Editing History of the Caribbean (section)

==== Colonial laws ====

European plantations required laws to regulate the plantation system and the many slaves imported to work on the plantations. This legal control was the most oppressive for slaves inhabiting colonies where they outnumbered their European masters and where rebellion was persistent such as [[Jamaica]]. During the early colonial period, rebellious slaves were harshly punished, with sentences including death by torture; less serious crimes such as assault, theft, or persistent escape attempts were commonly punished with mutilations, such as the cutting off of a hand or a foot.<ref name="Rogozinski 2000 132–3">{{cite book|last=Rogozinski|first=Jan|title=A Brief History of the Caribbean|year=2000|publisher=Penguin|location=London|isbn=978-0-452-28193-6|pages=132–3}}</ref>

In European colonies in the Caribbean, each colony had to develop laws regulating slavery. British West Indian colonies were able to establish laws regulating the institution through their own local legislatures, and the assent of the colony's governor (who served as a representative of [[the Crown]]). In contrast, French, Danish, Dutch and Spanish colonies were strictly controlled by their [[metropole]], including the implementation of slave codes. The French regulated slaves under the ''[[Code Noir]]'' (Black Code) which was in force in all of France's colonies, and was based upon early French slave practises in the Caribbean colonies.<ref name="Rogozinski 2000 132–3" />

As noted by American historian Jan Rogozinski, "All [Caribbean] islands sought to protect the planter and not the slave." Slave codes in the British West Indies frequently did not recognize marriage for slaves, family rights, education for slaves, or the right to religious practices such as holidays. The ''Code Noir'' recognized slave marriages, but only with the consent of the master, and like Spanish colonial law gave legal recognition to marriages between European men and black or [[Creole peoples|Creole]] women. They were also more generous than their British counterparts in granting the possibility of manumission to slaves.<ref>{{cite book|last=Rogozinski|title=A Brief History of the Caribbean|year=2000|pages=133}}</ref>