Research Catalog

Title

Justice in blue and gray : a legal history of the Civil War / Stephen C. Neff.

Author

Neff, Stephen C.

Publication

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, c2010.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

350 p.; 25 cm.

Summary

Overview: Stephen Neff offers the first comprehensive study of the wide range of legal issues arising from the American Civil War, many of which resonate in debates to this day. Neff examines the lawfulness of secession, executive and legislative governmental powers, and laws governing the conduct of war. Whether the United States acted as a sovereign or a belligerent had legal consequences, including treating Confederates as rebellious citizens or foreign nationals in war. Property questions played a key role, especially when it came to the process of emancipation. Executive detentions and trials by military commissions tested civil liberties, and the end of the war produced a raft of issues on the status of the Southern states, the legality of Confederate acts, clemency, and compensation. A compelling aspect of the book is the inclusion of international law, as Neff situates the conflict within the general laws of war and details neutrality issues, where the Civil War broke important new legal ground. This book not only provides an accessible and informative legal portrait of this critical period but also illuminates how legal issues arise in a time of crisis, what impact they have, and how courts attempt to resolve them.

Subject

• War and emergency powers > United States > History
• Secession > United States > History
• Military law > United States > History
• Slavery > History > United States
• Amnesty > United States > History
• War (International law) > History
• United States > Claims > Civil War, 1861-1865
• United States > History > Civil War, 1861-1865

Genre/Form

History

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

Breaking a nation -- Desperate measures -- Fighting by the rules -- Occupying territory and seizing property -- The end of a peculiar institution -- Taking liberties on the home front -- The world watches -- The art of blockade -- Ending a rebellion -- Forgiving but not forgetting.

ISBN

• 9780674036024 (alk. paper)
• 0674036026 (alk. paper)

LCCN

^^2009029638

OCLC

• 319493866
• SCSB-10304048

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library