Why Britain compensated slave owners at abolition

Compensation is presented as a political and legal mechanism used to end a system that had been lawful under the existing order. Paying slave owners reduced resistance, litigation and demands for continued enforcement of property claims. Enslaved people received freedom rather than financial compensation, which exposes the unequal terms of the settlement. The payment was realpolitik: the government judged buying out opposition cheaper and more workable than prolonging the conflict. This describes the policy logic without treating it as moral approval.