Decree-law of 14 January 1944 on the slaughter of cows and heifers

The decree-law of 14 January 1944, given at the National Palace on 13 January and promulgated on 14 January 1944 under Élie Lescot, with the authorisation of the National Assembly's Permanent Committee.

The preamble states that inconsiderate slaughter of cows and heifers hampers the rebuilding of the national cattle herd. Article 1 allows the departments of agriculture and labour, the interior, and commerce and the national economy to limit, by public notice, the number of cows and heifers to be slaughtered each month either in a given town or throughout the Republic, and likewise to set by notice the conditions to which such slaughter is subject. Article 2 repeals contrary provisions. The preamble cites the law of 7 September 1870 on butchery.

The instrument is a supply-side control on breeding stock, and a ministerial notice, unlike a fixed rule, leaves the quota adjustable month by month. Livestock remains a principal store of value for Haitian rural households, which is why herd policy shows up in the corpus's agricultural and food-security material.