Liberty, Slavery and the Law in Early Modern Western Europe

Filip Batselé is a law graduate with degrees from Ghent University (LL.B., LL.M.) and The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University (LL.M.). He currently works at Ghent University’s Institute for Legal History, where he is conducting PhD research on the history of international law. He is also affiliated with the research group “Contextual Research in Law” (CORE) at the Free University of Brussels.

• Introduction.- The Legal and Institutional Framework of Slavery.- The Development of a Legal Free Soil Principle (?), Ca. 1500-1650.- Free Soil under Pressure – The Metropolitan Legal Order and the Atlantic Slave Trade, Ca. 1650-1800.- Comparative Free Soil – Similarities and Differences.- .General Conclusion – The Soil of Europe: Free or Unfree?