Indeed it did. There was another proviso though, that seems to go unnoticed, and that is that in the case of an intestate leaving several children, the heir-at-law had to pay his siblings their share of the value. That was hardly feasible in most cases, hence why we so many division of slaves among children in intestate estates—he paid his siblings in-kind with the slaves. I wish to thank our colleague Barbara Vines Little for bringing that to my attention.
I don’t think the law was enacted to direct the law of inheritance, but as a means of protecting assets from creditors, as Holly Brewer’s article (referenced here earlier) discusses in great detail. The fact that we see the division of slaves so frequently suggests it was an easy law to get around. Unless the heir-at-law really, really wanted to own all the slaves and could afford to buy out his siblings, he could. Dower rights excepted of course.
Also, in 1727 this act was amended (Hening IV, 222-229) making a lot of changes but not outright repealing the law that made slaves real estate in the case of intestates. It returned their status to chattel in a number of circumstances, however, and other changes.
Craig Kilby
> On Jan 5, 2016, at 3:39 PM, rpmellen <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Ami
> [regarding slaves as property]
> “in 1705 the [Virginia] Assembly stated implicitly that ‘all negro, mulatto, and Indian slaves, in all courts of judicature, and other places, within this dominion [colony of Virginia], shall be held, taken, and adjudged to be real estate …”
>
> William Hening, /The Statutes At Large; Being A Collection Of/ /All The Laws Of Virginia, From The First Session Of The Legislature In The Year 1619 /(New York: Printed for the editor, 1819-23. Facsimile reprint, Charlottesville: Published for the Jamestown Foundation of the Commonwealth of Virginia by the University Press of Virginia, 1969), 3:333, quoted in Thad W. Tate, /The Negro in Eighteenth-Century Williamsburg/ (Williamsburg: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1965), 8-9.
>
>
>
> On 1/5/16 1:22 PM, Tarter, Brent (LVA) wrote:
>> Ami,
>>
>> By far the most accurate, thorough, and learned discussion of entail is in Holly Brewer, "Entailing Aristocracy in Colonial Virginia: 'Ancient Feudal Restraints' and Revolutionary Reform," William and Mary Quarterly, 3d ser., 54 (1997): 307-346.
>>
>> Brent Tarter
>> [log in to unmask]
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Pflugrad-Jackisch, Ami Rebecca
>> Sent: Tuesday, January 05, 2016 2:38 PM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Colonial law codes vs. session laws
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> This is a very interesting discussion. The slaves as real property issue is a thorny one. Could slaves still be entailed somehow after this? Are there any examples of a white family moving to a new (but previously existing) large plantation and buying the slaves owned by the previous family?
>>
>> Can anyone tell me what the most accurate source is for more information on this?
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Ami
>>
>> Ami Pflugrad-Jackisch
>> Associate Professor of History
>> University of Toledo
>> [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>>
>>
>> Craig Kilby <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> This may well be. One such instance was Virginia's 1748 repeal of the 1705 law defining slaves as real property, which was nullified in 1751.
>>
>> Craig Kilby
>> Kilby Research Services
>> www.craigkilby.com<http://www.craigkilby.com>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>> On Jan 5, 2016, at 10:40 AM, Tarter, Brent (LVA) <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>
>>> If memory serves me correctly, the Crown disallowed several statutes enacted with the revisal of Virginia's legal code in 1749.
>>
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