Dr Rita Pemberton

During the years after the termination of the apprenticeship system in 1838, the levels of employer/worker conflict in Tobago escalated. The contentious issues were all based on the desire of the planter employers to maintain the operation of the system to which they were accustomed during enslavement and force the free African workers to accept their terms.

On the other hand, it was the ambition of the workers to attain meaningful freedom by removing themselves from planter control, creating alternative employment for themselves and demanding better wages and terms of work.

The ongoing conflict between these two protagonists, which had its base in resistance to enslavement and the apprenticeship system, manifested itself immediately after the 1838 declaration of the termination of the system, but it assumed such magnitude that the planters devised ways to halt what they considered to be a dangerous trend.

Planters remained gripped by the fear, which dominated the organisation of the slave system, the nature of their relations with the enslaved population and infused decision-making about all aspects of plantation life.

Much as they needed a large work force, planters were very sensitive to the reality of their vulnerability as a small white group in the midst of a large black population. They existed in mortal fear of the numerical superiority of the African population, which posed a security risk and which could also damage their property and profits. For their physical and financial security, control of the workforce was considered an absolute necessity.

In order to maintain this control in the post-Emancipation period, they had recourse to law-making. Hence the years after 1838 were marked by the quantum of legislation passed with the express purpose of governing relations between black and white and sterilising the impact of emancipation. The legal establishment was staffed with additional offices and with new roles for the existing ones. At the base of the system were the justices of the peace (JPs), who interfaced most often with the freed men and women as their first port of call in justice-related matters.

One of the express concerns of the administration of post-Emancipation Tobago was to improve the administration of justice, and in this regard, there are two laws of interest which both relate to the JPs.

The first law was proclaimed on January 9, 1854, because the administration felt it necessary to protect the JPs from revenge for actions taken in the course of their duties. This law was stimulated by the intensity of planter/worker conflict and the constant assertion that the JPs acted maliciously and without just cause in decisions on matters before them.

While appeals were possible, the plaintiff was required to prove his case, or else the verdict would be made in favour of the defendant. This put workers making charges against employers at a disadvantage. Appeal was possible only after the conviction was quashed by a superior court, and no appeal was