TheMaangamiziand the Making of International Law

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter adopts a critical perspective on the history of international law, exploring the positioning and regulation of enslavement in the international legal system over time. It maps the prohibition of slavery in international law, identifying the point in time at which the international norm against slavery crystallized. It then looks beyond this norm to consider the permissive rules and restrictions in place prior to prohibition and how these rules changed over time to align with the interests of powerful states. It considers the relevance and substance of non-European perspectives on the international legality of slavery in the transatlantic period, creating space for an alternative perspective that does not frame slavery as simply “legal at the time.”