First Complete Study of the Status of Slavery in the United States. Published a year before John Brown's raid and three years before the outbreak of the Civil War, this was the first book-length work to treat the status of slaves at length. As such, it is a landmark work in the bibliography of American civil liberties. Hurd reviews the statutes concerning fugitive slaves and their extradition, analyzes the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 and discusses the application of habeas corpus to slave issues. The list of cases cited by Hurd includes such landmarks as Jack v. Martin and Prigg v. Pennsylvania. Rollin C. Hurd [1815-1874] was a prominent lawyer, Judge of the Ohio Court of Common Pleas and the President of the Cleveland, Mount Vernon and Columbus Railroad. CONTENTS BOOK I. The Right of Personal Property I. General Nature and Limitations of the Right II. Limitations of a Public Nature III. Limitations of a Private Nature IV. Constitutional and Statutory Guarantees of the Right of Personal Liberty in England V. Constitutional and Statutory Guarantees of the Right of Personal Liberty in America BOOK II. The Writ of Habeas Corpus I. Nature of the Writ of Habeas Corpus, and Sources and Extent of Jurisdiction over it II. Practice in Procuring and Serving the Writ III. The Return IV. The Issue V. The Hearing VI. Jurisdiction in Respect to the Validity of Legal Process when Asserted as Cause of Detention VII. Validity of Legal Process VIII. Right to Bail IX. Claims for Private Custody Founded on the Domestic relations X. Statutory Provisions Relating to Prisoner's Discharge XI. Section I. Writ of Error BOOK III. The Law of Extradition of Fugitives I. Extradition of Fugitives from Justice from Foreign States II. Extradition of Fugitives from Justice from the Several States of the Union III. Extradition of Fugitives from Service