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medicine be not prepared, exhibited or administered, with an ill intent, nor attended with any bad consequences, the accused shall be acquitted.

2. Offences against Persons and Property.

2

Slaves are punishable with death for murder,' rape, an attempt to commit rape on a white woman, buggery, arson, malicious burning of barns, stables, corn houses or other houses; returning from transportation ; a third conviction for hog-stealing; horsestealing; receiving stolen horses; stealing any record, writ or process from any court of the commonwealth; forging, counterfeiting, or altering (or assisting therein) the seal3 of any public office or body corporate; larceny from a church, chapel or meeting house; robbery from a dwelling house, the owner or dweller therein being put in fear by the offender; robbery from a house in the day time, and the asportation of goods therefrom; highway robbery; and in fine for all felonies, where no benefit of clergy is expressly allowed. Accessaries before the fact are also punished with death in murder, burglary, arson, burning of public prisons, court houses, or clerks' offices, robbery of dwelling houses and highway robbery. The benefit of clergy absolves the punishment of death in many cases of minor felony, and leaves the offender to the penalties of the pillory, or stripes inflicted at the discretion of the court. For perjury before the county court of palpable and positive character, the offender, without further trial, is punishable with the pillory for one hour, and one ear is cut off, or with stripes or such other penalty not extending to life or limb, as the court may order. The usual punishment of slaves, in the judicial practice of the country, for misdemeanors, consists in the infliction of stripes never exceeding thirty-nine. Imprisonment has no terror, is no penalty, for the slave, and transportation, the punishment next in degree to that of death, has no other remedial effect than the removal of the vicious slave from the bosom of the community. No fine or amercement can affect him, nor can his master, without an agency in his guilt, be held answerable or culpable for his crimes. The proceedings against slaves in criminal cases are of a

1 An attempt to kill a white person, is punishable, at the discretion of the court, with stripes and transportation. Act 1823.

2 Formerly castration, now death by act 37 of 1823.

3 Each certificate of freedom must have the seal of the county affixed to it.

speedy and decisive character. The accused is committed by a justice of the peace to the public jail of the county, and by his warrant he convokes, at the expiration of ten days, the justices of the peace, who are ex officio magistrates of oyer and terminer for the trial of slaves charged with felony. This court must consist of five or more, and judge both of the law and the fact, without the interposition of a jury. Should it fail to assemble at the appointed time, the ensuing monthly court tries the prisoner. A unanimous opinion of the guilt of the accused is requisite for condemnation. If the party have no counsel, it is the duty of the court to assign him one, and the recompense for his professional services is made a charge on the master. Upon such trial, the court may take for evidence the confession of the party, the oath of one or more credible witnesses, or such testimony of negroes or mulattoes, bond or free, with pregnant circumstances, as to them shall seem convincing." On any conviction for a crime whose penalty is death, the court is compelled to have the testimony in the cause entered on its records, and a copy of the whole proceedings must be forthwith transmitted to the executive, which acts in the question in the nature of a court of appeal, and can either pardon unconditionally, or sell the convict for transportation. When judgment of death is passed on such criminal, thirty days are limited as the period of execution, unless in cases of conspiracy, insurrection or rebellion, and in all cases of execution or transportation, the value of the slave is paid to the owner by the state. The privilege of appeal, which is denied to them by the general court of Virginia, 'because it was not expressly granted by the Legislature, is one of the most striking peculiarities of this mode of trial. Each court of oyer and terminer is a legislative body in prescribing its own rules, process and circumstances of trial, and can either awe into confession by severity, or construe into guilt by the rejection of testimony. It is true that the whole proceedings must be submitted to the executive, and although it may pardon, it cannot restore to the negro either his character as a man, or his value as a slave.3

1 Original feature of the act of 1748, H. S. L. vol. 6, 105.

2 Vide the dull logic of the General court of Va. in Peter's case June term, 1821.

3 The laws of Louisiana, our principal slave market, prohibit the importation of convicted slaves the novus homo created by a pardon, is not considered as exempted from this restriction.

Such is the brief outline of the Laws of Virginia relative to slavery. To the casual observer this dreary catalogue of penalty and degradation, is well calculated to excite the sympathies of humanity, and the heart will sicken with the fulness of pity for the miseries of this wretched race. Yet many of these laws have remained for years without a victim, and the sharp edge of their severity is blunted by the force of public opinion. Good laws and good morals are reciprocally formed, sustained and supported by each other, and their execution takes its hue. from the varied condition and demands of society. The justices of the peace, who constitute the courts of oyer and terminer, are generally men of virtue and enlightened humanity, and their decisions are characterized by fairness and liberality. Under such a mode of trial our laws seem but to consist in theory, and to be almost abrogated by the humanity of the court and the mercy of the executive. Ill assorted to the general feelings of the community, yet necessary as a precautionary measure, they remain the stern memorials of the policy and wisdom of our ancestors, inoperative from the want of infraction, and softened into forgiveness by the suggestions of philanthropy. How harsh soever our statute law may appear, the soothing influences of moral benevolence and kindness prevalent throughout our community, are strongly evidenced in the mode of treatment extended to them. The right of absolute and uncontrolled dominion allowed to the master, does not include a power of cruelty and unmerciful treatment. Our laws punish this offence with much' severity, and the master, who is inhuman, meets in his intercourse with society, a just contempt, and a merited indignation.

