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"James Q. Whitman offers a new account of the disappearance of lawful slavery, and asks us to reconsider some of our most basic ideas about the nature of property. The book will interest students and scholars of law, the history of slavery, European colonialism and imperialism, and classics"--
List of contents
Introduction: owning humans, owning land, two primitive modes of the property imagination; Part I. Masters of Men and Beasts: 1. Hierarchy and the hunt for prey: the anthropology of early human ownership; 2. Masters of men and beasts: the early Roman fantasia of ownership; 3. The dominus enters the law; 4. Classical Roman slave law: the just hunt for human prey; 5. An empire of the chieftainship over people; Part II. From Masters to Lords: 6. Introduction to Part II: from Pierson v. Post to Johnson v. M'Intosh; 7. From slavery to feudalism: the great hypothesis; 8. From masters to lords in late antiquity; 9. From the law of owning humans to the law of owning land: the early modern culmination; Conclusion: from man the killer to man the tiller; Bibliography; Index.
About the author
James Q. Whitman is a professor at Yale Law School. He is the author of numerous books and articles, including Hitler's American Model (2018), The Verdict of Battle (2012), The Origins of Reasonable Doubt (2008) and Harsh Justice (2003) and the recipient of many awards.
Summary
James Q. Whitman offers a new account of the disappearance of lawful slavery, and asks us to reconsider some of our most basic ideas about the nature of property. The book will interest students and scholars of law, the history of slavery, European colonialism and imperialism, and classics.
