Jon--In my experience such an order from the court was the granting of a petition of a slaveholder to have the slaves removed from that slaveholder's list of taxable slaves, usually because their age or some infirmity left them unable to work and produce some income. In other words they no longer were to be considered a "tithable" and subject to the tax levy of the county, or parish, colony or state, depending on the time period.

Mick Nicholls
On Mar 14, 2012, at 8:40 PM, Jon Kukla wrote:

> A friend brought me an entry from an 1805 order book for Campbell County that states:
> 
> "Ordered, that Betty, Nancy and Phillis Negroes belonging to the estate of John Doe, deceased, be set levy free."
> 
> Her question is, in this context, what does "levy free" mean?
> 
> Thank you.
> 
> Jon Kukla
> 
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