'The character of the negro, which is created alike from the debasing nature of slavery and the degradation of his moral and social relations, is a strange and wayward compound of profligate vice and affectionate fidelity. They are generally cowardly, cruel and deceitful, lost to all sense of truth, and extremely unchaste and profligate. Possessing all the grosser vices of civilization without any of its virtues, and reared in the school of dissimulation and treachery, their condition presents an elo

1 The principle recognised in the case Com. v. Brown, 2 Va. Cases, 394, overruled in 1827, in the General Court, 5 Randolph, 678, Commonwealth v. Turner, decided that an indictment could not be sustained against a master for wilful and cruel treatment to his own slave.

quent commentary on the moral desolations of slavery. Yet they are comparatively happy,' and the course of treatment they now experience in Virginia, has disarmed slavery of half of its terrors, and awakened in a deeper degree the mutual feelings of gratitude and obedience. Of late the culture of tobacco, with all its necessary exposures and labors, has declined in Virginia, and, in the growth of grain, plenty and abundance follows. The common decencies of society demand from the master a humane and attentive treatment. They are generally substantially and comfortably clothed, and well supported both in diet and medical attention, and pass their whole lives in the passive tranquillity of contented servitude. However paradoxical it may appear, they are happy, and possess a philosophy of temperament and an elasticity of mind, which either a stoic or epicurean might envy. Their moments of pleasure, their dances, funerals, and associations, are characterized by enjoyments which throw a brightness over the darkness of their lot. Depressed by none of the cares of a family, reckless of futurity, and secure of maintenance, their hours of pleasure are those of deep and heartfelt gaiety. Ignorance in them is, truly, bliss,' and the theoretical schemes, which iutrusive fanaticism would engender for their intellectual improvement, would destroy this peaceful repose, create a restless insubordination, and provoke the execution of laws which have hitherto slumbered in inaction.

W. G. M.

6

Member of the Gloucester Bar, Va.

Slave and free colored population in Virginia, ascertained by the census.

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1 Sir John Carr's 'Stranger in Ireland' passim for the distresses of the peasantry. Each newspaper brings us some painful detail of the melancholy condition, sufferings, and labors of European paupers.

CHATTELS

ART. II.-POSSESSION BY THE VENDER OR MORTGAGER OF WHETHER THE QUESTION OF FRAUD IS ONE OF LAW OR FACT - DELIVERY OF GOODS SOLD.

TWENTY-FIVE years ago a conveyance of goods in mortgage, was, to say the least, of rare occurrence, and until a somewhat later period, the distinction between pledge and mortgage was little understood. In the case of Holmes et al. v. Crane, 2 Pick. 607, a lucid exposition was given of the distinction in these cases, viz. That by a mortgage of goods the right of property passes to the mortgagee, and he may dispose of them as he sees fit, subject only to the condition or right of redemption, and possession is not essential to the mortgagee's title. A pawnee has only a lien on goods deposited as a pledge, which cannot be maintained but upon the basis of possession. If, therefore, he relinquishes the possession, although the debt. remains unpaid, the lien is ipso facto extinguished.

This subject of mortgage and pledge has received the attention of Chancellor Kent, as will appear in his Commentaries, vol. 4, pages 132, 133, 134, where the following positions may be found, viz. A pledge or pawn is a deposit of goods redeemable on certain terms, and either with or without a fixed period for redemption. Delivery accompanies a pledge, and is essential to its validity. The general property does not pass, as in the case of a mortgage, and the pawnee has only a special property. If no time of redemption be fixed by the contract, the pawnor may redeem at any time; and though a day of payment be fixed, he may redeem after the day. He has his whole life to redeem, provided the pawnee does not call upon him to redeem, as he has a right to do at any time in his discretion, if no time for redemption be fixed; and if no such call be made, the representatives of the pawnor may redeem after his death.' Without recourse to any legal or chancery proceedings, 'the creditor may sell at auction, on giving reasonable opportunity to the debtor to redeem, and apprizing him of the time and place of sale; and this is the most convenient and usual practice, as while the debtor's right in the pledge remains unextinguished, his interest is liable to be sold on execution; and the purchaser, like any other purchaser or assignee of the interest of the

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