| Le Jeune Case | |
|---|---|
 Haitian revolutionary and former slave Jean-Baptiste Belley, who lived in the area of Le Cap where the Le Jeune case was first heard. Portrait by Anne-Louis Girodet De Roucy-Trioson. | |
| Court | Le Cap colonial court; Port-au-Prince superior court. |
| Decided | 1788 |
| Case history | |
| Appealed from | Le Cap colonial court |
| Appealed to | Port-au-Prince superior court |
| Case opinions | |
| Planter Le Jeune acquitted of having tortured and murdered his slaves. | |
The Le Jeune Case (or "Lejeune case") was a suit brought by 14 slaves against torture and murder by their master, Nicolas Le Jeune, in the French colony of Saint-Domingue in 1788.[1] Le Jeune was accused of torturing and murdering six slaves, who he said had planned to poison him. Despite overwhelming evidence of Le Jeune's guilt, courts ruled in favor of the planter, demonstrating the complicity of Saint-Domingue's legal system in the brutalization of slaves.[1][2] The Haitian Revolution ending slavery in Saint-Domingue would begin only three years later.
- ^ a b James, CLR (1963). The Black Jacobins (Second Edition, Revised ed.). Vintage Books. pp. 22–24.
- ^ Shen, Kona. "French Rule and Tensions in the Colony". History of Haiti. Brown University. Retrieved 22 December 2020.