[84] _Stat. at L._, X, 72. What was the standing of negro slaves before the ordinary courts of Pennsylvania in the years between 1700 and 1780 it is difficult to say. They certainly could not be witnesses--not against white men, since this privilege was given to free negroes for the first time in 1780 (_Stat. at L._, X, 70), and to slaves not until 1847 (_Laws of Assembly, 1847_, p. 208); while if they were witnesses against other negroes it would be before special courts. Doubtless negroes could sometimes seek redress in the ordinary courts, though naturally the number of such cases would be limited. There is, however, at least one instance of a white man being sued by a negro, who won his suit. "Francis Jn^oson the Negro verbally complained agst W^m Orion ... and after pleading to on both sides the Court passed Judgment and ordered W^m Orion to pay him the sd Francis Jn^oson twenty shillings" ... MS. Ancient Records of Sussex County, 1681 to 1709, 4th mo., 1687. Before 1700 negroes were tried before the ordinary courts, and there is at least one case where a negro witnessed against a white man. _Ibid._, 8br 1687. [85] _Stat. at L._, II, 77-79; _Col. Rec._, I, 612, 613. Instances of negro crime are mentioned in MS. Records of Special Courts for the Trial of Negroes--Chester County. For a case of arson punished with death, _cf. Col. Rec._, IV, 243. For two negroes condemned to death for burglary, _ibid._, IX, 6, also 699. The punishment for the attempted rape of a white woman was the one point that caused the disapproval of the attorney-general in England, and, probably, led to the passage of the revised act in 1705-1706. _Cf._ MS. Board of Trade Papers, Prop., VIII, 40, Bb. For restitution by masters, which was frequently very burdensome, _cf._ MS. Misc. Papers, Oct. 9, 1780. [86] _Stat. at L._, II, 233-236. These punishments were continued until repealed in 1780, (_Stat. at L._, X, 72), when the penalty for robbery and burglary became imprisonment. This bore entirely on the master, so that in 1790 Governor Mifflin asked that corporal punishment be substituted. _Hazard's Register_, II, 74. For theft whipping continued to be imposed, but guilty white people were punished in the same manner. MS. Petitions, Lancaster County, 1761-1825, May, 1784. MS. Misc. Papers, July, 1780. [87] See below, p. 111.