Note 65 — Chapter II · The Legal Status of the Slave in Tennessee

“If a slave commits a criminal offense while in the services of the hirer,” said Judge McKinney, “it would be sufficient cause to discharge him. And if the hirer desires to have him punished for such offense the law has pointed out the mode, and he has the right to pursue it, but he has no right to become himself the avenger of the violated law, much less to depute another person in his stead. And for a battery committed on the slave under such circumstances, the owner may well maintain an action against the wrong-doer, in which the jury would be justified in giving exemplary damages in a proper case.” James v. Carper, 4 Sneed, 404 (1857).