It is hoped a legal opinion, stating that slavery was illegal under English law at the time it was practised, would expose Britain to future litigation and make it responsible for reparations.
Which is why we didn’t have slavery in England. Not so much because it was illegal but because there was no law making it legal. But, obviously, English law only covered England…..
If a particular legal opinion is required, especially on this subject, there will always be a lawyer to supply it
Where do these people make this stuff up ?
The Normans banned slavery ( thralldom ) in England, there was still plenty going on in Ireland – not sure about Scotland.
And that’s it. It remained a common law but was never put into statute.
The colonies were not like French colonies and considered part of the metropolis. They had a governor and largely made their own rules. Hence why some American provinces didn’t have slavery and some did. It wasn’t until the 19th Century Imperial expansion into Africa and India that ‘proper’ law was introduced into the colonies.
ps The colonies pre 1783 were about trade and primary production to feed Britain ( both in raw materials and food ), not political union or any nonsense like that.
Not sure they were even that high-minded. Weren’t they mostly just about making money?
Some were, some weren’t – there were utopians, etc..
Making money honestly is high-minded…
A lot of it was to do with Charles II’s interest in beaver and melons.
Fnarr, fnarr…
I’m working on drawing up an invoice for all the good things that being a colony of Britain brought to a country. It will also include a fee for all the ships and lives lost by Britain when we tried to end the transatlantic slave trade. I will agree that payment of said invoice can wait until Jamaica has successfully obtained reparations from their lovely cousins in Africa who sold their ancestors to the slave traders, provided that the reparations are ordered by the UN to be paid by next Tuesday. There! Problem solved and everyone’s happy that justice has been done…
And they want us to raise statues of darkies.
We could, of course, start with statues of all of those darkies – and there were many – who served with the West Africa Squadron to end the Atlantic trade.
Are these people aware that the monarchy is a load of irrelevant cosplay now and the King can do sod all?
Cargo cults die hard.
I reckon Meghan’s issue is that she’d watched too many Hallmark romances about American women meeting the Prince of Elbonia and going off to have a charmed life.
Thing is – she could have had that charmed life. Freed from material want, hanging out with the ‘elite’ of UK society who would pretend she was important, and mild adoration from the populous.
Instead she thought being a princess meant she was *important*.
Er, in 3 feet of mud?
This piece by Robert Tombs is probably the most concise, readable and devastating takedown of the whole scam I’ve yet encountered.
It’s good, but not as good as “fuck off”.
I seem to recall that David ‘Mastermind’ Lammy referred to his ancestors having experience of slavery. What he didn’t say was from which side they experienced it. Lammy is from the Bantu tribe, an offshoot of the Zulus, and were amongst the most prolific slavers in Africa. As one of my ancestors died during his time in the Royal Navy on anti slaving operations, I’d quite happily accept reparations from Lammy, cash or cheque, I don’t mind. I’d even accept a postal order.
The Zulus are a particular mob of Bantu – who are defined by their language group and spread from West Africa to conquer much of the sub-Sahara.
Why would it expose Britain to future litigation? Britain didn’t own slaves or take part in slave trading. The *PEOPLE* who owned slaves or took part in slave trading would be exposed to future litigation – just as they were in the past when they tried doing it in England. “Inimicable with the free air of England” and all that.
There was a period, between the banning of the slave trade and the end of the Napoleonic War, when British sailors were forced by the press gangs into the Royal Navy and could be sent to the West African Squadron.
Effectively enslaving our own citizens to stamp out slavery amongst foreigners.
So you’re arguing that blacks of Africa and the West Indies should pay reparations to the UK for the cost of stamping out slavery???
“British sailors.”
Sir, we had a war in 1812 over impressment of AMERICAN sailors.
The problem was telling actual Americans from British deserters.
The British didn’t go into American ports and press sailors there, they would stop ships at sea and press them.
For that matter what was the criteria for that? Would you be American because you said so?
I expect the British had no problem at all: ANYONE with an English accent was deemed “British.”
Then there is the greater problem of British ships stopping American ships on the high seas. The Atlantic was not a British pond.
It pretty much was then – ‘possession is 9 tenths of the law’. It only really became an American pond after WW2.
Apparently you were British because someone with a strong incentive to say so said so – thus you were pressed.
That was only a pretext. In the peace negotiations the American side cited not one of their pretexts, a pretty good sign that they had been baloney all along. The War of 1812 was simply a US attempt to seize land while Britain was otherwise occupied with Napoleon.
No shit, Sherlock. Castlereagh announced repeal of Orders in Council in June 2012, as the US was declaring war.
Only missed it by 200 years. June 1812.