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Somerset v Stewart (1772) 98 ER 499 (also known as Sommersett v Steuart, Somersett's case, and the Mansfield Judgment) is a judgment of the English Court of King's Bench in 1772, relating to the right of an enslaved person on English soil not to be forcibly removed from the country and sent to Jamaica for sale.
Murray was born on 2 March 1705, at Scone Palace in Perthshire, Scotland, the fourth son of the 5th Viscount of Stormont and his wife Margaret [5] as one of eleven children. [6] [7] Both his parents were strong supporters of the Jacobite cause, [8] [9] and his older brother James followed "The Old Pretender" into exile, this left the family's finance relatively impoverished. [10]
Somerset v Stewart (1772) 98 ER 499, illegality of slavery at common law; Campbell v Hall (1774) 1 Cowp 204, tax and the Crown's authority in a colony; Holman v Johnson (1775) 1 Cowp 341, the illegality policy in contract law; Pierson v Dunlop (1777) Cowp. 571; Bach v Longman (1777) 2 Cowper 623, copyright
Mansfield's deliberate procrastination stretched Somerset's Case over six hearings from January to May, and he finally delivered his judgment on 22 June 1772. It was a clear victory for Somerset, Sharp and the lawyers who acted for Somerset.
Mansfield was one of James Somersett's lawyers; Somersett was a slave brought by his master from Jamaica to London in 1769, and freed on 22 June 1772 by a ruling from Lord Mansfield (no relation). Mansfield was made king's counsel on 24 July 1772, and a bencher of the Middle Temple shortly after, on 6 November 1772.
On 22 June 1772, the judge, Lord Mansfield, found in favour of Somerset. [3] Mansfield had meant for the ruling to be narrowly construed around the legality of forcible deportation, only conceding by a 1679 statute that slaves are servants, and not chattels. [2]
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Confirmation of the Mansfield ruling, that "positive law" would be required to make slavery lawful, appears in the judgment of Mr. Justice Best in Forbes v Cochrane [25] in 1824. He said, "There is no statute recognising slavery which operates in that part of the British empire in which we are now called upon to administer justice."