outsiders led to a law in 1815 giving the owners a power of action
against persons abusing their slaves, and in February, 1816, the
provisions were made more specific. If any person should "whip, strike
or otherwise abuse the slave of another" without the owner's consent,
the latter could recover damages in any circuit court in the
commonwealth--regardless of whether or not the punishment so inflicted
injured the ability of the slave to render service to his master.[390]

Some of the contemporary comment would seem to imply that the theory
of the law was based on the property conception of the slave and not
upon humanitarian motives. In other words, it was perfectly proper to
punish any slave as one saw fit as long as one did not interfere with
the property value of the _servant_. Fearon, while visiting the State
in 1818, came across an example of this kind and after telling the
story of the punishment makes this comment: "It appears that this boy
(the one who had been whipped) was the property of a regular
slave-dealer, who was then absent at Natchez with a cargo. Mr. Lawe's
humanity fell lamentably in my estimation when he stated, that
'whipping niggers, if they were his own, was perfectly right, and they
perhaps deserved it; but what made him mad was, that the boy was left
under his care by a friend, and he did not like to have a friend's
property injured.'"[391] The conduct observed by Fearon was clearly in
violation of the law of 1816, unless the absent master had given over
his rights in full to the man Lawe, who administered the punishment.
It may have been the spirit of the laws of Kentucky that Lawe had in
mind when he spoke to Fearon. On the other hand, it could easily be
given the interpretation which Fearon made. The trend of public
opinion was more and more in the interest of justice for the slave as
the law of 1830 shows:

If any owner of a slave shall treat such slave cruelly, so as in
the opinion of the jury, to endanger the life or limb of such
slave, or shall not supply his slave with sufficient food or
raiment, it shall and may be lawful for any person acquainted
with the fact or facts, to state and set forth in a petition to
the Circuit Court, the facts, or any of them aforesaid, of which
the defendant hath been guilty, and pray that such slave or
slaves may be taken from the possession of the owner, and sold
for the benefit of such owner, agreeably to th