The Jurisprudence of American Slave Sales

Jenny B. Wahl
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Jenny Bourne

The Journal of Economic History, 1996, vol. 56, issue 1, 143-169

Abstract: An analysis of all appellate cases involving slave-sales reveals that southern courts helped minimize the costs of trading in slaves. Slave-sales law also surpassed other contemporaneous commercial law in sophistication. Why? Greater information gaps between slave buyers and sellers called for more complex institutional support. The enormous property value embodied by slaves also led to more litigation, greater need for settled law, and a more even match of power between plaintiff and defendant. Additionally, legal rules surrounding slave sales substituted for the employment law governing free-labor markets.

Date: 1996
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