This comparative study looks at the laws concerning the murder of slaves by their masters and at how these laws were implemented. Andrew T. Fede cites a wide range of cases--across time, place, and circumstance--to illuminate legal, judicial, and other complexities surrounding this regrettably common occurrence. These laws had evolved to limit in different ways the masters' rights to severely punish and even kill their slaves while protecting valuable enslaved people, understood as "property," from wanton destruction by hirers, overseers, and poor whites who did not own slaves. To explore the conflicts of masters' rights with state and colonial laws, Fede shows how slave homicide law evolved and was enforced not only in the United States but also in ancient Roman, Visigoth, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and British jurisdictions. His comparative approach reveals how legal reforms regarding slave homicide in antebellum times, like past reforms dictated by emperors and kings, were the products of changing perceptions of the interests of the public; of the individual slave owners; and of the slave owners' families, heirs, and creditors. Although some slave murders came to be regarded as capital offenses, the laws con-sistently reinforced the second-class status of slaves. This influence, Fede concludes, flowed over into the application of law to free African Americans and would even make itself felt in the legal attitudes that underlay the Jim Crow era.

Do individuals have a positive right of self-defence? And if so, what are the limits of this right? Under what conditions, if any, does this use of force extend to the defence of others? These are some of the issues explored by Dr Uniacke in this comprehensive philosophical discussion of the principles relevant to self-defence as a moral and legal justification of homicide. She establishes a unitary right of self-defence and defence of others, one which grounds the permissibility of the use of necessary and proportionate defensive force against culpable and non-culpable, active and passive, unjust threats. Particular topics discussed include: the nature of moral and legal justification and excuse; natural law justifications of homicide in self-defence; the Principle of Double Effect and the claim that homicide in self-defence is justified as unintended killing; and the question of self-preferential killing. This is a lucid and sophisticated account of the complex notion of justification, revolving around a critical discussion of recent trends in the law of self-defence.

This book, Justifiable Homicide, exams twenty actual criminal cases where a woman has been charged with the crime of murder as the result of a homicide where the victim is a man. What does the criminal justice system do with a woman who is on trial for murder? An interesting question. The answer may surprise any person who reads this book.

The right of self-defense is seemingly at odds with the general presupposition that killing is wrong; numerous theories have been put forth over the years that attempt to explain how self-defense is consistent with such a presupposition. In Justified Killing: The Paradox of Self-Defense, Whitley Kaufman argues that none of the leading theories adequately explains why it is permissible even to kill an innocent attacker in self-defense, given the basic moral prohibition against killing the innocent. Kaufman suggests that such an explanation can be found in the traditional Doctrine of Double Effect, according to which self-defense is justified because the intention of the defender is to protect himself rather than harm the attacker. Given this morally legitimate intention, self-defense is permissible against both culpable and innocent aggressors, so long as the force used is both necessary and proportionate. Justified Killing will intrigue in particular those scholars interested in moral and legal philosophy.

NEW! The first complete revision of John Bouvier s great law dictionary in more than a century made relevant and authoritative for modern students of the law Derived from the famous 1853 law dictionary used by Daniel Webster, Abraham Lincoln, and Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. The Aspen Publishing Bouvier Law Dictionary Quick Reference has been brought completely up-to-date by a distinguished and widely-published legal scholar and teacher. Steve Sheppard, with law degrees from Oxford and Columbia Universities, brings his scholarship, international practice, and litigation experience to bear in making the famous text as relevant today as it was when it first broke ground in American law. Definitions derived from contemporary as well as classic sources give the reference book its depth and authority. Building on Bouvier's structure and entries, Professor Sheppard has added thousands of new terms and rewritten many original definitions. 8,500 short definitions explain more than 11,200 words and phrases, giving readers a general understanding of a term when a quick grasp of a concept is required. Each entry is written to be understood by the modern student, argued by the modern lawyer, and cited by the modern judge. An intuitive structure and thorough cross-referencing makes the first complete revision of this essential dictionary in more than a hundred years accessible and easy to use. Features of The Aspen Publishing Bouvier Law Dictionary Quick Reference: The classic becomes contemporary. Definitions derived from ancient and contemporary sources, with current statutes, regulations, cases, and treatises building on ancient and medieval sources Designed for modern use and contemporary issues Authority in General Editor Stephen Sheppard: Widely published by Cambridge, Oxford and other leading presses Holds law degrees from Oxford and Columbia Universities, including a doctorate in the science of law Draws on international legal practice, litigation, and teaching experience for the selection of terms Encyclopedic in scope: 8,500 entries, explaining more than 11,200 words and phrases, far more than Bouvier's original two-volume set with 6,600 entries Short definitions give readers a quick grasp of a concept and a general understanding in a hurry Clear statement of meanings, context and usage of key terms Intuitive structure, for ease of use: Major terms organize concepts and related terms: e.g. exceptions to Hearsay under hearsay, the forms of estate under Estate Thorough cross-referencing, making terms easy to find Summary of Contents: Welcome to the Bouvier Law Dictionary How to Use the Bouvier Law Dictionary Compact Edition The Order of Words and Phrases The Bouvier Law Dictionary Project The Entries, A-Z First Appendix: The Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution Second Appendix: Justices of the United States Supreme Court