State Vs. Mann

In the State Vs. Mann ruling, we find a perfect situation in which even though the court ruled it as law, humans are sometimes wrong. This ruling allowed John Mann to kill runaway slave named Lydia by shooting her in the back as she was trying to run away. Lydia wasn't even Mann's slave, and the case wasn't even about the loss of a human life, but over the ten dollars John Mann was fined for doing it. In an oddly inhumane way, Lydia's life was less meaningful because she was a black woman. She wasn't even viewed as a human but more or less as property.

  Judge Thomas Ruffin

In the trial against Mann, it is claimed that Lydia is not the property of Mr. John Mann and thus he should be assessed property damages for killing another man's property, even though it is absurd to own another human being. 

In the defense of John Mann, the case is made that Lydia is his property during the time that he has leased her out from her owner, so he has every right to do with his property as he sees fit, including shooting her in the back. In North Carolina, where this occurred, a runaway slave could be killed without penalty, so the judge eventually sided with the defense and John Mann.

Ultimately, no real penalty was paid over the life of an innocent slave trying to escape a life of constraint and hard labor. In the ongoing case between right and wrong and morality and the law, State v. Mann was a loss in the battle for equal rights and protection for all, but many great changes still awaited at this time.