False testimony carries extreme penalties

Clause II required a captured or surrendered enslaved person to be brought before a justice of the peace for examination as soon as convenient. The justice could examine the person and witnesses,...

Under clause II, a justice could commit an enslaved person to gaol or another secure place if an examination created “just grounds to suspect” guilt or if the person was deemed dangerous and unfit...

The commander in chief could direct three or more justices to hold a trial, and those justices summoned five “respectable white persons” from the parish or adjoining parishes as jurors. Three were...

Clause II says a prisoner pleading not guilty could make a “full defence,” personally or through another person. Yet the jury was only three white men, sentences were declared final and conclusive...

Clause II declared the evidence of enslaved people “good and sufficient proof” for or against one another in trials under the act. If a material witness was absent, justices could adjourn for...

Clause II prescribed public execution by hanging for death sentences and required the person to be kept free from intoxication from trial through execution. It left the body’s later disposition to the...

Clause II directed people sentenced to hard labor in chains to clear the interior woods and make roads across Grenada, under overseers and a sufficient guard paid at public expense. The provision...

Clause VII required a court and jury to value a person sentenced to death, banishment, or chain labor at up to £100 according to trade or occupation, and authorized public payment of that amount to...

Captain Jossey, representing the French forces in Grenada, signed articles of capitulation at Gouyave with British Major-General Oliver Nicolls. British accounts say the agreement ended rebel...

British forces captured the remaining rebel strongholds and ended open hostilities in Fédon’s Rebellion. Enslaved and free rebels faced death, capture, execution, or deportation in the repression that...