The Civil War Lawyers by
Lawyers dominated public and political life during the first third of American history, and many lawyers prominent during the Civil War were aware of each other professionally, but also tried cases with and against each other before the War. This title deals with these topics.
Fugitive Justice by
During the tumultuous decade before the Civil War, no issue was more divisive than the pursuit and return of fugitive slaves--a practice enforced under the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. When free Blacks and their abolitionist allies intervened, prosecutions and trials inevitably followed. These cases involved high legal, political, and--most of all--human drama, with runaways desperate for freedom, their defenders seeking recourse to a "higher law" and normally fair-minded judges (even some opposed to slavery) considering the disposition of human beings as property. Fugitive Justice tells the stories of three of the most dramatic fugitive slave trials of the 1850s, bringing to vivid life the determination of the fugitives, the radical tactics of their rescuers, the brutal doggedness of the slavehunters, and the tortuous response of the federal courts. These cases underscore the crucial role that runaway slaves played in building the tensions that led to the Civil War, and they show us how "civil disobedience" developed as a legal defense. As they unfold we can also see how such trials--whether of rescuers or of the slaves themselves--helped build the northern anti-slavery movement, even as they pushed southern firebrands closer to secession. How could something so evil be treated so routinely by just men? The answer says much about how deeply the institution of slavery had penetrated American life even in free states. Fugitive Justice powerfully illuminates this painful episode in American history, and its role in the nation's inexorable march to war.
Horace Mann's Letters on the Extension of Slavery into California and New Mexico; and on the duty of Congress to provide the trial by jury for alledged fugitive slavesJustice Accused: antislavery and the judicial process by
"What should a judge do when he must hand down a ruling based on a law that he considers unjust or oppressive?" This question is examined through a series of problems concerning unjust law that arose with respect to slavery in nineteenth-century America. -- Amazon
Justice Accused: antislavery and the judicial process by
"What should a judge do when he must hand down a ruling based on a law that he considers unjust or oppressive?" This question is examined through a series of problems concerning unjust law that arose with respect to slavery in nineteenth-century America. -- Amazon
A Peculiar Humanism by
Assessing the judicial use of oratory in reviewing slave cases and the struggle to fashion a humanist jurisprudence on slavery despite the restraints placed on judicial advocacy, this work examines the public addresses, judicial narratives and private papers of 69 appellate judges.
Slave Law in the American South by
Tying together legal, historical, social, political and literary strands to show how the law itself was implicated in the persistence of slavery, this work sheds new light on slavery and Southern history, as it probes the conscience of a troubled jurist incapable of fully transcending his times.
Slave Law and the Politics of Resistance in the Early Atlantic World by
Edward Rugemer's comparative history, spanning 200 years, reveals the political dynamic between slaves' resistance and slaveholders' power in two prosperous slave economies: Jamaica and South Carolina. This struggle led to the abolition of slavery through a law of British Parliament in one case and through violent civil war in the other.
Slavery in the Courtroom by
Recipient of the Joseph L. Andrews Award in 1986. This book provides a detailed discussion and analysis of the pamphlet materials on the law of slavery published in the United States and Great Britain. It provides the reader with an understanding of most of the important American and British cases on slavery.
Unlikely Heroes by Unlikely Heroes by 
Trial of Henry W. Allen, U.S. Deputy Marshal, for kidnapping with arguments of counsel & charge of Justice Marvin, on the constitutionality of the Fugitive slave law, in the Supreme Court of New York• SUPREME COURT OF WISCONSIN, THE FUGITIVE SLAVE LAW: DECISIONS OF THE SUPREME COURT OF WISCONSIN IN THE CASES OF BOOTH AND RYCRAFT
