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The Code Noir of Louisiana, 1724
Slave Codes of the State of Georgia, 1848
In order for slavery to survive as an institution, slave
codes or laws had to be created to maintain order. The
slave codes were established by governments for slave
owners to follow as well as for non-slave owning whites.
If the institution of slavery was to endure, all members
of society had to follow these codes. The Code Noir
of Louisiana, 1724 and the Slave Codes of Georgia, were
just two examples of slave codes created to maintain
order and establish control.
Code Noir of Louisiana, 1724 (Selected)
A Royal Edict Touching on the State and Discipline of
the Black Slaves of Louisiana, Given at Versailles in
the Month of March 1724
Louis, by the grace of God, King of France and Navarre,
to all present and to come, Salvation. . . . We have judged
that it was a matter of our authority and our justice,
for the conservation of this colony, to establish there
a law and certain rules to maintain there the discipline
of the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church and to arrange
that which concerns the state and quality of slaves in
the said Isles. . . .
XXVII
The slave who will have struck his master, his mistress,
the husband of his mistress, or their children, either
in the face or resulting in a bruise or the outpouring
of blood, will be punished by death.
XXVIII
And as to abuse and assault that will be committed by
slaves against free persons, we wish that they be severely
punished, even by death if it falls due. . . .
XXXVIII
We also forbid all of our subjects of the said country,
of whatever quality or condition they may be, to engage
in, or by their private authority to have others engage
in, the torture or the racking of slaves, under whatever
pretext it may be; nor to do them, or to have others do
them, any mutilation, under pain of confiscation of the
slaves and of being proceeded against extraordinarily.
We permit them [masters], when they believe their slaves
will have merited it, only to bind them and to beat them
with rods or cords.
XXXIX
We order the officers of justice established in the said
country to proceed criminally against the masters and
overseers who will have killed their slaves or will have
mutilated them while under their power or under their
direction and to punish the murder according to the atrocity
of the circumstances. In case their is cause to discharge
them, we permit the dismissal of the masters as well as
the overseers without there being need to obtain from
us letters of grace.
XL
We wish that the slaves be considered personal property
. . .
Slave Codes of the State of Georgia, 1848 (Selected)
SEC. I. CAPITAL OFFENCES.
1. Capital crimes when punished with death.
The following shall be considered as capital offences,
when committed by a slave or free person of color: insurrection,
or an attempt to excite it; committing a rape, or attempting
it on a free white female; murder of a free white person,
or murder of a slave or free person of color, or poisoning
of a human being; every and each of these offences shall,
on conviction, be punished with death.
2. When punished by death, or at discretion of the court.
And the following, also, shall be considered as capital
offences, when committed by a slave or free person of
color: assaulting a free white person with intent to murder,
or with a weapon likely to produce death; maiming a free
white person; burglary, or arson of any description; also,
any attempt to poison a human being; every and each of
these offences shall, on conviction, be punished with
death, or such other punishment as the court in their
judgement shall think most proportionate to the offence,
and best promote the object of the law, and operate as
a preventive for like offences in future.
3. Punishment for manslaughter.
And in case a verdict of manslaughter shall be found by
the jury, the punishment shall be by whipping, at the
discretion of the court, and branded on the cheek with
the letter M.
1. Who is the author of these documents?
2. Are there any differences in punishment
between 1724 and 1848? Explain.
3. What are there differences in punishment
for offenses committed by slaves, free persons, and whites?
Who is punished more harshly in each document?
4. What is meant by "personal property?"
How does the definition of personal property differ in
each document?
5. Who is the authority figure in both
documents? Why do you think that the slave owner can be
punished for killing his slave in 1724?
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