Final answer:
The main difference is that under English law, the status of the child would follow the father, whereas in Virginia laws dictated that the status would follow the enslaved mother's condition, making her children slaves regardless of their father's race or status.
Step-by-step explanation:
A difference between English law and the laws affecting slaves in Virginia was that under English law, the social condition of a father typically determined that of his child, whereas in Virginia, the law of 1662 determined that the children of enslaved women would inherit the status of their mother, thus being born into slavery regardless of the father's status. This legal framework perpetuated the institution of slavery and ensured that the offspring of enslaved women would remain slaves for life, thereby expanding the labor force of enslaved individuals and establishing a permanent racial hierarchy based on the concept of hereditable slavery.
In contrast to many African norms of slavery, which did not view slaves as property and did not automatically enslave the children of slaves, the laws in Virginia created a distinction that race and the condition of being enslaved were inseparably linked. Virginia laws also defined race more sharply, treating blacks and people of African descent as slaves or potential slaves, and by the early 18th century, they were legally seen as real estate.