The Barbados Slave Code of 1661, officially titled as An Act for the better ordering and governing of Negroes, was a law passed by the

Parliament of Barbados The Parliament of Barbados is the national legislature of Barbados. It is accorded parliamentary sovereignty, legislative supremacy by Chapter V of the Constitution of Barbados.#refConstitution, Constitution, Chapter V, Part 1; Section 35 The P ...

to provide a legal basis for

slavery Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...

in the English colony of

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

and, ostensibly, to standardize procedures for managing the island's increasing slave population, which had tripled since 1640. It is the first comprehensive Slave Act, and the code's preamble, which stated that the law's purpose was to "protect them lavesas we do men's other goods and Chattels", established that black slaves would be treated as chattel property in the island's court.

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The slave code described black people as "an heathenish, brutish and an uncertaine, dangerous kind of people". The Barbados slave code ostensibly sought to protect slaves from cruel masters ("the Negroes and other Slaves be well provided for, and guarded from the Cruelties and Insolences of themselves or other ill-tempered People or Owners") and masters (and "any Christian") from unruly slaves; in practice, it provided extensive protections for masters, but not for slaves. The law required masters to provide each slave with one set of clothing per year, but it set no standards for slaves' diet, housing, or working conditions. It denied slaves, as chattels, even basic

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

guaranteed under

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

, such as the right to life. It allowed the slaves' owners to do entirely as they wished to their slaves for anything considered a misdeed, including mutilating them and burning them alive, without fear of reprisal. For example, if a Black person was found guilty of inflicting violence against a white person, the code stipulated that they should be "severely whipped", have "his or her nose slit and shall be burnt in the face", while the next offence shall be "punished by death". However, "if any Man shall of wantonness, or only of Bloody Mindedness, or Cruel Intention, willfully kill a Negro or other Slave of his own, he shall pay into the Publick Treasury ... if he shall so kill another Man's, He shall pay to the Owner of the Negro, double the Value, and into the Publick Treasury ... And he shall further by the next Justice of the Peace, be bound to the good Behaviour". The Barbados Assembly reenacted the slave code, with minor modifications, in 1676 titled as "A Supplemental Act to a Former Act for the Better Ordering and Governing of Negroes", 1682, and 1688 titled as "An Act for the Governing of Negroes". The slave codes (not digitised) are available at The National Archives. The laws of colonial Barbados to 1699, including those comprising the Slave Code, were collected in a book available online, ''The laws of Barbados collected in one volume by William Rawlin, of the Middle-Temple''. In particular No. 329 details the 1688 Act (the entry for the original 1661 Act, No. 57, reads only "Repealed by Act 330"—an error, actually 329).

"No person of the Hebrew Nation residing in any Sea-Port Town of this Island, shall keep or employ any Negro or other Slave ... for any Use or Service whatsoever."

In 2021 the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

digitised and made public 19th-century newspapers of Barbados (the originals remaining on the island) hoping that the public would help to find information about individual slaves on the island; names and descriptions were only made known for slaves who revolted or escaped, and are lost to history unless recorded in newspapers.

Wider influence

Throughout

British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland, then further south at Roanoke and Jamestown, ...

, slavery evolved in practice before it was codified into law. The Barbados slave code of 1661 marked the beginning of the legal codification of slavery. According to historian Russell Menard, "Since Barbados was the first English colony to write a comprehensive slave code, its code was especially influential."Sweet Negotiations: Sugar, Slavery, and Plantation Agriculture in Early Barbados
Chapter 6 ''The Expansion of Barbados'', p. 112 The Barbados Slave Code served as the basis for the slave codes adopted in several other

British America British America collectively refers to various British colonization of the Americas, colonies of Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and its predecessors states in the Americas prior to the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War in 1 ...

n colonies, including

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

, Carolina (1696),

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, and

Antigua Antigua ( ; ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the local population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the most populous island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua ...

. In other colonies where the codes are not an exact copy, such as

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

and

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, the influence of the Barbados Slave Code can be traced throughout various provisions. The legal basis for slavery was established in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

in 1636. These statutes created the status of chattel slave for those of African descent, i.e. they were slaves for life and the status of slave was inherited. Slave status passed to children through the mother in these statutes. Virginia's 1662 statute reads, "All children borne in this country shall be held bond or free only according to the condition of the mother."

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{{Blockquote , text=If any Negro or slave whatsoever shall offer any violence to any Christian by striking or any other form of violence, such Negro or slave shall for his or her first offence be severely whipped by the Constable. For his second offence of that nature he shall be severely whipped, his nose slit, and be burned in some part of his face with a hot iron. ..And being brutish slaves, heydeserve not, for the baseness of their condition, to be tried by the legal trial of twelve men of their peers, as the subjects of England are. And it is further enacted and ordained that if any Negro or other slave under punishment by his master unfortunately shall suffer in life or member, which seldom happens, no person whatsoever shall be liable to any fine therefore.{{Cite web, title=Excerpts from "An Act for the Better Ordering and Governing of Negroes", url=https://www.oxfordfirstsource.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199794188.013.0204/acref-9780199794188-e-204, access-date=2021-03-20, website=Oxford First Source, language=en, doi=10.1093/acref/9780199794188.013.0204, doi-broken-date=1 November 2024, archive-date=2017-12-22, archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171222003503/http://www.oxfordfirstsource.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199794188.013.0204/acref-9780199794188-e-204, url-status=dead

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Wider influence

Excerpt

See also

References

Further reading