Slave indexes cataloged enslaved people as inheritable estate property.

Evidence

Chris had explained that the slave index was a document within that inventory that listed all the slaves as property belonging to, in this case, Colonel Thomas Taylor, who had died. They were listed as property to be distributed, as per his will, to his heirs. — Tamara Lanier, From These Roots, 356

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Legal fictions once classified slaves as real estate and corporations as persons. — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 95