The Bondsman's Burden: An Economic Analysis of the Common Law of Southern Slavery

Were slaves property or human beings under the law? Antebellum Southern judges designed efficient laws that protected property rights and helped slavery remain economically viable, laws that sheltered the persons embodied by that propertySH-the slaves themselves. Unintentionally, these judges generated rules applicable to ordinary Americans. Wahl provides a rigorous, compelling economic analysis of the common law of Southern slavery, inspecting thousands of legal disputes.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Author: Wahl, Jenny Bourne
Published: 03/26/1998
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521592383
Pages: 292
Weight: 1.28lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.20w x 0.82d