emained without change throughout the
slavery era as a part of the fundamental constitutional law. It is
significant that it was provided that the legislature should have no
power to pass laws for the emancipation of slaves without the consent
of their owners, or without paying their owners, previous to such
emancipation, a full equivalent in money, for the slaves so
emancipated: that the legislature should not pass laws to permit the
owners of slaves to emancipate them, saving the rights of creditors,
and preventing them from becoming a charge to the counties in which
they resided.

From a purely objective viewpoint it is doubtful if a fairer legal
guide for the institution of slavery in relation to the rights of
emancipation could have been drawn up. On one side, it prevented the
State authorities from depriving a slaveholder of his property without
due compensation. On the other hand, no unscrupulous master was to
free his old and invalid slaves and thereby inflict the burden of
their support upon the community as a whole. But this constitutional
provision had no legal force in itself. It was to serve as a guide for
the enactment of statute laws later.

The State assembly on December 17, 1794, proceeded to the enactment of
the first emancipation law of the State. The contents of Article IX of
the Constitution were carefully followed and the detailed legal code
of emancipation laid down in these words:

It shall be lawful for any person by his or her last will and
testament, or by any other instrument in writing, under his or
her hand and seal, attested and proved in the county court by
two witnesses, or acknowledged by the party in the court of the
county where he or she resides, to emancipate or set free his or
her slave or slaves: who shall thereupon be entirely and fully
discharged from the performance of any contract entered into
during servitude, and enjoy as full freedom as if they had been
born free. And the said court shall have full power to demand
bond and sufficient security of the emancipator, his or her
executors or administrators, as the case may be, for the
maintenance of any slave or slaves that may be aged or infirm,
either of body or mind, to prevent their becoming chargeable to
the county. And every slave so emancipated shall have a
certificate of freedom from the clerk of such court on parchment
with the county sea