SLAVE LAWSCaribbean HistoryAnsel St. Hilaire Group Members :

Rachael JohnDannah Smart

Kristal Sookdeo Tiffany Ragoobir

Rachel FridaySuresh Bedasee

Objectives The Institution of Slavery in Caribbean The British Slave Laws The French Slave Laws (Code Nior) The Spanish and Portuguese Slave Laws References

THE INSTITUTION OF SLAVERY IN THE CARIBBEAN Slavery is a relationship in which two people are involved and is of an

exploitive nature

It is not new to the Americas but it is most distinguishable during the colonial period in the Americas with the rise of African Slavery

European objective: Gold, God, Glory (3G’s)

Europeans came looking for mineral wealth but eventually turned to agriculture , mainly sugar

CONT.

Amerindians were inadequate for forced labour due to many factors working against them

New labourers were need to which the Africans fit the criteria

This lead to the formation of the Atlantic Slave Trade or the Triangular Trade that would result in the displacement of many ethnic groups from Africa to mingle in the Americas and form different races now existent

BRITISH SLAVE LAWS Barbados, Antigua and Martinique were the first important slave

societies of the Caribbean

By the mid 18th Century Jamaica had become the largest and most brutal slave society in the British West Indies

Slaves were supervised under demanding masters who gave them little medical care and so contracted many diseases

Ownership of slaves was legitimate on the grounds that they were infidels being not Christian and “uncivilized”

Slavery itself was illegal in England and so as soon as slaves entered the country they were free

CONT. By 1700 there was no extensive use of slave labour in

England as in the colonies Slave laws in the British empire developed slowly over

centuries characterized by indecision and varying rationales on the treatment of slaves

Until 1807 there was no legislative intervention in relation to slavery therefore the common law was freely developed

The English had laws giving equality and fair treatment to its citizens as far back as the Magna Carta in 1215

BARBADOS SLAVE CODE

Cont. The Code was established in 1661 to provide legal

basis for slavery in Barbados Code’s preamble: “to protect slaves as we do

men’s other Goods and Chattels “ It sought to protect slaves ostensibly from cruel

masters and vice versa However it provided far more extensive protection

for masters Law required masters to provide slaves with one

set of clothing per year

Cont. It didn’t however set standards for the slave’s diet, housing or working conditions

Also denied basic rights such as right to life, allowing slave masters to do whatever they pleased to the slave

This slave code also served as the basis for slave codes in Jamaica (1664) and Antigua (1702)

French Slave Laws (Code Nior)

CODE NOIR

Was a decree originally passed by King Louis XIV in 1685 Defined conditions of slavery in the French colonial empire The document is said to contain 60 different articles governing

French Colonial life. It asserted French sovereignty and secured the future of the

sugar industry Was largely influenced by religious morals by the arrival of

Catholic leaders in Martinique Was applied to the West Indies in 1687 and in Canadian New

France

CODE NOIR Comprise of two main section, the disability and the

beneficent section

All laws were to keep slaves in their rightful place, to squelch uprisings and rebellions and to make slave completely dependent on the master

IMPORTANT ARTICLES IN CODE NOIR Jews could not reside in the French colonies slaves must be baptized in the Roman Catholic

Church children born between married slaves were also

slaves, belonging to the female slave's master slaves must not carry weapons except under

permission of their masters for hunting purposes slaves belonging to different masters must not

gather at any time under any circumstance

Cont. slaves should not sell sugar cane, even with

permission of their masters masters must give food (quantities specified) and

clothes to their slaves, even to those who were sick or old

free blacks who harbour fugitive slaves would be beaten by the slave owner and fined 300 pounds of sugar per day of refuge given

masters may chain and beat slaves but may not torture nor mutilate them

slave husband and wife (and their prepubescent children) under the same master were not to be sold separately 

The Spanish and Portuguese Slave Laws

The Spanish slave laws came before the building of their empire in the “Americas” known today as the “Caribbean”. These laws were written in the thirteenth century, upon enslavement of the Moor by Spain.

The Code Laws allowed slavery but failed to mention if it benefited the slaves Slaves were seen as human being with some right and did not permit

masters to injure or kill slaves. It was a great offence according to Spanish Codes to starve, overwork, or ill-

treat a slave, Reformation of slaves to Christianity was of great importance to the Spanish. Slaves also sponsored manumission, in Portuguese Brazil. As long as a slave

was able to pay back the money his master paid for him, he could demand his freedom.

Portuguese Brazil and Spanish Cuba had a custom which allowed a free Godfather to buy the freedom of his slave Godchild at the Christening.

SPANISH COLONIAL EMPIRE Slavery in the Spanish colonies began with settlers

enslaving local indigenous people They used slavery and production quotas to force labour

to bring return on colonial investments Slavery production quotas= ENCOMIENDA,

REPARTIMIENTO, REDUCCIONES During the first decades slavery caused the deaths of

thousands of indigenous people

CONT. After pressure from clerical influences mandated the protection of

the native people, enslavement of the population began to dissolve Moves to protect Amerindians: LAWS OF BURGOS, THE NEW LAWS,

THE LAWS OF THE INDIES After the freeing of indigenous populations the Spanish began

importing African slaves, buying them off the British and Dutch traders

Mainland slavery in the Spanish colonies ended in the 18th century but not in Cuba and Puerto Rico where sugar was still highly profitable

LAS SIETE PARTIDAS Was a Castilian statutory code which established a

body of normative rules for the kingdom Originally called Libro de los Leyes not until 14th

century was called Siete Partidas Its influence extended to the Latin American colonies Has been described as humanist encyclopaedia,

containing philosophical, moral and theological topics including view points of the Abraham religions

CONT. The Fourth Partida contains the information on slavery The fourth partida consists of 27 articles comprising 256 laws.

Its subject is family law, as well as other permanent relationships between people, other than matrimony and biological kinship.It deals with engagement (4,1,2); matrimony (4,2,1) and the capacity, form, and validity of the canon law to which it is subject; divorce (which does not refer to the dissolution of the matrimonial bond, but rather with separation or the cessation of cohabitation); legitimate and illegitimate patrimony (4,14,1); parens patriae (the rights of the state to intervene in the interests of minor children); slavery (4,23,8), described as the "vilest thing in this world" after sin itself; the civil status of persons (free and slave; noble and commoner; clergy and laity; legitimate and illegitimate; Christian, Moor, and Jew; male and female); serfdom and fiefs; and the bonds of friendship.

References Slave Laws In The Caribbean. (2011, July 26). Retrieved November 3, 2015.

Buchanan, K. (2011, January 13). Slavery in the French Colonies: Le Code Noir (the Black Code) of 1685. Retrieved November 3, 2015.