Slave Codes

Abstract

The creation of legal codes dates back to antiquity, but the preference for continuing to use codes (as opposed to garden-variety legislation) was not uniform across the Atlantic World. As early as the Romans, there were codes that defined and restricted the rights of slaves. Remnants of those Roman codes may be found in all civil law descendant codes, namely, the Spanish (Las Siete Partidas and Recopilacións), Portuguese (Ordenações Filipinas), and French (Le Code Noir), each of which contains some provisions relating to slaves. The Enlightenment and increased legislative power explains the creation of so many codes during the early modern period, for the era of 1500–1750 generated many of them. The English, following common-law tradition, did not rely upon codes; statutes passed by legislatures and court decisions rendered by judges created a patchwork of slave law that a few scholars have argued created a de facto slave code; the laws were sometimes referred to as such by their makers. The transmission of any of these European codes or laws to the New World was patchy, with some colonies of the 1600s and 1700s enacting their own local ordinances and so-called codes in English colonies. Not only was transmission uneven, but also the creation of codes did not insure their enforcement on the ground, for the gap between publication and practice on the ground often meant that the law was honored more in the breach than the observance. For further information on slave law in the New World, consult the separate Oxford Bibliographies articles on Law and Slavery and Emancipation.