Conclusion: Voice, Exit and the Law in Historical Perspective

Abstract

The conclusion summarizes the main limits of the French Enlightenment, British utilitarianism and contractualism, then French aids and the welfare state vis-à-vis labor and freedom, in particular in the colonial worlds. In the aftermath of the abolition of slavery, the colonial world was an extension of labor institutions and rules in the mainland. The Masters and Servants Acts and the French labor contracts were replicated in the colonies in harsh variations and more radically enforced than in the mainland and produced deeper and more persistent inequalities. The welfare state brought a new trend: in labor relationships, the colonies were no more an extreme variation of the mainland, but its negation. Whereas labor conquered increasing rights in Europe it was by purpose excluded from all progresses in the colonies.