Jon--outlawry was a legal process which could be initiated against
outlying, runaway slaves who posed a serious threat to the community.
See Hening 3:460 for the 1705 summation. Two justices, one of whom
had to be in the quorum, were required to issue a proclamation which
was to be "published" after church service. If the slave did not
surrender than they could be killed by anyone--or if captured they
could be "dismembered." This was modified a bit--see Hening 6:110;
clarified in 8: 523 [1772] . In 1792 the sheriff was to organize a
force to capture outlying slaves when two or more were at large
kllling hogs etc, but without the outlawry provision being mentioned.
At this time, I believe, the process of outlawry disappeared from the
Va Code--Mick
On Jul 21, 2008, at 8:42 AM, Jon Kukla wrote:
> While looking for something else in the Va Gazette Index on the
> Colonial
> Williamsburg website, I stumbled upon a dozen entries dating from
> 1767 to
> 1773 indexed as "Beheading, as punishment for runaway slaves."
> Here is one
> example from Rind's Virginia Gazette of February 4, 1768, page 4,
> col 2.*
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> ----------------
> Indian-Creek, Northumberland County,
> Jan. 10. 1768
> Run away from the subscriber, a Negro man named MANN,
> about 5 feet 6 inches high; he has a slit in one of his ears,
> gives very sensible answers, and is about 50 years old.
> He is outlawed from his threatening to burn my houses.
> If any person will deliver me his head, severed from his
> body, they shall receive 10L. current money: If taken alive
> and delivered, 40s. besides what the law allows.
> JOHN
> SMITH
> N.B. He is supposed to be lurking about Col. Corbin's
> quarters, in King & Queen.
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----------------
> I found this startling for the mainland, and it raises all kinds of
> questions. Perhaps there is significance in the statement that
> MANN was an
> outlaw. If so, what VA court had the power to declare someone an
> outlaw?
> literally unprotected by the law. Or was this something that a
> slaveholder
> could legally initiate? Or was this just an aberrant threat? Was
> this kind
> of threat every carried out?
>
> --
> Jon Kukla
> www.JonKukla.com <http://www.jonkukla.com/>
>
> *The URL for this page of Rind's VA Gazette accessible via Colonial
> Williamsburg library website is :
> http://research.history.org/DigitalLibrary/VirginiaGazette/
> VGImagePopup.cfm?ID=2147&Res=HI&CFID=27193533&CFTOKEN=11851976
>
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