<petition><petition_analysis_number>21680712</petition_analysis_number><petition_url>https://dlas.uncg.edu/petitions/petition/21680712</petition_url><state>Virginia</state><county>Frederick</county><location_type>County</location_type><file_day>5</file_day><file_month>3</file_month><file_year>1807</file_year><filing_court>Chancery</filing_court><end_day>0</end_day><end_month>7</end_month><end_year>1815</end_year><ending_court>Chancery</ending_court><result>dismissed</result><enslaved_count>2</enslaved_count><fpoc_count>0</fpoc_count><total_people_count>4</total_people_count><repository>Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia</repository><abstract>In 1805 Moses Shepherd hired two slaves, a man for £20 and a woman for £5, from Drusilla Ball.  He received a guarantee from Ball that the male slave was "sound and well" and that the female slave "would not have a child in the year as she knew she did not breed in such a manner having lately had a child."  Shepherd charges that the man "was greivously afflicted with a venereal disorder whereby he was rendered greatly incapable of service," while the woman did indeed give birth to a child.  Refusing to pay the full hire price for the two slaves and facing a judgment against him, Shepherd asks for an injunction to halt the proceedings.</abstract><subjects><subject>Hiring value (enslaved)</subject><subject>Freedom seekers</subject><subject>Diseases (physical)</subject><subject>Forced reproduction</subject><subject>Warranty (enslaved)</subject></subjects></petition>