"Perhaps no trial changed the course of history as much as one that took place in London in 1772: the case of James Somerset, a black man rescued from a ship bound for the West Indies slave markets. At this landmark trial, two encompassing worldviews clashed in an event of passionate drama and far-reaching significance." "Now noted legal historian Steven M. Wise recreates each moment of the case that slave owners contended would do nothing less than bring the economy of the British Empire to a crashing halt. In a narrative of Somerset's trial - and the slave trials that led up to it - Wise sets the stage for the extraordinary decision by the notoriously conservative judge, Lord Mansfield. That decision would set in motion the abolition of slavery in both England and the United States."--Jacket.