Slavery at common law

Slavery at common law describes how the common law of the British Empire dealt with slavery, the slave trade, and the rights of slaves and slave owners. It developed slowly over centuries and was marked by inconsistent decisions and varying rationales. Within the home islands of Britain, until 1807, apart from statutes facilitating and taxing the international slave trade, there was virtually no legislative intervention in relation to slaves as property, so the courts had a free hand to shape the law. Two attempts to pass a slave code through Parliament, one in the 1660s and one in 1674, both failed. Some scholars assert that slavery was not recognised as lawful in England, citing pronouncements attributed to Lord Mansfield, but the true legal position was complex and contested, and in the 17th and 18th centuries some African slaves were openly held, bought and sold, and searched for when escaping, within Britain.