An Act for the suppressing of Runaway Slaves, and for the better Government of Slaves (1784)

While modern historians and colonial military dispatches frequently refer to it in shorthand as the Maroon Suppression Act (or An Act for Suppressing the Maroon Negroes), with various iterations passed between 1773 and 1787), this colonial statute was the primary legal mechanism utilised by the British plantocracy in Dominica to combat and suppress the island’s formidable Maroon (Nèg Mawon) population. Unlike larger territories like Jamaica, where treaties were eventually signed, the colonial assembly of Dominica viewed the independent Maroon communities living in the mountainous interior as existential threats to the plantation economy and the system of enslavement. The Act codified state-sanctioned violence, established paramilitary units, and penalised anyone offering assistance to those who had escaped captivity.

Legislative Context and Intent

Throughout the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Dominica possessed one of the most organised and ideologically radical Maroon societies in the Atlantic World. Led by prominent figures such as Balla, Pharcell, and Jacko, the Dominican Maroons did not simply seek isolated refuge; they operated as universal emancipationists, actively raiding plantations to liberate enslaved labourers and disrupt the colonial structure.

To curb this, the Dominica House of Assembly routinely enacted and revived temporary Suppressing Acts (notably in 1773, 1784, and 1787) to maintain a perpetual state of counter-insurgency. These acts bridged the gap between civilian property management and active martial law.

Key Statutory Provisions

The 1784 Act formalised colonial violence against Maroons by legally mandating the conscription of free people of colour for high-risk tracking parties, institutionalising cash bounties for insurgents, and implementing capital punishment for aiding runaways.

Authorization of Paramilitary Detachments

The Act granted the Commander-in-Chief or the President of the Council the statutory authority to organize and deploy specialized military detachments to hunt Maroons in the dense interior rainforests.

• To conserve white regular troops, the law specifically mandated the conscription of Free Mulattoes, Free Negroes, and other Free Persons of Colour into these tracking parties.
• Refusal by a free person of color to join a colonial hunting detachment carried steep financial penalties or the threat of being stripped of their free legal status.

Institutionalization of Bounties and Rewards

To incentivize betrayal and active warfare against the independent communities, the Act laid out a strict legal schedule of financial rewards paid out of the public treasury:

• Capture or Extermination: High cash bounties were paid for bringing in a Maroon chief or providing proof of their death (often requiring the severed head or hands of the insurgent as evidence to claim the reward).
• Return of Runaways: Plantations were legally required to pay fixed fees to any tracker or militia member who successfully captured and returned an enslaved person who had been missing for more than a certain number of days.

Absolute Criminalization of Assistance

The Act targeted the networks that sustained Maroon survival by creating severe capital offenses for anyone within the plantation system who assisted them:

• Harbouring: Any enslaved or free person found providing food, intelligence, tools, firearms, or shelter to a Maroon was subject to summary execution or permanent banishment from the island.
• Failure to Report: Overseers and estate managers were legally obligated to immediately report any missing laborers or signs of Maroon contact. Neglecting this duty resulted in heavy personal fines and potential loss of their operational licenses.

Impact: The Maroon Wars and Ultimate Repeal

The enforcement of this Act led directly to the brutal First Maroon War (1785–1786) and the Second Maroon War (1809–1814). Armed with the absolute authority of the suppressing statutes, colonial governors, most notably Governor George Ainslie in 1813, declared total martial law, executing hundreds of captured Maroons and their allies through summary military tribunals.

By 1815, with the death of Chief Jacko and the systemic destruction of their hidden forest agricultural camps, the organized Maroon resistance was heavily reduced.

De jure Repeal:

As the British Parliament pushed for colonial legal reforms ahead of total emancipation, these brutal, racially stratified counter-insurgency laws were systematically dismantled. The suppressing acts were formally repealed and superseded by the Slave Amelioration and Consolidation Acts of 1826 and 1831, which moved Dominica away from frontier-style military suppression ahead of the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833.