Slavery and the Law in Virginia SLAVE LAWS PASSED IN VIRGINIA:
1640-1660: The Critical Period: Custom to Law when Status
Changed to "Servant for Life"1660-1680: Slave Laws Further
Restrict Freedom of Blacks and Legalize Different Treatment for
Blacks and Whites - 1639/40 -- Blacks excluded from the
requirement of possessing arms. - 1642 -- Black women counted as
tithables (taxable). - 1662 -- Possibility of life servitude for
Blacks.1680-1705: Slave Laws Reflect Racism and the Deliberate
Separation of Blacks and Whites. Color becomes the Determining
Factor. Conscious Efforts to Rigidly Police Slave Conduct. -
1667 -- Baptism does not bring freedom to Blacks. - 1669 -- An
act about the "casual killing of slaves" establishes that "if
any slave resist his master and by the extremity of the
correction should chance to die, that his death not be accompted
Felony." - 1670 -- Servant for life: the "normal" condition
judged for Blacks. - 1670 -- Forbade free Blacks and Native
Americans, "though baptised," to own Chri