After the dissolution of the Orleans Parish Police Jury in 1846, the three Municipality Councils assumed emancipation powers. This manuscript volume, covering the period July 1, 1846 - July 7, 1851, records chronologically the deliberations of the Council in matters of emancipations of enslaved people. The record of each individual emancipation is filed under the date of the council meeting the petition was received and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. Following this is a record of the succeeding session at which the committee report was made and the full Council acted on the emancipation. Generally, the record for each emancipation includes the name of the enslaver desiring to emancipate and the name(s) of the enslaved person(s) being emancipated (sometimes with their age(s) and color(s) included).