Reparations for Slavery in International Law: Transatlantic Enslavement, the Maangamizi, and the Making of International Law

Reparations for Slavery in International Law examines the case for contemporary redress for the harms and legacies of transatlantic enslavement from a legal perspective.

The book critically evaluates the history of transatlantic enslavement as well as the evolutions in international law that justified and perpetuated the exploitation of African peoples and people of African descent. It offers an analysis of the requirements of state responsibility, assessing the impact of time on claims for redress for historic injustices. A new theory of reparatory justice is proposed, which is responsive to both the underpinning principles and the modalities of redress in international law.

This book considers the emerging practice of reparations in transitional justice and the relevance of these frameworks in cases of widespread historic injustice, while upending orthodox understandings of the international legal frameworks relevant to case for reparations. In so doing, it opens new space for the reconsideration not only of the international legal claim for reparations for slavery, but also the moral and political case.