Under the Act commissioners were appointed to assess lawful ownership of slaves,
the value of those slaves, and to allocate compensation. This compensation was apportioned
according to the average value of slaves, which varied between the individual countries,
and by age and occupation. The award slave owners received was based on the number
of slaves, their ages and occupations as registered in the slave registers and legally
held at the date of emancipation. The dates of emancipation were 1 August 1834 in
the Caribbean; 1 December 1834 in Cape Colony and 1 February 1835 in Mauritius.
The occupations of individual slaves for compensation purposes were set out in the
act: where the former slaves were divided into three distinct classes, the first
of such classes consisting of praedial apprenticed labourers attached to the soil,
and comprising all persons who in their state of slavery were usually employed in
agriculture, or in the manufacture of colonial produce or otherwise, upon lands
belonging to their owners; the second of such classes consisting of praedial apprenticed
labourers not attached to the soil, and comprising all persons who in their state
of slavery were usually employed in agriculture, or in the manufacture of colonial
produce or otherwise, upon lands not belonging to their owners; and the third of
such classes consisting of non praedial apprenticed labourers and comprising all
apprenticed labourers not included within either of the two preceding classes. There
were two further categories: children under the age of 6 on the date of emancipation,
and aged and infirm or otherwise non-effective.
The awards were compiled into 5 lists:
- List A: awards made in respect of uncontested claims
- List B: amount of compensation money forfeited under the 46th Section of the Act
3&4 William IV cap 73
- List C: awards made in respect of litigated claims
- List D: awards made for the payment or transfer of the compensation money into court
by order of the High Court of Chancery
- List E: transfers made by the accountant general of the High Court of Chancery in
pursuance of orders of the colonial courts