Slave Execution Reimbursement

The Kentucky Slave Code of 1798 allowed for the slaveholder to be paid the value of any enslaved person who was executed.

The process for payment was as follows: Once the enslaved person was taken into custody by the sheriff, he or she was to be assessed a value. The auditor of public accounts was authorized and required to issue a warrant to the treasury for the amount in favor of the slave owner. The owner was to produce the certificate of the clerk of the court that said the slave was condemned along with the sheriff's certificate that said the slave was executed or perished before execution. The treasurer was then required to pay the owner the assessed value of the enslaved person.

For more see A Digest of the Statute Law of Kentucky, vol. 2, Chapter CLXXIV - Slaves, Sec. 24, pp. 1154-1155.