All these acts were at length repealed in 1788 [1788. 2. 23.]. So that homicide of a slave stands now upon the same footing, as in the case of any other person. In 1672 it was declared lawful for any person pursuing any runaway Negroe, mulattoe, Indian slave, or _servant for life_, by virtue of an _hue and cry_, to kill them in case of resistance, without being questioned for the same [1672. c. 8.]. A few years afterwards this act was extended to persons _employed to apprehend_ runaways [1680. c. 10.]. In 1705, these acts underwent some small alteration; two justices being authorised by proclamation to _outlaw_ runaways, who might thereafter be _killed_ and destroyed by any person whatsoever, by _such ways and means_ as he may think fit, without accusation or impeachment of any crime for so doing [1705. c. 49.]: And if any such slave were apprehended, he might be punished at the discretion of the county court, either by _dismembering_, or in any other manner not _touching life_. The inhuman rigour of this act was afterwards [1723. c. 4. 1748. c. 31.] extended to the venial offence of going abroad by night, if the slave was _notoriously_ guilty of it.--Such are the cruelties to which a state of slavery gives birth; such the horrors to which the human mind is capable of being reconciled, by its adoption. The dawn of humanity at length appeared in the year 1769, when the power of dismembering, even under the authority of a county court, was restricted to the single offence of _attempting_ to ravish a white woman [1769. c. 19.], in which case perhaps the punishment is perhaps not more than commensurate to the crime. In 1772 some restraints were laid upon the practice of outlawing slaves, requiring that it should appear to the _satisfaction_ of the justices that the slaves were outlying, and _doing mischief_ [1772. c. 9.]. These loose expressions of the act, left too much in the discretion of men, not much addicted to weighing their import.--In 1792, every thing relative to the outlawry of slaves was _expunged_ from our code [Edit. 1794. c. 103.], and I trust will never again find a place in it. By the act of 1680, a Negroe, mulattoe, or Indian, bond or _free_, presuming to lift his hand in opposition to any Christian, should receive thirty lashes on his bare back for every offence [1680. c. 10. 1705. c.]. The same act prohibited slaves from carrying any club, staff, gun, sword, or other weapon, offensive or defensive. This was afterwards extended to all Negroes, mulattoes and Indians whatsoever, with a few exceptions in favour of housekeepers, residents on a frontier plantation, and such as were enlisted in the militia [1723. c. 4.]. Slaves, by these and other acts [1705. c. 49. 1723. c. 4. 1748. c. 31. 1753. c. 2. 1785. c. 77.], are prohibited from going abroad without leave in writing from their masters, and if they do, may be whipped: any person suffering a slave to remain on his plantation for four hours