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Events on Monday 22 June 1772 1
1772Somerset v Stewart rulingEnglish court holds chattel slavery unsupported by common lawOn 22 June 1772, Lord Mansfield ruled in the Court of King's Bench that no law in England positively sanctioned slavery, freeing the enslaved man James Somerset. The decision did not abolish slavery in the British Empire but became a foundational precedent cited by abolitionists for decades. News of the ruling spread widely among enslaved people and antislavery campaigners alike.