The laws outlining the rights of slaves have been traditionally
placed into four categories: term of servitude, marriage and the
family, police and disciplinary powers, and, finally, property
and other civil rights.
In both systems the term of servitude was for life, and the
child's status was inherited from its mother. Children of slave
mothers were slaves, and children of free mothers were free
regardless of the status of the father. Inherited lifetime
slavery was the norm.
Manumission--granting freedom--was infrequent in British
North America. Occasionally, masters who had fathered slave
children would later give them their freedom. A few other slaves
were able to purchase their own freedom although, strictly
speaking, this was a legal impossibility. The slave was not able
to own property according to the law, and this meant that the
money with which he purchased his freedom had always belonged to
his master. Obviously, he could only do this with his master's
fullest cooperation.
In South America, however, manumission was much more frequent.
This practice received highly favorable social sanction, and
masters often celebrated national holidays, anniversaries,
birthdays, and other special events by manumitting one or more
of their favorite slaves.
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