Partus sequitur ventrem

Partus sequitur ventrem (Latin for '"that which is brought forth follows the belly (womb)"'),^[1] often abbreviated to partus, was a legal doctrine concerning the slave or free status of children born in the English royal colonies. It was borrowed from the civil law of Europe, which applied throughout the Americas in colonies of Spain, Portugal, France and the Dutch, among others. Incorporated into legislation in the British American colonies, partus held that the legal status of a child followed that of his mother. Thus, any child born to an enslaved woman was born into slavery, regardless of the ancestry or citizenship of the father. This principle was widely adopted into the laws regarding slavery in the colonies and the following United States, eliminating financial responsibility of fathers for children born into slavery, while securing the slave-owner's property right in the children.