[74] The Roman doctrine of _partus sequitur ventrem_. This was never established by law in Pennsylvania, and during colonial times was never the subject of a court decision that has come down. That it was the usage, however, there is abundant proof. In 1727 Isaac Warner bequeathed "To Wife Ann ... a negro woman named Sarah ... To daughter Ann Warner (3) an unborn negro child of the above named Sarah." MS. Phila. Co. Will Files, no. 47, 1727. In 1786 the Supreme Court declared that it was the law of Pennsylvania, and had always been the custom. 1 Dallas 181. [75] MS. Abstract of Phila. Co. Wills, Book A, 63, 71, (1693); Will of Samuel Richardson of Philadelphia in _Pa. Mag._, XXXIII, 373 (1719). In 1682 the attorney-general in England answering an inquiry from Jamaica, declared "That where goods or merchandise are by Law forfeited to the King, the sale of them from one to another will not fix the property as against the King, but they may be seized wherever found whilst they remain in specie; And that Negros being admitted Merchandise will fall within the same Law". MS. Board of Trade Journals, IV, 124. On several occasions during war negro slaves were captured from the enemy and brought to Pennsylvania, where they were sold as ordinary prize-goods--things. In 1745, however, when two French negro prisoners produced papers showing that they were free, they were held for exchange as prisoners of war--persons. MS. Provincial Papers, VII, Oct. 2, 1745. For the status of the negro slave as real estate in Virginia, _cf._ Ballagh, _Hist. of Slavery in Virginia_, ch. II. In 1786 the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania decided that "property in a Negroe may be obtained by a _bona fide_ purchase, without deed." 1 Dallas 169. [76] "An Act for the trial of Negroes." _Stat. at L._, II, 77-79. Repealed in Council, 1705. _Ibid._, II, 79; _Col. Rec._, I, 612, 613. Passed again with slight changes in 1705-1706. _Stat. at L._, II, 233-236. [77] "An Act for the better regulating of Negroes in this Province." _Stat. at L._, IV, 59-64. It became law by lapse of time. _Ibid._, IV, 64. [78] "An Act for the better regulating of Negroes in this Province.", section 1. _Stat. at L._, IV, 59. [79] _Cf._ Enoch Lewis, "Life of William Penn" (1841), in _Friends' Library_, V, 315; J. R. Tyson, "Annual Discourse before the Historical Society of Pennsylvania" (1831), in _Hazard's Register_, VIII, 316.