num_pages: 292
description: 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.
language: English
title: The Bondsman's Burden: An Economic Analysis of the Common Law of Southern Slavery
titlecomplete: The Bondsman's Burden: An Economic Analysis of the Common Law of Southern Slavery (Cambridge Historical Studies in American Law and Society)
ratings_count: 1
series: Cambridge Historical Studies in American Law and Society
publisher: Cambridge University Press