Southern Slavery and the Law, 1619-1860
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Book Overview
This volume is the first comprehensive history of the evolving relationship between American slavery and the law from colonial times to the Civil War. As Thomas Morris clearly shows, racial slavery came to the English colonies as an institution without strict legal definitions or guidelines. Specifically, he demonstrates that there was no coherent body of law that dealt solely with slaves. Instead, more general legal rules concerning inheritance, mortgages, and transfers of property coexisted with laws pertaining only to slaves. According to Morris, southern lawmakers and judges struggled to reconcile a social order based on slavery with existing English common law (or, in Louisiana, with continental civil law.) Because much was left to local interpretation, laws varied between and even within states. In addition, legal doctrine often differed from local practice. And, as Morris reveals, in the decades leading up to the Civil War, tensions mounted between the legal culture of racial slavery and the competing demands of capitalism and evangelical Christianity.
Format:Hardcover
Language:English
ISBN:0807822388
ISBN13:9780807822388
Release Date:February 1996
Publisher:University of North Carolina Press
Length:592 Pages
Weight:1.45 lbs.
Dimensions:1.0" x 6.1" x 9.3"
Related Subjects
17th Century Abolition African-American Studies Americas Civil Procedure Discrimination & Racism History Law Legal History Modern (16th-21st Centuries) Politics & Social Sciences Race Relations Rules & Procedures Slavery & Emancipation Social Science Social Sciences Specific Demographics Textbooks WorldCustomer Reviews
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