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In 1857, the North Carolina Supreme Court coined the term “petit treason” to describe any act of self-defense by enslaved Americans who’d been attacked or abused by their owners, which in turn would offer legal protection for all manner of torture against those who tried to defend themselves.

Reflections applicable to public and private Crimes.—The dangers arising from the progress of immorality to the safety of the State.—The leading offences made capital by the laws of England-29- considered, with the Punishment allotted to each; compared with, and illustrated by, the custom of other countries, in similar cases, both ancient and modern: namely, High Treason—Petit Treason:—Felonies against Life, viz.

I cannot say I had as much tolerance for the patriotism of Miss Bayard as I had for the petit treason of my sister.

It was not till the year 1790 that women ceased to be liable to be burnt alive for high or for petit treason, and Blackstone found nothing to say against it.

The last authorized edition of the laws of Maryland, comprises the following: "If any slave be convicted of any petit treason, or murder, or wilfully burning of dwelling-houses, it may be lawful for the justices to give judgment against such slave to have the right hand cut off, to be hanged in the usual manner, the head severed from the body, the body divided into four quarters, and the head and quarters set up in the most public places of the county," &c.