12 La. 267 | La. | 1838
delivered the opinion of the court.
This is an action brought by several slaves of the late Julien Poydras, assisted by his universal legatees, to obtain
The defendants deny the claim of the slaves under the will of their former master, until they have attained their yearj respectively.
The court rejected the claim of the slaves to emancipation, a}}owed them the stipend or annuity from the first of JanualT> 1837. The defendants appealed, and the plaintiff and appellees have prayed that the judgment be amended, so as to decree their emancipation, and the payment of the annuity from the 1st of January, 1833.
The District Court did not err in declining to decree the emancipation of the plaintiffs. They are not entitled thereto unt’^ afl'el' the lapse of twenty-five years from the sale of the plantation, with which they were bought by the'defendants. , , nyr See the will of their former master. Poydras vs. Mourain. 9 Louisiana Reports, 493. In our opinion, the slaves, which the will requires to be kept on the plantation, with which they were bought, after their sixtieth year, free from labor, an(^ with a yearly stipend of twenty-five dollars, for their existence and support of their old age, are those which have . 1 j , . been emancipated. The owner of a slave cannot be compelled, even by his consent, to refrain from making him when he is able to do so ; there is hardly any difference between an emancipated slave and a slave which cannot be compelled to labor ; the obligation to work for a mas,er is of the essence of slavery. The yearly stipend of twenty-five dollars, is clearly given in lieu of food and raiment, which masters are compelled to give to their slaves, and to which freedom destroys the right,
It is, therefore, ordered, adjudged and decreed, that the judgment of the District Court, be annulled, avoided and reversed, and that plaintiff’s petition be dismissed with costs in both courts.