The reason why "Persons of Quality and Fortune" are encouraged to adopt DEB is because they "have as many Branches in their accomptable Business, as most Traders have" (p.
Masters were not allowed to "wantonly" kill their slaves, but if a slave died in the course of a punishment for a "misdemeanor," the law stated that "noe person shall be accomptable to any law." The 1696 slave code, which persisted almost unchanged until 1788, did not mention what was to happen if a slave died in the course of being punished.