In 1789, the King of Spain, Carlos IV , sanctioned a royal decree to regulate slavery in his kingdoms, which was a curious combination of authority, regulation, and paternalism. It was inspired by the so-called Black Code (Code Noir), which had been promulgated by the French monarch Louis XIV at the request of his minister Colbert a century earlier, in 1685, and which would serve as a model for the Spanish sovereign given the close relationship that both countries would maintain. since 1733 by Family Pacts.
The Gallic Black Code had some sixty articles that, under the official title of the King’s Edict on the Slaves of the American Islands , updated the original text because it only referred to the institution in the colonies that France had then overseas, the West Indies (French Antilles), a territory that had been expanded with Guyana and Reunion Island; for this reason it was reissued twice more, in 1704 and 1723 respectively. The thing about Black was obviously due to the fact that only those of that skin color were enslavable.
According to said regulation, slaves were personal property (literally) without legal rights. Consequently, they could not marry without the permission of their owner; Of course, mixed black-white marriages were prohibited, although if it was the other way around and her master got the woman pregnant, he had to free her and marry her. The slave condition was determined by the mother , so that the children of a free father and a slave mother were also slaves but not in the opposite case.
The slaves were not authorized to have personal possessions or to carry out commercial transactions, nor to carry more than hunting weapons, they had to use surnames other than the French (generally African) and their testimony was prohibited in trials, just as they lacked of legitimacy to sign contracts. Likewise, they could not drink alcohol or, of course, flee the plantations where they worked. In this last aspect, a series of varied physical punishments was detailed, depending on the seriousness of the case and the recidivism: whipping, branding with a fleur-de-lis, mutilation (an ear for the first escape attempt, a leg for the second). …Actually, things not very different from what free peasants used to suffer in Old Regime Europe as well..
The death penalty was applied in cases such as attacking an owner, stealing a cattle or horse, meeting with other companions or trying to escape for the third time. On the contrary, the owners were prohibited from torturing their slaves or chaining them “except when they deserved it” , a criterion that is supposed to be rather lax. They had to feed them, clothe them, take care of them in old age or sickness and evangelize them; the latter included his Christian baptism and burial. Regarding the manumission , the reference is vague and had to be prior payment, with the approval of the competent authority.
Another curious provision of the Code Noir was the one referring to the Jews , who were expelled from the colonies to guarantee, in the words of the Sun King, the “discipline of the Roman, Catholic and Apostolic faith in the islands” and thus protect “all the people that Divine Providence has placed under our guardianship» in those latitudes. The code was applied until in 1794 the Convention arising from the French Revolution abolished slavery; it was partial because it banned it from Guadeloupe but kept it in Réunion and Mauritius. In any case, in 1802 Napoleon reinstated it so as not to financially sink the colonies and it remained in force in some places until 1848.
As we said at the beginning, in 1789 Carlos IV promulgated a royal decree that also regulated slavery in Spanish territories through thirteen chapters. The I , for example, obliges them to teach them Christian doctrine for their baptism, to make it easier for them to go to Mass and encourage them to say the rosary, while the IV indicates that after these obligations they must be allowed moments of leisure and fun; that yes, avoiding that they exceed in the drink and trying that they finish the revelry before the prayer bell.
Chapter II orders that they be given food and clothing (if they are also freed, until they fend for themselves), just as Chapter VII says that they must be given a bed, rooms separated by sex to avoid “illicit dealings” (except who are married, having to ensure that they serve the same master), nursing (or transfer to the hospital) and burial, all at the expense of the owner. The thing extends to the old and sick, who must be maintained without being granted their freedom (so that they are not abandoned).
The III focuses on working conditions: in the field, fundamentally, where the work must be adapted to the age and strength of each one (those under seventeen and over sixty are excluded), with “sunshine” hours . to sun” except for a couple of hours off. Women cannot be day laborers or dedicate themselves to tasks inappropriate to their sex.
The remaining seven chapters are dedicated to the disciplinary regime , which has to be adjusted to the seriousness of the crime following the same model as with free criminals. The slave must treat the master as a father or be punished with imprisonment, a shackle, chain, mace, or stocks , or “with lashes, which cannot exceed twenty-five” at the risk of the lasher being fined. The penalties for major issues can be dismemberment or death.
Said disciplinary regime also obliges the owners and foremen (foremen) towards their slaves, which is detailed in Chapter X : whoever fails to comply with any of the precepts indicated will incur a penalty of a fifty-peso fine, an amount that will increase as the reoffend. If the situation persists, the offending master/steward will be considered disobedient to the Royal Orders and will be punished according to the law, being able to confiscate the slave but having to pay his maintenance. For the rest, no one who is not his master or his steward may insult, punish, injure, or kill the slaves, for this reason Chapter XII obliges the owners to present the corresponding lists in the town halls.
To guarantee compliance with the law, Chapter XIII provides for an inspector to visit the farms three times a year, in addition to the work of the religious who are going to teach the doctrine, who can account for the complaints they receive. Definitely, any past time was not better.
- By Jorge Alvarez
- Entry Date: Sep 1, 2016
- Categoriesin history
Puerto Rico Ancestry 
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