The Bondsman's Burden: An Economic Analysis of the Common Law of Southern Slavery (Cambridge Historical Studies in American Law and Society) - Hardcover

Wahl, Jenny Bourne

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521592380 ISBN 13: 9780521592383

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1998

Synopsis

Were slaves property or human beings under the law? In crafting answers to this question, Southern judges designed efficient laws that protected property rights and helped slavery remain economically viable. But, by preserving property rights, they sheltered the persons embodied by that property - the slaves themselves. Slave law therefore had unintended consequences: it generated rules that judges could apply to free persons, precedents that became the foundation for laws designed to protect ordinary Americans. The Bondsman's Burden, first published in 1998, provides a rigorous and compelling economic analysis of the common law of Southern slavery, inspecting thousands of legal disputes heard in Southern antebellum courts, disputes involving servants, employees, accident victims, animals, and other chattel property, as well as slaves. The common law, although it supported the institution of slavery, did not favor every individual slave owner who brought a grievance to court.

About this title

Review

"In The Bondsman's Burden, Jenny Wahl provides and insightful look at the antebellum South's legal system and how southern judges fashioned a jurisprudence of slavery vital to preserving the economic vitality of the institution. In affording this insight, Wahl also supplies an important look at the role of legal rules in the development and maintenance of economic institutions and processes." William and Mary Quarterly

"Wahl has written a splendid and comprehensive analysis of the common law of slavery." Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"...scholars of slavery and of the law will find this an original and thought-provoking work." American Historical Review

"This book is highly recommended." The Journal of the Early Republic

"With its succinct case analyses and its willingness to apply economic and legal perspectives to an important problem in North American history, The Bondsman's Burden is sure to provoke discussion among historians, legal experts, and economists." Dylan C. Penningroth, Labor History

"Wahl has written an important book. She has reviewed an enormous number of appellate cases and has suggest that was a difference between rules relating to slaves and other persons. Her evidence implies that southern law, because of slavery, was affected by economic values, one of which was that slave property should receive special protection." Law & History Review Fall 01

Book Description

Were slaves property or human beings under law? Southern judges designed laws that protected property rights and helped slavery remain economically viable, the foundation of laws applicable to free people. This 1998 book provides a rigorous, compelling economic analysis of the common law of Southern slavery, inspecting thousands of legal disputes.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521592380
• ISBN 13: 9780521592383
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 292