"An invaluable study of Richmond's antebellum justice system."--Sally E. Hadden, Florida State University
"Not only demonstrates the law's clear bias in favor of the power of slaveholders and the defense of slavery, but also gives us vivid scenes of slaves, free blacks, and working-class whites negotiating and sometimes contesting society's class and color lines before the bar."--Gregg D. Kimball, Library of Virginia
By the mid-nineteenth century, Richmond was one of the preeminent industrial centers in the South, with a level of criminal activity that reflected its size. Slavery...