Considerations on the Negroe Cause Commonly So Called, Addressed to the Right Honourable Lord Mansfield

Considerations On The Negroe Cause Commonly So Called, Addressed To The Right Honourable Lord Mansfield by Samuel Estwick. This historical legal pamphlet engages with the Somerset case and Lord Mansfield's judgment, examining the status of enslaved Africans under English law. Estwick argues that slavery is not established by common law but is grounded in statute and commercial practice, citing acts of Parliament and royal charters that treated Negroes as property or chattels within the empire. He critiques the notion that baptism or residence in England frees slaves and discusses the implications for British commerce, colonial administration, and legal doctrine. The work surveys opinions of authorities such as Hardwicke and Talbot, analyzes the jurisprudence surrounding Habeas Corpus and the rights of masters, and contends that property rights in Negroes arise from statute and commercial arrangements (notions tied to the Royal African Company and the slave trade). He also proposes policy considerations, including regulating the trade and importation of enslaved people to England while preserving colonial property regimes. The text is a sustained legal and political argument about slavery, law, and empire in 18th-century Britain.