SLAVE JURISPRUDENCE

SLAVE JURISPRUDENCE The notion of "slave jurisprudence," of which I have just read in KEY TO UNCLE TOM'S CABIN by Harriet Beecher Stowe (1853), brought to mind the spate of 20th century United States Supreme Court decisions that, conformably, "conservatively" , support police brutality and killings, of black people, if police merely fear for their lives, subjectively, regardless of the actual objective circumstances, and regardless of contrary supervisory or expert opinions; or any other cop's opinion who was not present at the scene during exact times of occurrence. Stowe wrote: "From a review of all the legal cases which have hitherto been presented, and of the principles established in the judicial decisions upon them, the following facts must be apparent to the reader: 'First,' That masters do, now and then, kill slaves by torture. 'Second,' That the fact that so killing a slave is not of itself held a presumption of murder , in slave jurisdictions. 'Third,' That the slave in the act of resistance to his master may always be killed. "From these things it will be seen to follow, that, if the facts of the death of Tom had been fully proved by two white witnesses, in open court, Legree could not have been held by any 'consistent ' interpreter of slave law to be a murderer; for Tom was in the act of resistance to the will of his master. His master had laid a command on him, in the presence of other slaves. Tom had deliberately refused to obey the command. The master commenced chastisement , to reduce him to obedience . And it is evident at the first glance, to everyone , that, if the law does not sustain him in enforcing obedience in such a case, there is an end to the whole slave power. No Southern court would dare to decide that Legree did wrong to continue the punishment, as long as Tom continued the insubordination. Legree stood by him every moment of the time, pressing him to yield, and offering to let him go, as soon as he did yield. Tom's resistance was 'insurrection '. It was an example which could not be allowed for a moment, on any Southern plantation...If Tom had been allowed to disobey his master in this case, for conscience's sake, the next day Sambo would have had a case of conscience, and Quimbo the next . Several of them might very justly have thought that it was a sin to work as they did . The mulatto woman would have remembered that the command of God forbade her to take another husband. Mothers might have considered that it was more their duty to stay at home and take care of their children, when they were young and feeble, than to work for Mr. Legree in the cotton-field. There would be no end to the havoc made upon cotton-growing operations, were the negro allowed the right of maintaining his own conscience on moral subjects." P. 103-104, "Principles Established--State v. Legree; A Case Not in the Books."