Economic and Social History Seminar
- Date & time
- –
- Speaker
- Kara Dimitruk
- Host
- Economics (Department)
- Series
- Economic and Social History Seminar
- Location
- All Souls College - Old Library, Old Library, All Souls College, High Street, Oxford, Oxfordshire, OX1 4AL, United Kingdom
- Organisation
- Oxford
Topics
About this talk
This paper studies legal disputes in the British Cape Colony, c.1829-1838, when the British imperial government sought to reform coercive labor institutions (slavery and the indenture of indigeneous Khoe). Conviction rates for slaveowners and settlers (57%) were lower than all other defendants (85%). There were disparities in conviction rates if suits were brought by Khoe against settlers (about 64%) compared to suits brought by enslaved persons against slaveowners (50%). Such disparities are in part related to differential selection in types of cases as result of judicial institutions and missionaries that respectively facilitated enslaved and Khoe suits in courts. The paper also explores variation across courts, over time, and documents the amount of fines levied on settlers for violating the rights of enslaved persons and Khoe persons.
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