Slavery in Britain: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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==Judicial decisions==

{{Details|Slavery at common law}}

[[John Locke]], the philosophical champion of the [[Glorious Revolution]] argued against slavery (Ch.IV) and asserted that "every man has property in his own person" (§27, Ch.V). By the 18th century African slaves began to be brought into London and [[Edinburgh]] as personal servants.{{Citation needed|date=February 2009}} In a number of judicial decisions between slave merchants, it was tacitly accepted that slavery of Africans was legal.{{Citation needed|date=August 2008}} In ''[[Butts v. Penny]]'' (1677) 2 Lev 201, 3 Keb 785, an action was brought to recover possessionthe value of 10010 slaves. Thewho courthad been held thatby slaverythe was legalplaintiff in EnglandIndia. inThe relationcourt to infidels andheld that an action for [[trover]] would lie, because the sale of non-Christians as slaves was common in India.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Freeman|first1=Richard|title=Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Courts of King's Bench|date=1826|publisher=S. Sweet and Stevens and Sons|location=London|page=451|edition=2|url=https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=8GlGAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA451#v=onepage&q&f=false}}</ref><ref>See also ''[[Gelly v. Cleve]]'' (1694) 1 Ld Raym 147; later applying different reasoning ''[[Chamberlain v. Harvey]]'' (1697) 1 Ld Raym 146 and ''Smith v Gould'' (1705–07) 2 Salk 666</ref>

An English court case of 1569 involving Cartwright who had bought a slave from Russia ruled that English law could not recognise slavery. This ruling was overshadowed by later developments particularly in the navigation acts, but was upheld by the Lord Chief Justice in 1701 when he ruled that a slave became free as soon as he arrived in England.