header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us
21 October 2016 / LW Blake
Issue: 7719 / Categories: Features
printer mail-detail

A footnote in history

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.
nlj_7719_blake

After Lord Mansfield’s judgment: whatever happened to James Somerset, asks LW Blake​

James Somerset (or Somersett, or Sommersett,or Summersett) is the most famous freed slave in English legal history. He and his erstwhile slave-owner Charles Stewart were the two litigants who stood before Lord Mansfield CJ in July 1772, in the case of Somerset v Stewart (1772) Lofft 1, 20 State Tr 1. The mystery is: what happened to James Somerset after Lord Mansfield’s judgment in his favour? It is also a mystery about how an unhelpful footnote (which purports to explain the future fate of James Somerset) ever found its way into a standard textbook on constitutional law.

This is a mystery worthy of an MR James ghost story. A Warning to the Curious would have been a good title for this investigation, if he (James) had not already used that title and made it the underlying theme of all his short stories.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography

According to Ruth Paley, in her valuable biographical entry for James Somerset in the Oxford Dictionary

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Sponsored by
Gateley Legal—Caroline Pope & Bob Maynard

Gateley Legal—Caroline Pope & Bob Maynard

Construction team bolstered by hire of senior consultant duo

Switalskis—four appointments

Switalskis—four appointments

Firm expands residential conveyancing team with quadruple appointment

mfg Solicitors—Claire Pope

mfg Solicitors—Claire Pope

Private client team welcomes senior associatein Worcester

NEWS
Read All
NLJ this week: Policing the safeguards when appointing trust corporations
What safeguards apply when trust corporations are appointed as deputy by the Court of Protection? 
NLJ this week: What the court considers when assessing refusal of ADR
Disputing parties are expected to take part in alternative dispute resolution (ADR), where this is suitable for their case. At what point, however, does refusing to participate cross the threshold of ‘unreasonable’ and attract adverse costs consequences?
NLJ this week: Finding innovative ways to fund the justice gap
When it comes to free legal advice, demand massively outweighs supply. 'Millions of people are excluded from access to justice as they don’t have anywhere to turn for free advice—or don’t know that they can ask for help,' Bhavini Bhatt, development director at the Access to Justice Foundation, writes in this week's NLJ
NLJ this week: Two’s company, but three’s a crowd in financial provision cases
When an ex-couple is deciding who gets what in the divorce or civil partnership dissolution, when is it appropriate for a third party to intervene? David Burrows, NLJ columnist and solicitor advocate, considers this thorny issue in this week’s NLJ
Charities Appeals Supplement: March 2026
NLJ's latest Charities Appeals Supplement has been published in this week’s issue
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll