manumission

Manumission is the act of freeing someone from slavery. Laws regarding manumission varied significantly across societies and time periods, often reflecting a society's perception of a slave's potential as a free individual.123

In many Islamic societies, slave owners were generally required to free their slaves after a set number of years. Other societies permitted masters to free slaves at their discretion, though exceptions existed. Some legal systems mandated manumission when a slave adopted their owner's religion. Manumission was more common in systems of household slavery due to close master-slave relationships.3

In some societies, birth could lead to manumission, with offspring of slaves being born free. Islamic law recommended manumission upon birth, and owners often followed this religious tenet. In Thailand, emancipation was considered a pious act, and owners frequently freed slaves upon their death.3

The rate of manumission did not always correlate with the ease of legal manumission. In Rome, manumission was relatively easy and widely practiced, despite a tax and legal restrictions on the number of slaves that could be freed by testament. In contrast, manumission was comparatively difficult and rare in the American South after the prohibition of importing new slaves.3

After manumission, most societies had a transitional period before the freed person became a full member of society. This transition was intended to help the formerly enslaved person integrate into society and become self-reliant.3