[74] Goodell, American Slave Code in Theory and Practice, p. 209 sq.
That the life of a slave is held in so little regard is due to that want of sympathy with his fate which accounts also for his unfree condition, and to the proprietary rights over him which, in consequence, have been granted to his master. For similar reasons the killing of a freeman by a slave, especially if the victim be his owner, is commonly punished more severely than if the same act were done by a free person. The less the sympathy felt for an individual, the more intense is the resentment which he excites by offensive behaviour. According to the Chinese Penal Code, a slave who designedly kills, or strikes so as to kill, his master, shall suffer death “by a slow and painful execution.”[75] Plato says that, if a slave voluntarily murders a freeman, the public executioner shall lead him in the direction of the sepulchre of the dead man, to a place whence he can see the tomb, and after inflicting upon him as many stripes as the complainant shall order, put the murderer, if he survives the scourging, to death.[76] Though the slave has committed the act in a fit of passion, the relatives of the deceased shall nevertheless be under an obligation to kill him, and this may be done in any manner they please;[77] nay, even in self-defence a slave is not allowed to kill a freeman, any more than a son is allowed to kill his father.[78] At Rome, also, a slave was more heavily punished for the commission of homicide than a freeman.[79] Says the ancient jurist, “Maiores nostri in omni supplicio severius servos quam liberos famosos quam integræ famæ homines punierunt.”[80]
[75] Ta Tsing Leu Lee, sec. cccxiv. p. 338.
[76] Plato, Leges, ix. 872.
[77] Ibid. ix. 868.
[78] Ibid. ix. 869.
[79] Mommsen, Römisches Strafrecht, p. 631 sq.
[80] Digesta, xlviii. 19. 28. 16.
In the estimate of life a distinction is made not only between freemen and slaves, but between different classes of freemen. Among certain peoples a person who kills a chief is punished with death, though murder is not generally a capital offence.[81] Where the system of compensation prevails, the blood-price very frequently varies according to the station or rank of the victim.[82] Among the Rejangs of Sumatra the compensation for the murder of a superior chief is five hundred dollars, for that of an inferior chief two hundred and fifty dollars; for that of a common person, man or boy, eighty dollars; for that of a common person, woman or girl, one hundred and fifty dollars; for the legitimate child or wife of a superior chief, two hundred and fifty dollars.[83] The body of every Ossetian has a settled value in the eyes of the judges, which seems to be fixed by public opinion; thus the father of a family bears a higher value than an unmarried man, and a noble is rated at twice as much as an ordinary freeman.[84] In Eastern Tibet the murderer of a man of the upper class is fined 120 bricks of tea, the murderer of a middle-class man only 80, and so on down through the social scale, the life of a beggar being valued at a nominal amount only; but if the victim was a lama, the murderer has to pay a much higher price, possibly 300 bricks.[85] According to the doctrine of modern Buddhism, “when the life of a man is taken, the demerit increases in proportion to the merit of the person slain.”[86] The laws of the Brets and Scots estimated the life of the king of Scots at a thousand cows; that of an earl’s son, or a thane, at a hundred cows; that of a villein, at sixteen cows.[87] A similar system prevailed among the Celtic peoples generally,[88] as also among the Teutons. A man’s wergeld, or life-price, varied according to his rank, birth, or office; and so minutely was it graduated, that a great part of many Teutonic laws was taken up by provisions fixing its amount in different cases.[89] In English laws of the Norman age the wer of a villanus is still only reckoned at £4, whilst that of the homo plene nobilis is £25.[90]
[81] Woodthorpe, in Jour. Anthr. Inst. xxvi. 21 (Shans). Shooter, Kafirs of Natal, p. 103.