Snak, Claas and Bastiaan’s Struggle for Freedom: Three Curaçaoan Enslaved Men and Their Court Cases About the Free Soil Principle in the Dutch Republic

In the Dutch Republic slavery was not permitted on its soil in Western Europe. Enslaved people obtained their freedom by setting foot on Dutch soil. In 1776, the scope of this free soil principle was limited by a statute of the States General. From this moment onwards only slaves who remained in the Republic for longer than six months would automatically become free. In the literature, it was hitherto assumed that with the establishment of this statute the first debates about the scope of the free soil principle were initiated. This article demonstrates that this assumption is false. Previousl... Mehr ...