, and with provisions for their religious instruction." Stevens' Georgia, p. 312. 2 Hildr. 418. 1754. The powers of the Trustees under the charter having been surrendered, or having expired in 1752, a form of government was organized under the Board of Trade. A governor and council were appointed by royal commission. Among the ordinances enacted by them was one that "all offences committed by slaves were to be tried by a single justice without a jury, who was to award execution, and, in capital cases to set a value on the slave, to be paid out of the public treasury." A local assembly was provided. Voters were "to possess fifty acres, but owners of town lots were presently admitted to the same privilege." 1755. The first session of the Assembly. An act was commence from the date of these, &c., the said corporation, assembled for that purpose, shall and may form and prepare laws, statutes and ordinances fit and necessary for and concerning the government of the said colony, and not repugnant to the laws and statutes of England, &c.—such laws, &c., to be subject to the Royal approval in privy council; or, rather, that of the "Board of Trade and Plantations," established in 1696, "who succeeded to the authority and oversight hitherto exercised by Plantation committees of the Privy Council." 2 Hildr. 197. 'The British government, or the majority of the Trustees, appear not to have been actuated by any moral objection to slavery, in making this prohibition. But Oglethorpe, according to authorities cited by Mr. Bancroft, vol. 3, p. 426, said, "Slavery is against the Gospel as well as the fundamental law of England. We refused, as trustees, to make a law permitting such a horrid crime." Mr. Bancroft also gives the governmental view," together with the praises which " so humane a plan "excited in England. Neale v. Farmer, 9 Geo. R., p. 575. "The introduction of slaves was prohibited to the colony of Georgia for some years, not from motives of humanity, but for the reason it was encouraged elsewhere, to wit: the interest of the mother country. It was a favorite idea with the "mother country," to make Georgia a protecting barrier for the Carolinas, against the Spanish settlements south of her, and the principal Indian tribes to the west; to do this, a strong settlement of white men was sought to be built up, whose arms and interests would defend her northern plantations. The introduction of slaves was held to be unfavorable to this scheme, and hence its prohibition. During the time of the prohibition, Oglethorpe himself was a slaveholder in Carolina." Stevens, Hist. of Ga. p. 288, says that in the official publications of the Trustees, its inhibition is based only on political and prudential, and not on humane or liberal grounds, and it seems that every negro "found in the place was sold back into Carolina," if not claimed by some owner. Stevens, p. 299, refers for instance, 1739 -1741, in Stephens' Journal. See also Impartial Inquiry, &c., London, 1741, in vol. 1, Coll. of Geo. Hist. Soc, pp. 166–173, |