Barbados Slave Code
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The Barbados Slave Code of 1661 was the English legal code set up to provide a legal base for slavery in the Caribbean island of Barbados. It required that slave owners dress their slaves. However, it also denied slaves even basic rights guaranteed under English common law such as the right to life. It allowed the slaves' owners to do entirely as they wished to their slaves, including mutilating them and burning them alive, without fear of reprisal.
This code was adopted by South Carolina in 1696, and formed the basic outline for slavery in the British North American colonies.
The legal basis for slavery was established in Barbados in 1636 and in Virigina is 1662. These statutes created the status of chattel slave for those of African descent, i.e. they were slaves for life and the status of slave was heritable. Slave status passed to children through the mother in these statutes. for example, Virginia's 1662 statute was as follows:
1662: "All children borne in this country shall be held bond or free only according to the condition of the mother." Hening, William Waller. The Statutes at Large, Being a Collection of All the Laws of Virginia from the First Session of the Legislature in the Year 1619. 13 vols. Richmond: W. Gray Printers, 1819. 3:252
