Overview

This book offers an unprecedented comparative study of five landmark court cases on slavery, tried on both sides of the Atlantic and spanning nearly a century: Somerset, the Zong, the Amistad, the Creole, and Dred Scott. Dr. Nicholls reviews these cases through an interdisciplinary lens, analysing their historical, socio-economic and political rami cations. He also raises the critical issue revolving around the volatile and often conflicting notions of freedom, property, property rights, the definition of ownership, as well as the basic human right and authority to assert these rights whether or not they are legally recognised. Finally, this study explores how the application of positive law, explicitly and exclusively devoted to the social control of slaves was also contrary to the declared tenets of natural law and how this tension was largely ignored.