Robert Oakes states that he was a slave of Robert Stewart, "but is now free and discharged from slavery by operation of law." Stewart removed Oakes from the state of Maryland to the state of Virginia to work in a stone quarry for weeks at a time and then brought Oakes back into Maryland, where he holds him as a slave. Oakes requests that Stewart be compelled to answer this petition. Included in the related documents is the body of a Virginia law passed 17 December 1792 "concerning Slaves, free negroes and mulattoes." The law regulates and/or discusses the legal ramifications of: the importing of slaves into Virginia; testimony of slaves and free people of color [fpoc]; travel passes; whipping; the right of slaves and fpoc to carry firearms; what constitutes a "mulatto"; the right of slaves and fpoc to assemble and/or attend church; interracial mixing; clandestine slave economy; a slave assaulting a white person or raping a white woman; runaway slaves; slave conspiracies and/or insurrections; administering medicine by slaves; the enslavement of fpoc; theft of slaves; slave trials and penalties for slaves giving false testimony; testamentary manumission of slaves; the jailing of fpoc without freedom papers; slaves conveyed by dower or gift; and the transportation of slaves by ship.
Result: Granted; appealed; affirmed.
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Repository: Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, Maryland
