demanded by their masters or their agents, if the governor or steward shall perceive that he cannot justly hold them within our dominion, let him eject them, and let their masters take possession of them." John Voet, after declaring the effect of personal statutes, following the person everywhere, and applying it to questions of infancy, nobility, legitimacy, &c., adds, "Nec ullâ mutatione loci, aut illam quam habet exuere, aut aliam induere posse qualitatem." "And by no change of place can one put off the status which he has, or put on another which he has not." § 165. The modern civilians uniformly extend the rule, that personal statutes follow the person into any jurisdiction, to the question of freedom and slavery. Thus, Rodenberg, after stating the general rule, gives a reason for it: "Cum enim, ab uno certoque loco statum hominis legem accipere necesse esset, quod absurdum earumque rerum naturaliter inter se pugna foret, ut in quo loco quis iter facierit, aut navigans delatus fuerit, totidem ille statum mutaret aut conditionem; ut uno, eodemque tempore hîc sui juris, illîc alieni futurus sit," &c. "Because it must be necessary for the law to determine a man's status from a single and certain place, to avoid the conflict and absurdity which would arise, that whenever one made a journey, or was driven by sea, so often he would change his status and condition, so that at one and the same time, here he would be free, and there he would be subject 1 Opera, vol. ii, 896; De Præsc. § 12. to another." He extends this expressly to feudal vassals, stating that such is the concurrent testimony of the jurists, with two exceptions." § 166. Boullenois, in his extended work on Personal Statutes, comments upon this statement of Rodenberg at some length, and concurs with his opinion. He cites and rebuts the contrary view taken by M. Guizot.3 Bouhier, speaking of Personal Statutes, says, "Telles sont les loix qui fixent l'age de la puberté, et de la majorité; celles qui règlent la qualité de la personne libre ou non libre." "Such are the laws which fix the age of puberty and majority; those which regulate the status of a person, whether free or slave." Merlin on the same point says, "Tels sont les statuts qui regardent la naissance, la légitimé, la liberté," &c.,-"Such are those which look to birth, legitimacy, freedom," &c.,—and adds, "Le statut de domicile règle l'état de la personne, et sa capacité ou incapacité personnelle." "The law of the domicile regulates the age of the person and his personal capacity or incapacity." Froland agrees fully with these, and gives the rule broadly without exception." § 167. Of English jurists we have no works from which to deduce opinions upon this question. In truth, the English lawyers seem to have been 1 Cap. iii, § 4. * Cap. v, § 17. 3 Traité de la Personalité, Observation xxxi, tom. i, pp. 876, 878; see also tit. i, ch. ii, Obs. iv, where he quotes, as authority, Queen Elizabeth, "I do not wish my sheep marked with any other mark than my own." * Observations, &c., ch. xxiii, § 16, p. 452. strangers to the discussions among the jurists on the continent.1 Outside of their reports, we have the opinion of only two of their learned jurists. In 1740, some difficulties having been suggested upon this question, the English colonists applied to the then attorney and solicitor general of England (afterwards Lord Hardwicke and Lord Talbot), for their opinion; which, after due consideration, was given, to the effect that the carrying of a negro slave from the colonies to England, did in no manner interfere with the master's control over him. '20 Howell's State Trials, 81. CHAPTER IX. SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED, AND DECISIONS OF FOREIGN JUDICIAL TRIBUNALS EXAMINED. § 168. WE come now to consider how far adjudged cases in the courts of foreign tribunals sustain the declaration quoted from the "Conflict of Laws," and contravene the conclusions to which we have arrived. We have already alluded to the decision of the Supreme Court of Holland, in the case of the slave Claas.1 2 In France, the first and only case which comes to us in such a form as to be reliable, is found in the thirteenth volume of the "Causes Célèbres," p. 492, and is entitled, "La liberté réclamée par un nègre contre son maître." This cause occurred in 1738, and the slave was liberated by the Court. In the argument of counsel in this case, there is a great deal of declamation about France, "Mère de la Liberté," "the 'Note to § 162. The cases mentioned by Bodin, De Republicâ, Lib. I, cap. v, and referred to by Mr. Hargrave, in his argument in the Somersett case, are too indefinitely reported to be commented on. The latter is admitted, by Mr. Hargrave, to be wrong, being violative of the rights of an ambassador, whose slave, it seems, could breathe, even the pure air of France. See ante, note to § 150. free air of France being too pure for a slave to breathe," &c.; which was as foreign to the case as it was unbecoming a court professing to decide upon principles of law. The facts of the case, and the questions at issue, were simply as follows. In 1716, Louis XVI, hearing that many of the colonists in the French West Indies were desirous of bringing or sending their slaves to France for the purpose of being instructed in the doctrines and practices of the Church, and of being taught in some art or trade, and that such colonists were fearful that thereby they would recover their liberty, issued an edict, "concernant les esclaves nègres des colonies," in which, after reciting these fears, it is decreed that such colonists may bring or send any of their slaves to France, for these purposes, there to remain, upon complying with certain prescribed regulations; and the edict further provided that, on failure to comply with these regulations, the negroes shall become free, and the owners shall lose all property in them.1 This edict, after reciting, inter alia, "Comme nous avous été informés, que plusieurs habitans de nos îles de l'Amérique désirent envoyer en France quelques-uns de leurs esclaves pour les confirmer dans les instructions et dans les exercices de notre religion, et pour leur faire apprendre quelque art et métier, dont les colonies recevroient beaucoup d'utilité par le retour de ces esclaves; mais que ces habitans craignent que les esclaves ne prétendent être libres en arrivant en France, ce qui pourroit causer aux dits habitans une perte considérable, et les détourer d'un objet aussi pieux et aussi utile "Le Roi ordonne que si quelques uns des habitans des colonies, ou des officiers employés dans l'état veulent amener avec eux des esclaves nègres, de l'un ou de l'autre sexe, en qualité de domestiques ou autrement, pour les fortifier dans la religion, &c., les propriétaires seront tenus, d'en obtenir la permission des gouverneurs. |