It has been recently decided in a New York court that a person born a slave cannot inherit property. A woman, formerly a slave in Virginia, claimed the estate of her uncle, who died in New York. The right to recover was resisted on the ground that the plaintiff had not inheritable blood, because the laws of Virginia did not allow marriage among slaves, who were mere chattels, legally incapable of marriage, of family relationship, and of owning, transmitting, and inheriting real estate.
(Liberator, Nov 10, 1865, pg 4)
