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Bonds of Empire Lee B. Wilson (Clemson University, South Carolina)

Bonds of Empire By Lee B. Wilson (Clemson University, South Carolina)

Bonds of Empire by Lee B. Wilson (Clemson University, South Carolina)

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Summary

Bonds of Empire reveals how English law facilitated the expansion of slavery in British America. Moving beyond an examination of criminal law, the book suggests that plantation slavery and the laws that governed it were not beyond the pale of English imperial legal history.

Bonds of Empire Summary

Bonds of Empire: The English Origins of Slave Law in South Carolina and British Plantation America, 1660-1783 by Lee B. Wilson (Clemson University, South Carolina)

Bonds of Empire presents an account of slave law that is entirely new: one in which English law imbued plantation slavery with its staying power even as it insulated slave owners from contemplating the moral implications of owning human beings. Emphasizing practice rather than proscription, the book follows South Carolina colonists as they used English law to maximize the value of the people they treated as property. Doing so reveals that most daily legal practices surrounding slave ownership were derived from English law: colonists categorized enslaved people as property using English legal terms, they bought and sold them with printed English legal forms, and they followed English legal procedures as they litigated over enslaved people in court. Bonds of Empire ultimately shows that plantation slavery and the laws that governed it were not beyond the pale of English imperial legal history; they were yet another invidious manifestation of English law's protean potential.

Bonds of Empire Reviews

'Employing an original perspective and approach, Wilson provocatively uses her law degree to read new understandings into how slavery transformed African-descended people into forms of property - sometimes chattel, sometimes real estate, sometimes salvage. Importantly, Wilson's legal history centers the humanity of the enslaved by considering lived experiences, including how captives challenged the variegated methods of their subjection.' Kevin Dawson, University of California, Merced
'This is a book that we've needed for a long time, for it demonstrates how readily England's legal language fit chattel slavery in early America. Colonial lawmakers did not need to invent new terms, new procedures to exert power over slaves: colonists could rely upon legal words and practices already found in common law, admiralty, and equity. Slave law was part and parcel of the English empire's legal regime.' Sally E. Hadden, Western Michigan University
'Wilson shows how English law facilitated the expansion and perpetuation of racial slavery in America. The book convincingly argues that all law in the plantation colonies was slave law, insulating owners from moral qualms and facilitating economic growth by transforming enslaved people into property. Bonds of Empire is a timely intervention in the lively new literature on Anglo-American imperial history.' Peter S. Onuf, Thomas Jefferson Professor of History, Emeritus, University of Virginia

About Lee B. Wilson (Clemson University, South Carolina)

Lee B. Wilson is Assistant Professor of History at Clemson University. A historian of colonial British America and the early modern Atlantic world, her research interests include the legal history of early American slave societies, colonial property law, and legal discourse.

Table of Contents

List of Tables; Acknowledgements; A Note on Text; List of Abbreviations; Introduction; 1. Chattel; 2. Bonds; 3. In Rem; 4. Equity; 5. Res Publica; Conclusion; Index.

Additional information

NPB9781108495257
9781108495257
1108495257
Bonds of Empire: The English Origins of Slave Law in South Carolina and British Plantation America, 1660-1783 by Lee B. Wilson (Clemson University, South Carolina)
Lee B. Wilson (Clemson University, South Carolina)
Cambridge Historical Studies in American Law and Society
New
Hardback
Cambridge University Press
2021-07-22
288
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
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Customer Reviews - Bonds of Empire