The Somerset Case: A Landmark Decision in the Abolition of Slavery in England

 

In 1771, James Somerset (or Sommersett), an enslaved man from Boston, was brought to England by his owner, Charles Stewart, a customs officer. After attempting to escape, Somerset was captured and placed on a ship bound for Jamaica, where he was to be sold. However, his English supporters obtained a writ of habeas corpus, preventing his departure and securing his removal from the ship before it set sail.

The case reached the Court of King’s Bench, where in 1772, Chief Justice Lord Mansfield ruled in Somerset’s favor, declaring that no English law sanctioned slavery. This landmark decision in Stewart v. Somerset effectively prohibited slavery in England.

Stewart had originally purchased Somerset from a Virginia plantation owner and transported him to England in 1769. At the time, it was common for enslavers to bring enslaved people to England, where they were widely recognized as property.

Two years after arriving in England, Somerset fled but was recaptured and imprisoned aboard the prison ship Ann and Mary, scheduled to depart for Jamaica on November 26, 1771. His godparents, who had witnessed his Christian baptism in England, intervened on his behalf. Granville Sharp, a prominent English abolitionist, secured a writ of habeas corpus, compelling the ship’s captain to present Somerset before the Court of King’s Bench in January 1772 to determine his legal status.

Sharp assembled a team of five lawyers who argued that, although slavery was legal in the colonies, there was no English law supporting it. Stewart’s legal team, however, contended that property rights outweighed human rights.

The case was delayed several times, but on June 22, 1772, Lord Mansfield issued his historic ruling. He stated that neither natural law nor English law justified slavery, declaring:

“Slavery is so repugnant that it can only exist through positive law [statute]. Since no such law exists in England, I cannot say this situation is allowed or approved, and the black must be discharged.”

Mansfield also affirmed that no slave in England could be forcibly sent abroad for attempting to escape:

“No owner here was ever allowed to compel a slave to be sold abroad because he deserted his service... Therefore, the man must be discharged.”

Somerset’s victory sparked a broader movement that ultimately led to the abolition of slavery in England. While many initially believed Mansfield’s ruling had freed all enslaved people in Britain, it only ensured that no one could be forcibly removed and sold into slavery.

According to the New England Historical Society, the decision alarmed Southern American colonists, who feared Britain might abolish slavery in the colonies as well, pushing them further toward the American Revolution. It also encouraged enslaved individuals in the northern colonies to file lawsuits for their freedom.

Despite this ruling, slavery did not immediately disappear from England. Enslaved people continued to be bought and sold, and in 1785, Mansfield himself clarified that “black slaves in Britain were not entitled to be paid for their labor.” Nonetheless, the Somerset case set a crucial precedent that weakened the legal foundation of slavery in Britain and fueled the growing abolitionist movement.