hip.

The Law of Persons contains but one other chapter which can be
usefully cited for our present purpose. The legal rules by which
systems of nature jurisprudence regulate the connection of _Master and
Slave_, present no very distinct traces of the original condition
common to ancient societies. But there are reasons for this exception.
There seems to be something in the institution of Slavery which has at
all times either shocked or perplexed mankind, however little
habituated to reflection, and however slightly advanced in the
cultivation of its moral instincts. The compunction which ancient
communities almost unconsciously experienced appears to have always
resulted in the adoption of some imaginary principle upon which a
defence, or at least a rationale, of slavery could be plausibly
founded. Very early in their history the Greeks explained the
institution as grounded on the intellectual inferiority of certain
races and their consequent natural aptitude for the servile condition.
The Romans, in a spirit equally characteristic, derived it from a
supposed agreement between the victor and the vanquished in which the
first stipulated for the perpetual services of his foe; and the other
gained in consideration the life which he had legitimately forfeited.
Such theories were not only unsound but plainly unequal to the case
for which they affected to account. Still they exercised powerful
influence in many ways. They satisfied the conscience of the Master.
They perpetuated and probably increased the debasement of the Slave.
And they naturally tended to put out of sight the relation in which
servitude had originally stood to the rest of the domestic system. The
relation, though not clearly exhibited, is casually indicated in many
parts of primitive law, and more particularly in the typical
system--that of ancient Rome.

Much industry and some learning have been bestowed in the United
States of America on the question whether the Slave was in the early
stages of society a recognised member of the Family. There is a sense
in which an affirmative answer must certainly be given. It is clear,
from the testimony both of ancient law and of many primeval histories,
that the Slave might under certain conditions be made the Heir, or
Universal Successor, of the Master, and this significant faculty, as I
shall explain in the Chapter on Succession, implies that the
government and representation of the Family might, in a particular