The jurisprudence of American slave sales

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Wahl, JB
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050700016053
• 发表日期: 1996
• 页码: 143-169
• 关键词: ECONOMIC-ANALYSIS; LIABILITY RULES; PROTECTION; negligence; LAW

摘要

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.