Free Blacks, Slaves, and Slaveowners in Civil and Criminal Courts

14 Pamphlets reprinted in fascimile, in 2 volumes, with a New Introduction by Paul Finkelman:
1. Goodell, Abner Cheney Jr. The Trial and Execution, for Petit Treason, of Mark and Phillis, Slaves of Capt. John Codman, Who Murdered Their Master at Charleston, Mass., in 1755; for which the Man was Hanged and Gibbeted, and the Woman was Burned to Death, Including, also, Some Account of Other Punishments by Burning in Massachusetts. Cambridge, 1883. Cambridge, 1883. 39 pp.
2. Johnstone, Abraham. The address of Abraham Jolinstone, a black man, who was hanged at Woodbury in the county of Glocester, and state of New Jersey on Saturday 8th day of July last: to which is added his dying confession. Philadelphia, 1797. 47 pp.
3. The Life and Confession of Cato, a Slave of Elijah Mount, of Charleston, in the county of Montgomery, Who was Executed at Johnstown on the 22nd day of April 1803 for the murder of Mary Akins. Johnstown, 1803. 12 pp.
4. A Faithful Report of the Trial of Doctor William Little, on an Indictment for an Assault and Battery, Committed upon the Body of His Lawful Wife, Mrs. Jane Little, a Black Lady. New York, 1808. 24 pp.
5. The Commissioners of the Alms-House vs. Alexander Whistelo, a Black Man; Being a Remarkable Case of Bastardy, Tried and Adjudged by the Mayor, Recorder, and Several Aldermen of the City of New York. New York, 1808. 56 pp. Please contact us for a complete list of titles contained in these two volumes.

Reprinted from the Garland series Slavery, Race, and the American Legal System, 1700-1872. Facsimiles of 20 scarce pamphlets are collected in these two volumes. As the title indicates, most are reports of criminal cases relating to such crimes as murder and assault. Others address political issues arising from legal rights of free blacks. Also included are accounts of two fascinating cases relating to problems caused by the end of slavery. One involves the legal status of informal marriages between former slaves, the other involves the validity of slave contracts signed before abolition. "[The volumes in this series] belong in every library used for research, and in particular at all law school libraries. They will prove valuable to historians, lawyers, law teachers and students, and all persons interested in the problems of slavery and race in American experience." William M. Wiecek, American Journal of Legal History 33 (1989) 187.