By a New York act of 1712, three justices and five freeholders of the county constituted judge and jury, seven making a quorum, for the trial of negro and Indian slaves accused of murder, rape, insurrection or conspiracy. The prosecution provided the accusation to which the offended was obliged to plead apparently without the aid of counsel. The owner of the slave was given the right, however, to have his slave tried by a jury of twelve, provided he paid the jury charges of nine shillings.[957] An act of 1730 changed the required number of justices to three, one to be a quorum, associated with five of the principal freeholders of the county. Agreement of seven was required for the decision. In this case, as before, the owner could have his slave tried by a jury of twelve if he paid the jury charges of nine shillings.[958] There was a general tendency among slave owners to conceal crimes committed by slaves, or to secrete slave offenders and thus avoid the financial loss consequent upon the time consumed by the trial and the possible imprisonment of the slave in case of conviction, as well as the possible injury to the slave by corporal punishment, or the still greater loss of the slave’s entire value in case of his execution. To prevent this interference with justice, as well as to recognize and protect the property rights of the slave owners, special acts were passed in some of the colonies providing that the slave owner be remunerated by the colonial government in case of the loss of his slave through execution for crime. In some colonies the amount to be paid the owner of a slave was specified by law, and this amount varied from £30 for a man slave, and £20 for a woman slave (negro, Indian or mulatto), as provided for in a New Jersey act of 1713,[959] to £50 in a South Carolina act of 1717.[960] In other colonies the amount to be paid the slave owner was left to the decision of the court. The Maryland act of 1717[961] is a case in point. It provided that the court should value the slave (negro, mulatto or Indian) in tobacco, and that three-fourths of the value thus adjudged should be allowed in the public levy to be paid to the owner of the slave.