As the Preface states, this book is a result of a research project for the History Department of the University of the West Indies. It is a work which sought to

This book provides a legal historical insight into colonial laws on enslavement and the plantation system in the British West Indies. The volume is a work of co

This book brings together 18 contributions by authors from different legal systems and backgrounds. They address the political implications of the writing of th

This book is a major contribution to our understanding of the role played by law(s) in the British Empire. Using a variety of interdisciplinary approaches, the

How did those responsible for creating Britain's nineteenth-century settler empire render colonization compatible with humanitarianism? Avoiding a cynical or ce