THE JURISPRUDENCE OF AMERICAN SLAVE SALES

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 sophi stication. Why? Greater information gaps between slave buyers and sell ers called for more complex institutional support. The enormous proper ty 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 substitut ed for the employment law governing free-labor markets.