Virginia 1672 Law Authorizes Killing Enslaved Runaways Who Resist Recapture

Virginia's 1672 act formally authorized the killing of enslaved people who resisted recapture, with no legal consequence for the killer. It offered bounties — paid in tobacco — for the capture or killing of runaway enslaved people. The law responded to persistent and growing resistance through flight, and its passage documented both the scale of the problem (from the slaveholders' perspective) and the violence used to maintain the system. It also absolved those who killed enslaved runaways of any civil liability, ensuring that violence against enslaved people carried no legal risk.