there is an 1801 version of the statuteAn ACT to amend the act intituled, 'An act to reduce into one the several acts concerning slaves, free negroes and mulattoes' (1801)
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An ACT to amend the act intituled, 'An act to reduce into one the sever...
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On Thursday, August 4, 2016 1:28 PM, Paul Finkelman <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
This is a complicated question andI hope someone will have a suggestion. In1806 the U.S. Supreme Court heard an obscure case, Scott v. Negro London, 7 U.S. (3 Cr.) 324 (1806The Court saidit was interpreting "theact of assembly of Virginia, of the 17th December, 1792, P. P. 186; the 2d section of which is in thesewords: 'Slaves which shall hereafter be brought into this commonwealth, andkept therein one owner, it whole year together, or so long at different timesas shall amount to one year, shall be free.'” I have carefully searched theSession Laws for 1792 (and just to be certain the 1793 laws as well) and havenot found this act. Furthermore, the 1792 laws only have 126 pages, soclearly there is no page 186 in that volume. (nor in the 1793 laws). The substance of this law is in the 1785 session laws, andthere is an amendment to that law that was passed on Dec. 17, 1789 in the 1789session laws. At first I thought that the court merely made a mistake andit was the 1789 the Court was looking at. But section 2 of the 1789 law is not what is quoted in the case.
Now, to confuse me more, the act does show up in SamuelShepard's statutes at Law of Virginia, published in 1835 As Chap. 41, "AnAct to reduce into one, the several acts concerning slaves, free negroes, andmulattoes," (Passed December 17, 1792). What Shepard printed corresponds to thequotations by the Supreme Court in 1806. So clearly Shepard is workingfrom some printed statute (or manuscript statute) that was the same as what theUS Supreme Court saw in 106. Can anyone help me find the original 1792 law? Is there somewhere in the VA state archiveswhere there might be a printed version of that law? Or was there a second setof statues published for 1792 that would help. I am happy to discuss this off-list and can send anyonewho wants it PDFs of the 1806 case and the 1792 sessions laws. The 1835 Shepards compilation can be foundhere: https://books.google.com/books?id=rV83AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA122&lpg=PA122&dq=1792+%22kept+therein+one+whole+year+together,+or+so+long+at+different+times+as+shall+amount+to+one+year%22&source=bl&ots=5ZjPw110L8&sig=gEO1WO-ga6E0VkAZL-s5F9EmNN4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiajp2tvKfOAhUCRCYKHQ8SBusQ6AEIPjAG#v=onepage&q=1792%20%22kept%20therein%20one%20whole%20year%20together%2C%20or%20so%20long%20at%20different%20times%20as%20shall%20amount%20to%20one%20year%22&f=false Thanks in advance.
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Paul FinkelmanArielF. Sallows Visiting Professor of Human Rights LawCollegeof LawUniversityof Saskatchewan15Campus DriveSaskatoon,SK S7N 5A6 [log in to unmask]
c) 518.605.0296 (US number)
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