Slavery & the Law

by Finkelman, Paul; Bell, Derrick; Bush, Jonathan A.; Corré, Jacob I.; Curtis, Michael Kent; Fisher III, William W.; Gross, Ariela; Horton, James Oliver; Horton, Lois; Levinson, Sanford; Morris, Thomas D.; Russell, Thomas D.; Schafer, Judith Kelleher; Watson

• ISBN13: 9780945612360
• ISBN10: 0945612362
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-02-01
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

In this book, prominent historians of slavery and legal scholars analyze the intricate relationship between slavery, race, and the law from the earliest Black Codes in colonial America to the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law and the Dred Scott decision prior to the Civil War. Slavery & the Law's wide-ranging essays focus on comparative slave law, auctioneering practices, rules of evidence, and property rights, as well as issues of criminality, punishment, and constitutional law.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction The Centrality of Slavery in American Legal Development	3	(24)
Paul Finkelman
Part I Theories of Democracy and the Law of Slavery	27	(60)
1 Learning the Three "I"s of America's Slave Heritage	29	(14)
Derrick Bell
2 Ideology and Imagery in the Law of Slavery	43	(44)
William W. Fisher III
Part II Constitutional Law and Slavery	87	(120)
3 Slavery in the Canon of Constitutional Law	89	(24)
Sanford Levinson
4 Chief Justice Hornblower of New Jersey and the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793	113	(30)
Paul Finkelman
5 A Federal Assault: African-Americans and the Impact of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850	143	(18)
James Oliver Horton
Lois E. Horton
6 The Crisis Over The Impending Crisis: Free Speech, Slavery, and the Fourteenth Amendment	161	(46)
Michael Kent Curtis
Part III Criminal and Civil Law of Slavery	207	(158)
7 Slaves and the Rules of Evidence in Criminal Trials	209	(32)
Thomas D. Morris
8 "Details are of a Most Revolting Character": Cruelty to Slaves as Seen in Appeals to the Supreme Court of Louisiana	241	(50)
Judith Kelleher Schafer
The Unreported Case of Humphreys v. Utz	269	(22)
9 Pandora's Box: Slave Character on Trial in the Antebellum Deep South	291	(38)
Ariela Gross
10 Slave Auctions on the Courthouse Steps: Court Sales of Slaves in Antebellum South Carolina	329	(36)
Thomas D. Russell
Part IV Comparative Law and Slavery	365	(88)
11 Seventeenth-Century Jurists, Roman Law, and Slavery	367	(12)
Alan Watson
12 The British Constitution and the Creation of American Slavery	379	(40)
Jonathan A. Bush
13 Thinking Property at Rome	419	(18)
Alan Watson
14 Thinking Property at Memphis: An Application of Watson	437	(16)
Jacob I. Corre
Notes on Contributors	453	(2)
Index	455