Contents -- Introduction -- 1. Slavery in France: The Problem and Early Responses -- The French Courts and the Edict of 1716 -- Conclusion -- 2. The Case of Jean Boucaux v. Verdelin: Fashioning the National Myth of Liberty -- Jean Boucaux v. Bernard Verdelin -- The Declaration of 1738 -- Conclusion -- 3. The Impact of the Declaration of 1738: Nantes, La Rochelle, and Paris -- The Case of Catherine Morgan -- La Rochelle and Paris -- Conclusion -- 4. Notions of Race in the Eighteenth Century -- Francisque of Pondicherry -- Nègre: An Ambiguous Term -- Francisque's Lawyers' Racial Argument -- Conclusion -- 5. Crisis: Blacks in the Capital, 1762 -- The Admiralty Ordinance of April 5, 1762 -- The Registers of 1762 -- Follow-up to the Ordinance of 1762 -- Conclusion -- 6. Antislavery and Antidespotism: 1760-1771 -- Lawsuits before the Admiralty Court of France -- Secular Critiques of Despotic Monarchy -- Roc v. Poupet, 1770 -- Lawyers and Their Motives -- Conclusion -- 7. The Police des Noirs, 1776-1777 -- Pampy and Julienne v. Mendès France -- The Drafting of the Police des Noirs -- Conclusion -- 8. Erosion of the Police des Noirs -- Implementation and Resistance -- Identification Cards and Interracial Marriages -- Resumption of Petitions for Freedom -- Conclusion -- Epilogue -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W.