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

    The Bondsman's Burden by Wahl, Jenny Bourne;

    An Economic Analysis of the Common Law of Southern Slavery

    Series: Cambridge Historical Studies in American Law and Society;

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      • Publisher's listprice GBP 112.00
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    53 508 Ft

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    Availability

    Estimated delivery time: Expected time of arrival: end of January 2026.
    Not in stock at Prospero.

    Why don't you give exact delivery time?

    Delivery time is estimated on our previous experiences. We give estimations only, because we order from outside Hungary, and the delivery time mainly depends on how quickly the publisher supplies the book. Faster or slower deliveries both happen, but we do our best to supply as quickly as possible.

    Product details:

    • Publisher Cambridge University Press
    • Date of Publication 13 November 1997

    • ISBN 9780521592383
    • Binding Hardback
    • No. of pages292 pages
    • Size 236x160x23 mm
    • Weight 580 g
    • Language English
    • Illustrations 3 tables
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    Short description:

    This 1998 book presents a rigorous, compelling economic analysis of the common law of Southern slavery, inspecting thousands of legal disputes.

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    Long description:

    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.

    "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

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    Table of Contents:

    1. American slavery and the path of the law; 2. The law of sales: slaves, animals, and commodities; 3. The law of hiring and employment: slaves, animals, and free persons; 4. The law regarding common carriers: slaves, animals, commodities, and free persons; 5. The law regarding governments, government officials, slave patrollers, and overseers: protecting private property versus keeping public peace; 6. The legal rights and responsibilities of strangers toward slaves, animals, and free persons; 7. Treatment of one's slaves, servants, animals, and relatives: legal boundaries and the problem of social cost; 8. The south's law of slavery: reflecting the felt necessities of the time.

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