Chapter II
1. Judge William Murray, first Earl of Mansfield and former speaker of the House of Lords, was not pleased to be called away from his Christmas dinner to preside over an emergency hearing. "What the devil is this all about, sir?"
2. Sharp had instructed his client to stand tall and look the judge in the eye.
3. "Your honor," said the lawyer, "this man Somerset was purchased in Jamaica by London resident Charles Stewart and was brought here as his servant. Once in London, Somerset refused to obey his owner.
4. And so Mr. Stewart is now shipping him back to Jamaica to be a plantation slave."
5. "Yes? Yes? What has this to do with the King's court? Has any law been broken?" The judge scowled down at the unlikely pair.
6. Sharp (at left) answered, "Milord, since every Englishman cherishes freedom rooted in the Magna Carta, I submit that there is no place on this island for a slave.
7. It is my contention, your honor, that the moment a slave sets foot on English soil, he instantly and automatically becomes free."
8. Judge Mansfield sighed and rolled his eyes at the courtroom's soot-encrusted ceiling. "Not again, Mr. Sharp!
9. This story has been told a thousand times. You yourself have agitated it a hundred times!
10. You know as well as I do: the ruling was handed down over forty years ago in 1729, that neither residence in England nor baptism can affect a master's right to property in a slave."
11. "I am aware of the precedents, milord. I also know that the great Blackstone himself said that the ruling must stand. He told me so himself, before he died eleven years ago.
12. I know that the right to own another human being has been upheld many times in the King's courts and that it is approved by our most ancient legal traditions."
13. "If you know all this, Mr. Sharp, then what, sir, are we doing here on Christmas day when we should both be home with our families?
14. What can you possibly hope to accomplish in an emergency hearing? Without trial, I cannot render judgment or even hear testimony."
15. Raising his voice as if to persuade an invisible jury in the empty courtroom, a jury that only he could see, Sharp replied. "Your honor, what the courts have ruled is wrong.
16. One man cannot own another.
17. It is wrong now, it has always has been wrong, and it will always be wrong, no matter what our legal precedent says.
18. Surely, milord, you cannot close your eyes to the fact that we cannot simultaneously honor the birth of the Christ Child on this holy day, and at the same time hold men and women in bondage on this free island."
19. Sharp paused and sighed. "Lord Mansfield, I know that you must rule against my client's freedom in this hearing today. I ask only this: Rule against my client, milord, but keep Somerset in England until I can appeal your decision to the King's Bench [Britain's supreme court]."
20. "Very well, Mr. Sharp. Your client is still bound property. But it is so ordered that he remain in London. Good luck with your appeal."
21. The King's Bench, Britain's highest court, accepted the case on February 17, 1772.
22. Lord Mansfield himself had been appointed chief justice to that court.
23. Hence, he found himself in the odd position of deciding an appeal of his own prior ruling.
24. On Monday, June 22, 1772, King's Bench Chief Justice, Judge William Murray, first Earl of Mansfield, and former speaker of the House of Lords, overturned his own ruling, the one that he had made on that fateful Christmas day, six months before almost to the day.
25. He was asked to write the final decision of the appeals court.
26. He reasoned that slavery was so odious and unnatural that nothing but positive law could support it.
27. No such law being found to exist, Mansfield concluded that there was no legal backing for slavery in England.
28. Furthermore, he judged that English civil rights applied to all, and so no Black person could be removed from England against their wishes.
29. He wrote the following words into British common law -- words that have been memorized by British schoolchildren ever since.
30. "The air of England is too pure for a slave to breathe, and so everyone who breathes it becomes free.
31. Everyone who comes to this island is entitled to the protection of English law, whatever oppression he may have suffered and whatever may be the colour of his skin."