Judge Burthe's Decision

ID: 1736
This file appears in: Joseph Tom v. The Slave Ernest

"This article must be construed strictly and can only apply when a thing is to be siezed. Slaves are persons, not things, and can therefore not be siezed provisionally." Victor Burthe

Historical Archives of the Supreme Court of Louisiana, Courtesy of Louisiana and Special Collections Department, Earl K. Long Library, University of New Orleans

This file appears in: Joseph Tom v. The Slave Ernest

By Mary Ann Wegmann
Could an enslaved child be seized and sold to pay for the expenses of raising him? No, the Louisiana Supreme Court (onced housed in Carrollton Courthouse) ruled in 1860, in a case originally decided…