Laws/Ordinances

Jamaica 1664 Act Declaring the Laws of England in Force

“An Act declareing the Laws of England in force in this Island”

 

About

This document is one of several that shows how the structures of government were set, and in particular structures governing the relationship between slaves, servants and masters, in the royal colony of Jamaica. The creation of these acts reflect the colonial government’s efforts to instill order on the island by employing the laws of England, by regulating the actions of slaves, servants, and masters, and by setting up structures to compel subjects on the island to reinforce the development of the (slave) labor system.


Further Reading
  • Gaspar,  David Barry, “ ‘Rigid and Inclement’: Origins of the Jamaica Slave Laws of the Seventeenth Century,” in The Many Legalities of Early America, ed. Christopher L. Tomlins and Bruce H. Mann (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001): 78–96
  • Hatfield, April Lee. Boundaries of Belonging: English Jamaica and the Spanish Caribbean, 1655-1715. (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023).
  • Pestana, Carla Gardina. “Early English Jamaica without Pirates.” William and Mary Quarterly 71, no. 3 (2014): 321-360
  • Pestana, Carla Gardina. The English Conquest of Jamaica: Oliver Cromwell’s Bid for Empire. (Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2017). 
  • Roberts, Justin. “Surrendering Surinam: The Barbadian Diaspora and the English Sugar Frontier, 1650-1675.” William and Mary Quarterly 73, no. 2 (2016): 225-256.
  • Swingen, Abigail Leslie. Competing Visions of Empire: Labor, Slavery, and the Origins of the British Atlantic Empire. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2015.    
  • Zahedieh, Nuala. “Trade, plunder, and economic development in early English Jamaica, 1655-89.” Economic History Review (1986): 205-222.
Sources
  • Document images courtesy of The National Archives, Kew, London, United Kingdom.
  • Transcription by Lauren Michalak, Michael Becker, Dylan Bails and Jamie Gemmell
Cite this page
Slavery Law & Power in Early America and the British Empire (February 10, 2025) Jamaica 1664 Act Declaring the Laws of England in Force. Retrieved from https://slaverylawpower.org/all-chapters/restoration-settlements/jamaica-laws-declaring-act-1664/.
"Jamaica 1664 Act Declaring the Laws of England in Force." Slavery Law & Power in Early America and the British Empire - February 10, 2025, https://slaverylawpower.org/all-chapters/restoration-settlements/jamaica-laws-declaring-act-1664/
Slavery Law & Power in Early America and the British Empire August 21, 2022 Jamaica 1664 Act Declaring the Laws of England in Force., viewed February 10, 2025,<https://slaverylawpower.org/all-chapters/restoration-settlements/jamaica-laws-declaring-act-1664/>
Slavery Law & Power in Early America and the British Empire - Jamaica 1664 Act Declaring the Laws of England in Force. [Internet]. [Accessed February 10, 2025]. Available from: https://slaverylawpower.org/all-chapters/restoration-settlements/jamaica-laws-declaring-act-1664/
"Jamaica 1664 Act Declaring the Laws of England in Force." Slavery Law & Power in Early America and the British Empire - Accessed February 10, 2025. https://slaverylawpower.org/all-chapters/restoration-settlements/jamaica-laws-declaring-act-1664/
"Jamaica 1664 Act Declaring the Laws of England in Force." Slavery Law & Power in Early America and the British Empire [Online]. Available: https://slaverylawpower.org/all-chapters/restoration-settlements/jamaica-laws-declaring-act-1664/. [Accessed: February 10, 2025]
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Jamaica 1664 Act Declaring the Laws of England in Force

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Some of the works in this project contain racist and offensive language and descriptions that may be difficult or disturbing to read.  Please take care when reading these materials, and see our Ethics Statement and About page.

An Act declareing the Laws of England in force in
this Island
Bee it declared by the Governor councell & assembly & by the
authority of the same that all the Laws & statutes heretofore made
in our Native Country the Kingdome of England for the publique
weale of the Same And all the liberties previledges immunities and,
freedoms conteyned (contained) therein have allwayes bin of force and are
belonging unto all his Maties (Majesty’s) [Leige] people within this Island
as theyre Byrthright and that the same ever were now are
and ever shall bee deemed good and effectuall in the Law
And that the same shall bee accepted used and executed within
this his Maties (Majesty’s) Island of Jamaica in all points & at all times
requisite according to the tennor & true meaning of them (except
-ing onely such Statutes or soe much of them whereby any
subsidies Loanes Aides or other Impositions are grannted (granted) or
made, Provided Nevertheles and it is hereby further declared
and enacted by the authority aforesaid that the said Laws and
Statutes may at any time hereafter, by the Governor, Councell
and Assembly bee Mittigated altered lessened or enlarged
according as the Constitution of this place shall require and
as it shall seem requisite & necessary to the respective
generall Assembly then in being.
Consented to by the Gent. of the assembly
T. Whitstone Speaker
Past the Councell the 10th
Of November 1664
Consented to this
Tho: Modyford