Somerset v Stewart
E346353
Somerset v Stewart was a landmark 1772 English court case that effectively declared slavery unsupported by English common law, becoming a pivotal moment in the British abolitionist movement.
All labels observed (3)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| James Somerset v Charles Stewart | 1 |
| R v Knowles, ex parte Somersett (alternative citation form) | 1 |
| Somerset v Stewart canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T3299573 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
Target entity: Somerset v Stewart Context triple: [Granville Sharp, participantIn, Somerset v Stewart]
-
A.
S.S. Wimbledon case
The S.S. Wimbledon case was a landmark 1923 decision of the Permanent Court of International Justice that clarified the limits of state sovereignty under international treaty obligations, particularly regarding freedom of navigation through the Kiel Canal.
-
B.
Trial of Queen Caroline
The Trial of Queen Caroline was a highly publicized 1820 British parliamentary proceeding attempting to dissolve King George IV’s marriage on grounds of alleged adultery, which became a major political and constitutional crisis.
-
C.
Henry v. Hodges
Henry v. Hodges is a federal court case challenging state bans on same-sex marriage, decided alongside other landmark marriage equality cases prior to Obergefell v. Hodges.
-
D.
Cooley v. Board of Wardens
Cooley v. Board of Wardens is an 1852 U.S. Supreme Court decision that helped define the scope of the Commerce Clause by allowing states to regulate certain local aspects of commerce, such as port pilotage, without violating federal authority.
-
E.
Archer-Shee case
The Archer-Shee case was a famous early 20th-century British legal scandal involving the wrongful accusation of a naval cadet, which became a landmark example of the fight for individual justice against institutional authority.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
Target entity: Somerset v Stewart Target entity description: Somerset v Stewart was a landmark 1772 English court case that effectively declared slavery unsupported by English common law, becoming a pivotal moment in the British abolitionist movement.
-
A.
S.S. Wimbledon case
The S.S. Wimbledon case was a landmark 1923 decision of the Permanent Court of International Justice that clarified the limits of state sovereignty under international treaty obligations, particularly regarding freedom of navigation through the Kiel Canal.
-
B.
Trial of Queen Caroline
The Trial of Queen Caroline was a highly publicized 1820 British parliamentary proceeding attempting to dissolve King George IV’s marriage on grounds of alleged adultery, which became a major political and constitutional crisis.
-
C.
Henry v. Hodges
Henry v. Hodges is a federal court case challenging state bans on same-sex marriage, decided alongside other landmark marriage equality cases prior to Obergefell v. Hodges.
-
D.
Cooley v. Board of Wardens
Cooley v. Board of Wardens is an 1852 U.S. Supreme Court decision that helped define the scope of the Commerce Clause by allowing states to regulate certain local aspects of commerce, such as port pilotage, without violating federal authority.
-
E.
Archer-Shee case
The Archer-Shee case was a famous early 20th-century British legal scandal involving the wrongful accusation of a naval cadet, which became a landmark example of the fight for individual justice against institutional authority.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
English court case
ⓘ
landmark legal case ⓘ |
| hasAreaOfLaw |
constitutional law (England)
ⓘ
human rights ⓘ slavery law ⓘ |
| hasCitation |
(1772) 98 ER 499
ⓘ
Lofft 1 ⓘ |
| hasCounselForSomerset |
Francis Hargrave
ⓘ
Granville Sharp ⓘ
surface form:
Granville Sharp (abolitionist supporter, non-lawyer activist)
James Mansfield ⓘ |
| hasCounselForStewart |
John Dunning
ⓘ
Serjeant Glynn ⓘ |
| hasCountry | Kingdom of Great Britain ⓘ |
| hasCourt |
Court of King’s Bench
ⓘ
surface form:
Court of King's Bench
|
| hasDecisionDate | 1772-06-22 ⓘ |
| hasDefendant | Charles Stewart ⓘ |
| hasEffect |
discouraged open practice of slavery in England and Wales
ⓘ
strengthened abolitionist arguments in Britain and its colonies ⓘ |
| hasFullCaseName |
Somerset v Stewart
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
surface form:
James Somerset v Charles Stewart
|
| hasHistoricalSignificance |
influential in the development of anti-slavery jurisprudence
ⓘ
often interpreted as declaring slavery unsupported by English common law ⓘ pivotal moment in the British abolitionist movement ⓘ |
| hasHolding |
a slave cannot be forcibly removed from England and sold abroad without lawful authority
ⓘ
slavery is unsupported by English common law ⓘ |
| hasJudge |
William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield
ⓘ
surface form:
Lord Mansfield
|
| hasJurisdiction |
King’s Bench
ⓘ
surface form:
King's Bench
|
| hasLanguageOfProceedings | English ⓘ |
| hasLegacy | frequently cited in later anti-slavery and human rights cases ⓘ |
| hasLegalIssue |
legality of slavery in England
ⓘ
status of enslaved persons on English soil ⓘ |
| hasLegalSystem | English common law ⓘ |
| hasLocationOfCourt | Westminster Hall ⓘ |
| hasLocationOfEvents |
London, England
ⓘ
surface form:
London
|
| hasOutcome | James Somerset discharged from custody ⓘ |
| hasPartyRole |
Charles Stewart was a Scottish customs officer and slave owner
ⓘ
James Somerset was an enslaved African man ⓘ |
| hasPlaintiff | James Somerset ⓘ |
| hasPresidingJudge | William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield ⓘ |
| hasPrinciple | positive law is required to support slavery ⓘ |
| hasProcedure | habeas corpus proceedings ⓘ |
| hasRelatedCase |
Somerset v Stewart
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
surface form:
R v Knowles, ex parte Somersett (alternative citation form)
|
| hasRelatedConcept |
freedom of the person
ⓘ
rule of law ⓘ |
| hasRelatedMovement | British abolitionist movement ⓘ |
| hasRemedySought | writ of habeas corpus ⓘ |
| hasResult | Somerset freed ⓘ |
| hasTimePeriod | 18th century ⓘ |
| hasYear | 1772 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Subject: Somerset v Stewart Description of subject: Somerset v Stewart was a landmark 1772 English court case that effectively declared slavery unsupported by English common law, becoming a pivotal moment in the British abolitionist movement.
Referenced by (3)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.