AN INQUIRY INTO THE LAW OF NEGRO SLAVERY IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. TO WHICH IS PREFIXED, AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF SLAVERY. BY THOMAS R.R. COBB OF GEORGIA...VOL. I [all published] by Cobb, Thomas R[ead] R[ootes] - 1858

Philadelphia and Savannah: T. & J.W. Johnson & Co. W. Thorne Williams, 1858. [5], x-ccxxviii, 358pp. In later institutional buckram [light wear], old gum label on spine. Front inner hinge cracked. Early few leaves lightly spotted, most text clean and bright. Good+. No subsequent volumes were published. Cobb's Preface, from Athens, Georgia, claims it traverses a previously "untrodden field" as the only "elementary treatise, purporting to define the Law of Slavery as it exists in the United States." Abolition tracts and composites of abridged decisions have been printed, he says, but no similar treatise precedes this "pioneer" work. Its learned text is "devoted to refuting the proposition that slavery is contrary to the law of nature" [Cover, Justice Accused 8], though Cobb must concede that that proposition "has been almost universally adopted by courts and jurists." Cobb's introductory remarks are a historical sketch of slavery, from ancient days through early American times, designed to prove that slavery is a "natural" relationship. The bulk of the book examines the sources and legal aspects of slavery; natural law and Divine Revelation; fugitive slaves, duties of sister States to return escaped slaves; attributes of slavery, protections afforded slaves, legal disabilities of slaves; whether slaves are competent as witnesses in official proceedings, and to own private property and make contracts; crimes of slaves and their punishment; the law of manumission and its effects; free persons of color; and other aspects of American slavery. FIRST EDITION. Howes C513. De Renne 207. Work 342. I Harv. Law Cat. 405. Sabin 13860. LCP 2477. Cohen 9826.