1. _Of the Action._ The proper action at law to be taken by a slave in a suit for his freedom was trespass, false imprisonment, or assault and battery.[8] Judge Catron, in the case of Harris v. Clarissa, held that a female and her children, being held in slavery, could institute joint action to establish their freedom.[9] The defendant would in such suits claim that the plaintiff was his slave. In such cases, the slave did not sue the master, the court merely tried the fact, whether the plaintiff was a slave.[10] 2. _Of the Evidence._ In a suit for freedom, the _onus probandi rested upon the plaintiff_. What evidence was admitted? How could a slave prove that he was free if there were no court records to show that the State had assented to his freedom? How could he prove that he was descended from free parents and that he was being held in false imprisonment? Judge Crabb, in the case of Vaughan v. Phebe, answered these questions by saying that “He may, perhaps, procure testimony that he, or some ancestor, was for some time in the enjoyment of freedom; that he has acted as a freeman; that he has been received as a freeman into society; and very soon will find himself under the necessity of increasing in proportion to the distance he has to travel into time past, for want of other evidence, to use hearsay; that he, or his ancestor was commonly called a freeman, or commonly reputed a freeman, or, in other words, evidence of common reputation.” The courts of Tennessee in their consideration of suits by slaves for their freedom gave unmistakable evidence that they realized the seriousness of adding another negro voter to the body politic. Free negroes voted in Tennessee until 1834.[11] This made the matter of manumitting a slave have far reaching consequences. Judge Crabb, in Vaughan v. Phebe, pointed out very forcibly the results to the slave and society that attended the freeing of a slave.[12] 3. _Of the Damages._ A negro held in slavery beyond the agreed time of emancipation could maintain an action of trespass for his wages, after he had established his freedom. He could recover wages for the time the suit for freedom was pending and also the cost of the suit.[13] 4. _Of the Judgment._ The judgment in favor of the freedom of a maternal ancestor of a plaintiff was received by the Tennessee courts as evidence in a suit for freedom to show the basis of the right claimed. Judge Crabb, in admitting the records of a previous trial as evidence, said: “We consider the solemn verdict of a jury, with proofs produced to them many years ago, and with the judgment of the court upon it, fully as good evidence, to say the least of it, of what was considered the truth in those days.”[14]