Defending liberte: Colonial legacies and southern slave law in four early nineteenth-century Louisiana Supreme Court cases

This thesis examines four Louisiana Supreme Court cases: Metayer v. Noret (1818), Metayer v. Metayer (1819), Bazzi v. Rose and her Child (1820), and Bernardine v. L'Espinasse (1827). Adelaide Metayer, Rose, and Marie Louise Bernardine each had a different path to manumission, yet they shared a common history as slaves in the French Caribbean colony of Saint Domingue. The women survived the 1791 slave uprising, which culminated in the creation of the Republic of Haiti in 1804. The women became refugees, first in Cuba and later in New Orleans. Each woman was manumitted along the way.;In Metayer v. Noret and Metayer v. Metayer, the Court examined whether Adelaide should retain her freedom when her former master's son attempted to "reclaim" his property. Adelaide's lawyers successfully argued that Adelaide had lived without her master for a prescribed number of years. She was, by law, free. In Bazzi v. Rose and her child, Rose defended her freedom against her former master whom she had followed from Saint Domingue, to Cuba, and New Orleans. Rose claimed that Bazzi manumitted her in Cuba. In New Orleans, Rose tried to leave Bazzi. He sued to affirm his possession. Ultimately, Rose lost her struggle. In the third case, Bernardine v. L'Espinasse, Bernardine claimed that she was free based on her deceased master's will. The executor of the estate, L'Espinasse, maintained that Bernardine had to serve him to work off debts. The Court ruled that L'Espinasse did not have a legal case to detain Bernardine, so she was emancipated.;The four cases illustrate the complicated legal environment in early nineteenth century Louisiana in regards to slavery and emancipation. As free persons of color in the American South, freedom was precarious. Slaves were an economic resource. That was not lost upon those who believed they had legitimate claims on the women as slaves. Adelaide, Rose, and Marie Louise resisted efforts at re-enslavement in court with varying success.