Planters vs the people's judge

quote:

'Court procedures were extremely long and, in some instances, people died before their cases were settled. Usually, the outcomes favoured the planters'

Dr Rita Pemberton

DURING THE 1840s the metayage system came into general use in Tobago as a mechanism to permit the cash-strapped planters to overcome their problems and keep their estates operational.

Owing to the challenges they faced with their workers after Emancipation, planters were unified in their conviction that there was a shortage of labour on the island, but since they were unable to import immigrant labour, the metayage system was the only alternative to closing down operations.

The system was supposed to benefit both planters and metayers, but it degenerated into a virtual battlefield between exacting planter/employers and resisting workers.

Matters came to a head at union when the Chief Justice of Trinidad, Justice John Gorrie, was required to hear cases in Tobago.

Using the formula
in forma pauperis, Gorrie allowed workers to bring their cases to court without the usual prohibitive costs which, in the past, had effectively deprived them of legal access.

Naturally, he was seen as the people's judge and their friend in court. They flocked to his office, and he was warmly welcomed to the island.

The opportunity to bring their cases to court belied the view that the metayage system was harmonious until Gorrie’s presence on the island. He was accused of stimulating what has been described as “unprecedented litigation” and a change in the demeanour of the metayers, who, according to the planters, had become “insolent.”

However, it was a period of jubilation for the metayers, who now enjoyed relief from the long suffering under the yoke of planter exactions and arbitrary, unfair changes to the metayage arrangements.

Court procedures were extremely long and, in some instances, people died before their cases were settled. Usually, the outcomes favoured the planters.

In Gorrie’s court, not only did the metayers have opportunities to air their grievances, but they also received judgments in their favour. What planters referred to as metayer insolence and insubordination was in fact their excitement at the recognition that they had rights and the taste of liberation which the rulings of the judge offered.

On the other hand, it was Gorrie's ruling in the Frank versus Anderson case which alarmed and angered the Tobago planting community and set off an islandwide panic over the sanctity of their properties.

The metayer, 73-year-old Frank, was born on the Castara Estate, where, as an enslaved labourer, he worked as a carpenter. He functioned as a metayer for 45 years, having entered into an arrangement with the previous owner which was in force when Anderson became owner of the estate.

In 1877, Anderson and his brother were lessees of Castara Estate, which they subsequently bought. The estate, with its 328 African workers, was owned by Capt George Ferguson of Pitfour, Aberdeen, Scotland.

Ferguson granted power of attorney to Matthew Witz to sell or lease parts of the estate in two-acre lots of outlying areas and to accept labour in lieu of rent.

However, Witz demanded that Frank should pay rent for the parcels of estate land which he occupied and cultivated as provision ground, and gave him notice to quit on January 29, 1889, with a threat to sue if the rent was not paid.

Frank sued Anderson for breach of contract regarding the terms of the metayer agreement and turning him off the estate with a simple notice to quit.

CJ Gorrie heard the case in a court packed to capacity with metayers from across the island. He observed that while the plaintiff considered the question of wages the primary matter, he considered the rights and privileges of metayers of central importance.

He said the legal aspect of the metayer contract required consideration, because, while the metayer contract was less than a document of ownership, it was more than a lease, and could not be dismissed simply at the whims of the owner. He asserted that the agreement for the operation of the estate offered value to both proprietor and worker which was based on fixity. Labour provides credit, and, in Tobago, the metayer was the “soul of goodness” to the estate, and if either party acted whimsically the system would fail. If it was good for the planter to be assured of the labour of the metayer, it was equally good for the metayer to have fixity of tenure on the land on which he worked.

Frank could not be thrown off the estate, and the CJ found Anderson's conduct “illegal, harsh and rapacious” and ordered him to pay damages of £20, three guineas' costs, and court fees.

Metayers in the court cheered with excitement, but this was a sad moment for planters because the established practice in the courts was decisions were always in the planters’ favour. Their laments over what they called insubordination and rudeness were apprehensions of fear of their social displacement and loss of their property.

The notion of fixity of tenure for metayers on estate property was a bitter pill for them to swallow. They lamented that it had never been heard of before, and argued that the metayers never wanted fixity of tenure, preferring instead to function as migratory birds, moving from place to place.

They refused to accept the notion of metayers having permanent access to their properties and the restrictive regulations from Gorrie which mandated that the owner could only discharge a metayer through orders from the court. They complained that when disputes occurred, metayers threatened them with “Gorrie.”

To them, metayers were being empowered by Gorrie at their expense and they were dissatisfied with the state of the island, which changed dramatically from the pre-Gorrie era. They were determined to make life and work revert to what they were accustomed to.

Fearing for the loss of their properties, and dissatisfied with the state of affairs for which they blamed Gorrie, the planters embarked on a plan to force him out of office, which was ultimately successful, thus ensuring the period of change which stimulated metayer excitement was destined to be brief.