State V. Mann Mock Trial

In 1829 decision of the North Carolina Supreme Court in State v. Mann declared that slaves had no rights from their masters. A North Carolinian, John Mann has been renting a slave named Lydia for about a year. When Lydia committed a trifling offense, Mann whipped her. During the whipping, Lydia tried to escape and due to that, John Mann shot her in the back and wounded her. North Carolina authorities deemed Mann's response to Lydia running away disproportionate and charged him with assault and battery.

During the Mock Trial today that we had in class, my group (one) was defending State, while group two was defending Mann. I thought that it was easier for my group to defend State because we had a legal argument stating that the crime of assault and battery should be applied to Mann as it should be applied to anyone else and he should have to pay the 10 dollar fine. Where as the people defending Mann's legal argument was that even though the slave Lydia was rented, John Mann still had every right over her since she was his property for a year and should not have to pay the 10 dollar fine.

My argument alone, stated that in 1823 there was a case similar to this one and it was the State V. Hale case. The case presided over the indictment, or prosecution, of a man who had committed cruel and heavy-handed punishment on his own slave. Hale was fined and found guilty due to being too aggressive to his slave. The State V. Hale case set a precedent for the State V. Mann case, that the harm of a slave is indictable, or punishable by law. If the assault of a slave has been punishable and found guilty previously, it should still be found punishable in this case.