Slavery, the Civil Law, and the Supreme Court of Louisiana

by Judith Kelleher Schafer

Constituting what may be the most impressive research to date of state supreme court records, Slavery, the Civil Law, and the Supreme Court of Louisiana analyzes the evolution of Louisiana's slave laws from the territorial period to the Civil War. Over the course of four years, Judith Kelleher Schafer examined the original handwritten decisions (only recently made available) of the Louisiana Supreme Court, scrutinizing 1,200 appeals involving slaves as plaintiffs, defendants, or objects in lawsuits or criminal actions. The result is the first book-length study of those manuscripts and the first study of any state's slave law and its courts to use original case records from the entire antebellum era.

Louisiana's legal system was unique among those of southern slave states in that it embodied a legacy of French, Spanish, and thus, indirectly, Roman law. However, through repeated exposure to common-law tenets over time - a development Schafer tracesLouisiana law became more "Americanized," so that by the dawn of the Civil War it was in many respects very similar to that of other states seceding from the Union. Louisiana was unusual also in that its highest court was required to hear virtually every case brought to it on appeal. Decisions of that body, therefore, represent not merely a few landmark cases but a spectrum of typical parish- and district-court cases, many of which include vivid details about the day-to-day realities of slavery and the world that formed, and was formed by, that institution.

Schafer presents numerous concise case histories, stories that are fascinating and at times heartbreaking in the particulars they reveal about slaves' existence. We see how the court continually wrestled with the paradox that slaves were considered by the law to be at once persons and property. Property considerations usually won out: even cases involving the abuse or killing of slaves often came before the court as civil matters rather than criminal.

Slavery, the Civil Law, and the Supreme Court of Louisiana offers a mine of information to the student of southern, legal, Louisiana, or African-American history. Anyone interested in slavery will find Schafer's book compelling reading, for it depicts in detail, probably better than most fictional or narrative accounts, what living in bondage could mean.

396 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having been a native of the State of Louisiana for fifty years, I very much enjoyed reading this research work on Louisiana Supreme Court Cases concerning slavery issues from 1803 (when Louisiana became a state) to 1862 (when the Louisiana Supreme Court was in abeyance after the capture of the City of New Orleans, and Louisiana in general, by Federal forces). A short chapter at the end of the book covers the period after the Civil War, when the Louisiana Supreme Court was still hearing cases regarding the effects of slavery.

When Louisiana became a State, it resisted efforts to become purely American, due to the large numbers of French / Creole residents in Louisiana, who were used to Spanish / French law. On the other hand, the State wanted to maintain the institution of slavery, on the grounds that the cotton / sugar cane industries depended on slave labor, and that having large numbers of free people of color would have a negative effect on the general (white) populace. The Louisiana Supreme Court heard all cases referred to it where the value of the suit was $300 or more; it could not refuse to hear any such cases. By and large, a slave had no rights; a slave could not testify against a white person, a slave could not enter into contracts or marriage, and there was no such thing in the law as a prohibition of rape against slaves. However, slaves were held liable for crimes against whites or against the property of whites (including themselves and other slaves, being property). On the other hand, fairly uniquely in Louisiana, a slave owner could state in his or her will that slaves were to be freed (provided certain legal norms were followed), and (until 1857) a slave could sue for emancipation, again following certain legal norms. One of the chapters in the work deals with slave owners seeking redress against steamboat captains / owners, on the grounds either that their slaves had fled to free states without the captains / owners ensuring that any people of color on board were not fugitive slaves, or on the grounds that their slaves, having been hired out on the steamships, died in the course of their work due to negligence. Another category of suits had to do with slave dealers selling slaves warranted to be of good health and character who were not in good health or of good character; the buyer could then sue the slave dealer for misrepresentation. After the War the kinds of suits that came up had to do with contracts dating from before the War, or with whether or not a slave marriage contracted (without legal value before the War) had validity after the War.

This was a very good book, and I very much enjoyed the reading of it.