Compulsory manumission : $b or, An examination of the actual state of the West India question — John Shaqi
Compulsory manumission : $b or, An examination of the actual state of the West India questionMcDonnell, Alexander
History
Compulsory manumission : $b or, An examination of the actual state of the West India question
McDonnell, Alexander
Enslaved persons -- Emancipation -- West Indies, British; Slavery -- West Indies, British
On the faith of these enactments, large investments on mortgage have
been made. Slaves are recognised in them, as property in fee-simple,
absolute, which has been confirmed by decisions in our courts, both
of law and equity. Consequently, all mortgagees rest their security
not on Colonial enactments, but on British Acts of Parliament; and
the law relating to mortgaged property in the colonies must be
analogous to the law relating to mortgaged property in England.
By the law of England, when woods or messuages are included in a
mortgage, none of those woods or messuages can be sold or alienated,
either collectively or in part, by the mortgagor, or by any other
known authority, even though the proceeds of such sale should be
appropriated to the benefit of the mortgagee, without the express
consent and concurrence of the latter; the law giving to him the sole
privilege of determining as to whatever may affect his security.
By the same law of England, when slaves are expressly specified in
a mortgage on West India property, neither the proprietor, nor any
other known authority, can legally sell such slaves, even though the
proceeds be applied in liquidation of the mortgage, unless it be with
the previous consent of the mortgagee.
Yet it does not appear, that Earl Bathurst has explicitly provided
for the claims of the mortgagee, who has lent his money in the
firm reliance that the law has guaranteed, both to himself and to
the mortgagor, the full effects of the stipulation of the mortgage
contract.
But if the slaves, being in law real property, on which the mortgagee
holds a lien, be permitted at their will to separate themselves from
the plantation, it must weaken the security of the mortgagee, by
removing the instruments through which the fixed capital was rendered
productive, and by the employment of which for the benefit of the
mortgagor, there was a reasonable confidence that the mortgage might
ultimately be redeemed.
And in regard to the purchase-money paid by the slave to his owner,
as the price of his liberation, if the amount go at once into the
hands of the mortgagee, it is an injustice to the debtor, because he
had a right to expect a rate of profit from his cultivation, much
higher than the mere interest paid for his loan; and it is illegal,
because it is beyond the terms of his contract with the mortgagee.
If, again, the money be deposited in some public chest, it is
illegal and unjust to both parties: unjust, because the removal of
an efficient hand entered not into the calculations of the owner of
the plantation, and by the decrease of its produce from subtracted
labour, he finds his debt not diminishing but growing larger, while
the mortgagee runs the risk of losing his money;—illegal, because the
stipulation forms no part of the mortgage contract.
When we show that illegality is added to injustice, we may close the
case on the part of the proprietor.
Let us sum up the objections.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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