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Central to the development of the American legal system, writes Professor Finkelman in Slavery & the Law , is the institution of slavery. It informs us not only about early concepts of race and property, but about the nature of American democracy itself.
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.
What emerges from this multi-faceted portrait is a complex legal system designed to ensure the property rights of slave-holders and to institutionalize racism. The ultimate result was to strengthen the institution of slavery in the midst of a growing trend toward democracy in the mid-nineteenth-century Atlantic community.

Tabla de contenidos provista por Syndetics

• Acknowledgments(p. ix)
• Introduction: The Centrality of Slavery in American Legal Development(p. 3)
• Part I Theories of Democracy and the Law of Slavery(p. 27)
• 1 Learning the Three "I"s of America's Slave Heritage(p. 29)
• 2 Ideology and Imagery in the Law of Slavery(p. 43)
• Part II Constitutional Law and Slavery(p. 87)
• 3 Slavery in the Canon of Constitutional Law(p. 89)
• 4 Chief Justice Hornblower of New Jersey and the Fugitive Slave Law of 1793(p. 113)
• 5 A Federal Assault: African-Americans and the Impact of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850(p. 143)
• 6 The Crisis Over The Impending Crisis: Free Speech, Slavery, and the Fourteenth Amendment(p. 161)
• Part III Criminal and Civil Law of Slavery(p. 207)
• 7 Slaves and the Rules of Evidence in Criminal Trials(p. 209)
• 8 "Details are of a Most Revolting Character": Cruelty to Slaves as Seen in Appeals to the Supreme Court of Louisiana(p. 241)
• The Unreported Case of Humphreys v. Utz(p. 269)
• 9 Pandora's Box: Slave Character on Trial in the Antebellum Deep South(p. 291)
• 10 Slave Auctions on the Courthouse Steps: Court Sales of Slaves in Antebellum South Carolina(p. 329)
• Part IV Comparative Law and Slavery(p. 365)
• 11 Seventeenth-Century Jurists, Roman Law, and Slavery(p. 367)
• 12 The British Constitution and the Creation of American Slavery(p. 379)
• 13 Thinking Property at Rome(p. 419)
• 14 Thinking Property at Memphis: An Application of Watson(p. 437)
• Notes on Contributors(p. 453)
• Index(p. 455)

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Library Journal Review

Finkelman (law, Harvard) has compiled a comprehensive analysis of American slavery, tackling the subject from a legal perspective rather than from a purely historical one. This fresh and effective approach permits not only a deeper understanding of American legal history but also a more fundamental examination of the antebellum moral and intellectual justifications for slavery. Each chapter, authored by prominent historians and legal scholars, explores how the brutality of slavery was wholly backed by the legal system, including such actions as slave auctions held on courthouse steps, the enactment of the Federal Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, and the hesitancy to indict owners for the inhumane punishment of slaves. Still, the law was often contradictory and uneven, owing to the fact that whites changed the nature of racist stereotypes to fit every situation. It was this inability of the law to respond to every detail of racial imagery that ultimately helped to undermine the system. This work will be integral to all period history studies. Highly recommended for academic and large public libraries.‘Steven Anderson, Baltimore Cty. Circuit Court Law Lib. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Paul Finkelman is one of the most prolific scholars of legal history and early American culture. He is author or editor of over forty books including Dred Scott v. Sandford: A Brief History With Documents , Slavery and the Founders: Race and Liberty in the Age of Jefferson , An Imperfect Union: Slavery, Federalism and Comity , and His Soul Goes Marching On: Responses to John Brown and the Harper's Ferry Raid . He is currently Chapman Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Tulsa.