Early court records are very, very incomplete and scattered, so it is not
wise to state that that or any other one case was definitely the first. The
best we can do is to state that one might be the earliest identified case
and hedge even that by reference to the loss of a vast abundance of county
and General Court records from Virginia.

Brent Tarter
[log in to unmask]


On Thu, May 9, 2019 at 1:08 PM Boris Sokolovsky <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Can you formulate a concise answer to this question?
> Was Johnson vs Parker a first case in the colonies that recognized a person
> as a "property' of another person?
> The case of Punch was a punishment for violating an Indenture Contract.
>
> On Tue, May 7, 2019 at 6:23 AM Kimball, Gregg <
> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > There are a few premises in the initial post that I would consider
> suspect,
> > but I'm sure better scholars on the list will weigh in. I hope they will,
> > because a few of these assumptions have troubled me for some time.
> >
> > How can we consider the "20 and odd" Africans who arrived in Virginia in
> > 1619 as "indentured servants with time restricted contracts" if they were
> > taken from a Spanish slave ship by English raiders and traded in the
> > colony?
> >
> > Do we know that there were "no laws regarding slavery for life" anywhere
> in
> > Britain and its colonies? I ask that because we seem to assume that a
> lack
> > of statutes means "no law," but British law, as I understand it, was
> > largely based on the common law.
> >
> > Can we EVER assume a "first" in terms of the law of slavery in Virginia
> > given the massive loss of early records?
> >
> > Gregg
> >
> >
> >
> > On Tue, May 7, 2019 at 7:58 AM Boris Sokolovsky <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
> >
> > > Since there were no laws regarding slavery for life(all "slaves" were
> > > brought in as indentured servants with time restricted contracts)  what
> > was
> > > the first established by law case of slavery?
> > > Many resources point at the Johnson vs Parker case.
> > > Can you clarify the issue?
> > >
> > > On Mon, May 6, 2019 at 1:11 PM Paul Heinegg <[log in to unmask]>
> > wrote:
> > >
> > > > No, but he may have been the first slave owned by a former slave.
> > > >
> > > > Casor sued for his freedom from former slave Anthony Johnson in
> > > > Northampton
> > > > County, Virginia, in 1653, but Johnson insisted that "hee had ye
> Negro
> > > for
> > > > his life" [Orders, Deeds, Wills, 1651-54, 226].
> > > > John Casor/ Cazara travelled with the Johnson family to Somerset
> > County,
> > > > Maryland, where he recorded his livestock mark in court, with the
> > consent
> > > > of
> > > > Anthony's widow Mary Johnson [Archives of Maryland, 54:760-1].
> > > > He was a witness (signing) to her power of attorney by which she
> > assigned
> > > > her son John Johnson authority over her property in Virginia
> [Somerset
> > > > County Judicial Record, 1671-75, 159-62].
> > > > Paul
> > > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: Boris Sokolovsky
> > > > Sent: Saturday, May 04, 2019 3:14 PM
> > > > To: [log in to unmask]
> > > > Subject: [VA-HIST] John Casor
> > > >
> > > > Was John Casor one of the first legal black slave?
> > > >
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> >
> >
> > --
> > Dr. Gregg D. Kimball
> > Director of Public Services and Outreach
> > Library of Virginia
> > 804-692-3722 (work)
> > 804-909-4501 (cell)
> >
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> >
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