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WILLIAMS' CASE. 25l
changes in the climate; and hare, no doubt, been attended by some
ameliorations in the salubrity of the country which, it is more than
probable, will continue to go on until our population becomes as
dense as that of the best portions of Europe. (5)
The African race, in our country, are, in many respects, materi-
ally different from the European. The negro constitution has in it
something peculiarly calculated to resist that malaria which is so
deadly to the whites. A negro, it is well known, will enjoy good
health during some seasons and in many situations in which the
white man can scarcely exist. In all that concerns the probable
or average duration of human life, as being in any way involved in
a judicial determination upon a right of property, it would seem to
be wholly unnecessary to extend our inquiries beyond the class of
free whites; because free negroes have little property, and negroes
held as slaves can have none. But although slaves are incompe-
tent themselves to hold property; yet considered as property they
have always been valued, assessed, and taxed in proportion to
their ability of body, age, and sex; (e) and there is no legal reason
why an estate may not be held during the life of a negro slave. (d)
It is by no means uncommon for negroes to have legacies given to
them for their support by way of an annuity for life, or to have
small pieces of land given to them for life. Where slaves are given
by a parent to his child as an advancement, if, after the death of
the parent, the child brings such advancement into hotchpot, in
order to be let in as a distributee, the advancement, here as in
England, must be valued as of the day when it was made; and,
consequently, slaves so given, must be valued as of that day, ex-
clusive of their subsequent increase, (e) And so too in all other
cases where slaves are to be valued it must be with reference to
their peculiar expectation of life as well as to their bodily ability,
skill and other qualities, (f)
It is certain, that life interests in almost every form, such as
estates for life in lands, in personal property, in annuities, &c.
were fully recognized by the law of England from a very remote
period; yet the doctrine of chances, in relation to the expectation
(6) Darby's View U. S. 421, 427; Hume's Essays: Of the Populousness of An-
cient Nations; Taylor's Arator, Number 51, Draining.--(c) October, 1777, ch. 14,
s. 4; October, 1778, ch. 7, s. 11.—(d) Biscoe v. Biscoe, 6 G. & J, 280; Hall v Mul-
lin, 5 H, & J. 190; Cunningham v. Cunningham, Cas. Confr. North Carol. 353.—
(e) King v. Worsely, 2 Hayw. 366; Warfield v. Warfield, 5 H. & J, 459.—(f) 2
Southern Revi. 177, note; 1 Hume's Essays, 225, note M.
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