GRAN VILLE SHARP'S CASES ON SLAVERY
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- Author: ANDREW LYALL
- ISBN: 9781509930111
- Availability: In Stock
Buy GRAN VILLE SHARP'S CASES ON SLAVERY | Law Books , FOREIGN BOOKS
The purpose of Granville Sharpe's Cases on Slavery is
twofold: first, to publish previously unpublished legal materials principally
in three important cases in the 18th century on the issue of slavery in
England, and specifically the status of black people who were slaves in the
American colonies or the West Indies and who were taken to England by their
masters. The unpublished materials are mostly verbatim transcripts made by
shorthand writers commissioned by Granville Sharp, one of the first Englishmen
to take up the cause of the abolition of the slave trade and slavery itself.
Other related unpublished material is also made available for the first time,
including an opinion of an attorney general and some minor cases from the
library of York Minster. On the slave ship Zong, there are transcripts of the
original declaration, the deposition by the chief mate, James Kelsall and an
extract from a manuscript that Professor Martin Dockray was working on before
his untimely death. The second purpose, outlined in the Introduction, is to
give a social and legal background to the cases and an analysis of the position
in England of black servants/slaves brought to England and the legal effects of
the cases, taking into account the new information provided by the transcripts.
There was a conflict in legal authorities as to whether black servants remained
slaves, or became free on arrival in England. Lord Mansfield, the chief justice
of the court of King's Bench, was a central figure in all the cases and clearly
struggled to come to terms with slavery. The material provides a basis for
tracing the evolution of his thought on the subject. On the one hand, the huge
profits from slave production in the West Indies flooded into England, slave
owners had penetrated the leading institutions in England and the pro-slavery
lobby was influential. On the other hand, English law had over time established
rights and liberties which in the 18th century were seen by many as national
characteristics. That tradition was bolstered by the ideas of the
Enlightenment. By about the 1760s it had become clear that there was no
property in the person, and by the 1770s that such servants could not be sent
abroad without their consent, but whether they owed an obligation of perpetual
service remained unresolved.