THE BAHAMA ISLANDS 



451 



and declared illegal until 1827, at which time only a small registry fee was 

 exacted of such liberally disposed masters.^'" 



A law of the year 1805 confined the trial of all questions of the freedom 

 of slaves to the General Court. For the accommodation of claimants to free- 

 dom in the Out-islands, it was arranged that a magistrate could force a master 

 to give up his claim to the ownership of a slave, or pay the expense of carrying 

 the case to Nassau for trial in the highest court of the Colony. The expense 

 of the latter alternative fell upon the master. In all such trials for freedom 

 only the freedom of the slave could be determined, and only nominal damages 

 awarded; but if the judgment were favorable to the claimant, another suit 

 for damages could be made, as well as for wages for the time during which 

 freedom had been unlawfully withheld.'" A second suit for freedom, on grounds 

 different from those on which freedom had once been denied, or based on facts 

 occurring subsequent to the previous judgment, could not be denied to a slave.™ 

 Magistrates were authorized to appoint guardians for slaves.™ 



By the later provision for the manumission, the instrument freeing the 

 slave had to be in writing, under seal, witnessed and registered. A slave could 

 then, for the first time, purchase his own freedom under the express law of the 

 Bahamas. He could also purchase the freedom of his wife or child, or of a 

 relative, on such terms as he might make with the owner in each case. The 

 code gave its support to all such agreements, if they were reasonable. In case 

 of a disagreement between the owner and the slave, as to the price on which 

 they had fixed for the price of freedom, a referee was to be appointed on 

 behalf of each party, which referee would act, together with a magistrate, to 

 determine upon the amount of compensation due the owner. If these parties 

 failed to come to an agreement, an umpire was appointed to make a final deter- 

 mination. His decision on the case the law upheld. These proceedings were 

 not to affect the rights of judgments, or of creditors, mortgagees, or joint 

 owners. 



Children under fourteen years of age could not be manumitted without 

 the consent of their owners. The statute of 1834 forbade the manumission of 

 old or infirm slaves, with a view to saving the Colony the expense of the main- 

 tenance of such persons in the poor establishment. In the statute of the year 



""7 Geo. IV, 1. 



'" 45 Geo. Ill, 20, and 7 Geo. IV, 7. 



''» 10 Geo. IV, 6. 



'°°Loc. cit. 



