In the midst of articles relating to Massachusetts age of consent, I found an interesting court case. The case involves Quock Walker, a slave.

http://www.mass.gov/courts/sjc/const...slavery-e.html

There are quite a few interesting points here; that Massachusetts took its first steps towards abolishing slavery as early as 1783, that someone once had the name "Quock" and wasn't a science fiction character, but what really interested me was the verbiage below...

This, in turn, "undermined whites' confidence in their property rights in slaves, and . . . emboldened enslaved persons of color to demand manumission or wage compensation from their owners - [or] simply to walk away from them." As historian John Cushing concluded, there is "ample evidence" that the Quock Walker cases were a significant step toward the end of slavery in Massachusetts.
Looks some legalese never goes out of style hm?