ECHOES OF THE ZONG: CONFRONTING LEGAL REALISM IN THE ARGUMENTS FOR REPARATIONS FROM THE ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE AND MODERN-DAY HUMAN TRAFFICKING
ECHOES OF THE ZONING: CONFRONTING LEGAL REALISM IN THE ARGUMENTS FOR REPARATIONS FROM THE ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE AND MODERN-DAY HUMAN TRAFFICKING
Abstract:
This Article is based on the premise that modern day human trafficking, like the transatlantic slave trade, violates jus cogens norms, and thus the practice was and still is a violation of US laws under customary international law. The analysis will examine the laws that were applied to chattel slavery in England and her colonies through the lens of some seminal slavery cases to unearth the tyranny of interpretation in human trafficking reparations and liability claims under the current Supreme Court jurisprudence and the Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”). The featured cases will reveal that the same philosophies undergirding the jurisprudence of the slave trade still informs the US Supreme Court’s application of liability for human trafficking in the global supply chain.
Recommended Citation: Glenys P. Spence,Echoes of the Zoning: Confronting Legal Realism in the Arguments for Reparations from the Atlantic Slave Trade and Modern-Day Human Trafficking, 46 Fordham Int'l L.J. 425 (2023).