Manumission
Legislation under the early Roman Empire put limits on the number of slaves that could be freed in wills (lex Fufia Caninia, 2 BC), which suggests that it had been widely used.
When a slave obtained his freedom he had his head shaved, and wore instead of his hair an undyed pileus (πίλεον λευκόν, Diodorus Siculus Exc.
[11]The cap was an attribute carried by Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom, who was also recognized by the rod (vindicta or festuca),[10] used ceremonially in the act of manumissio vindicta, Latin for "freedom by the rod" (emphasis added): The master brought his slave before the magistratus, and stated the grounds (causa) of the intended manumission.
"The lictor of the magistratus laid a rod (festuca) on the head of the slave, accompanied with certain formal words, in which he declared that he was a free man ex Jure Quiritium", that is, "vindicavit in libertatem".
The master in the meantime held the slave, and after he had pronounced the words "hunc hominem liberum volo," he turned him round (momento turbinis exit Marcus Dama, Persius, Sat.
In particular contrast, women could become citizens, but female Roman citizenship did not allow anywhere near the same protections, independence, or rights as men, either in the public or private spheres.
In reflection of unwritten, yet strictly enforced contemporary social codes, women were also legally prevented from participating in public and civic society.
A notable freedman in Latin literature is Trimalchio, the ostentatiously nouveau riche character in the Satyricon, by Petronius.
[16] Baptismal manumission could be used as evidence of a person's freed status in a legal case but they did not always have enough information to serve as a carta de libertad.
[21] Although slave owners often characterized these baptismal manumissions as a result of their generous beneficence, there are records of payments by parents or godparents to ensure the child's freedom.
[14] Testamentary manumission could often be disputed by heirs claiming fraud, or that an enslaved person had preyed upon a relative's weak mental or physical condition.
[24] Legally testamentary manumissions were usually respected by the courts, who understood enslaved people as part of their owner's property to distribute as they wished.
An enslaved person could be sold in order to cover debts of the estate, but not if they had already paid part of their purchase price towards manumission as this was considered a legally binding agreement.
[27] For Jamaica, manumission went largely unregulated until the 1770s, when manumitters had to post a bond in order to ensure those that they freed did not become wards of the parish.
Regulation of manumission began in 1692, when Virginia established that to manumit a slave, a person must pay the cost for them to be transported out of the colony.
A 1723 law stated that slaves may not "be set free upon any pretence whatsoever, except for some meritorious services to be adjudged and allowed by the governor and council".
[30] The new government of Virginia repealed the laws in 1782, and declared freedom for slaves who had fought for the colonies during the American Revolutionary War of 1775–1783.
Previously, a manumission had required obtaining consent from the state legislature, an arduous process which was rarely successful.
[31] As the population of free Negroes increased, the Virginia legislature passed laws forbidding them from moving into the state (1778),[32] and requiring newly freed slaves to leave the Commonwealth within one year unless special permission was granted (1806).
[33] In the Upper South in the late 18th century, planters had less need for slaves, as they switched from labour-intensive tobacco cultivation to mixed-crop farming.
New York and New Jersey adopted gradual abolition laws that kept the free children of slaves as indentured servants into their twenties.
In the 19th century, slave revolts such as the Haitian Revolution of 1791–1804, and especially the 1831 rebellion led by Nat Turner, increased slaveholders' fears.
In South Carolina, to free a slave required permission of the state legislature; Florida law prohibited manumission altogether.
[37] The most telling evidence for this is found in the gender ratio; among slaves traded in Islamic empire across the centuries, there were roughly two females to every male.
[38] Sexual slavery was a central part of the Ottoman slave system throughout the history of the institution, managed in accordance with the Islamic Law of concubinage, and the most resistant to change.
[41] Slave raids and the taking of women and children as "spoils of war" lessened but did not stop entirely, despite the public denial of their existence, such as the enslavement of girls during the Armenian Genocide.
