The Slave Trade Act 1824 ( 5 Geo. 4. c. 113), also known as the Slave Piracy Act, is an act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...

that amended and consolidated the laws relating to the abolition of the slave trade.

Background

In May 1772,

Lord Mansfield William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, (2 March 1705 – 20 March 1793), was a British judge, politician, lawyer, and peer best known for his reforms to English law. Born in Scone Palace, Perthshire, to a family of Peerage of Scotland, Scott ...

's judgment in the ''

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

'' case emancipated a slave who had been brought to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

from

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

in the

Province of Massachusetts Bay The Province of Massachusetts Bay was a colony in New England which became one of the thirteen original states of the United States. It was chartered on October 7, 1691, by William III and Mary II, the joint monarchs of the kingdoms of Eng ...

, and thus helped launch the movement to abolish slavery throughout the British Empire. The case ruled that slavery had no legal status in England as it had no common law or statutory law basis, and as such someone could not legally be a slave in England. After the formation of the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in 1787,

William Wilberforce William Wilberforce (24 August 1759 – 29 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist, and a leader of the movement to abolish the Atlantic slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780 ...

led the cause of abolition through the parliamentary campaign. It finally abolished the

slave trade Slave trade may refer to: * History of slavery - overview of slavery It may also refer to slave trades in specific countries, areas: * Al-Andalus slave trade * Atlantic slave trade ** Brazilian slave trade ** Bristol slave trade ** Danish sl ...

in the British Empire with the

Slave Trade Act 1807 The Slave Trade Act 1807 ( 47 Geo. 3 Sess. 1. c. 36), or the Abolition of Slave Trade Act 1807, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom prohibiting the Atlantic slave trade in the British Empire. Although it did not automatica ...

( 47 Geo. 3 Sess. 1. c. 36). Between 1807 and 1823, abolitionists showed little interest in abolishing slavery itself.

Eric Williams Eric Eustace Williams (25 September 1911 – 29 March 1981) was a Trinidad and Tobago politician. He has been dubbed as the " Father of the Nation", having led the then-British Colony of Trinidad and Tobago to majority rule on 28 October 1956, ...

presented economic data in '' Capitalism and Slavery'' to show that the slave trade itself generated only small profits compared to the much more lucrative sugar plantations of the Caribbean, and therefore slavery continued to thrive on those estates. However, from 1823 the British Caribbean sugar industry went into terminal decline, and the British parliament no longer felt they needed to protect the economic interests of the West Indian sugar planters. In 1823, the Anti-Slavery Society was founded in London. Members included Joseph Sturge,

Thomas Clarkson Thomas Clarkson (28 March 1760 – 26 September 1846) was an English abolitionist, and a leading campaigner against the slave trade in the British Empire. He helped found the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade (also known ...

, Henry Brougham, Thomas Fowell Buxton, Elizabeth Heyrick, Mary Lloyd, Jane Smeal, Elizabeth Pease, and Anne Knight.Slavery and abolition
Oxford University Press Jamaican mixed-race campaigners such as Louis Celeste Lecesne and Richard Hill were also members of the Anti-Slavery Society. On 19 February 1824, a committee of the whole house considered the

( 47 Geo. 3 Sess. 1. c. 36) and the granting of bounties on the capture and condemnation of slaves, and made the following resolutions:

Passage

Leave to bring in the Slave Trade Laws Bill to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

was granted on 19 February 1824 to Sir Robert Phillimore and Dr Stephen Lushington . The bill had its

first reading A reading of a bill is a stage of debate on the bill held by a general body of a legislature. In the Westminster system, developed in the United Kingdom, there are generally three readings of a bill as it passes through the stages of becoming, ...

in the

on 8 April 1824, presented by Thomas Spring Rice . The bill had its

second reading A reading of a bill is a stage of debate on the bill held by a general body of a legislature. In the Westminster system, developed in the United Kingdom, there are generally three readings of a bill as it passes through the stages of becoming ...

in the

on 10 April 1824 and was committed to a committee of the whole house, which met on and reported on 12 April 1824, with amendments. The amended bill was considered and re-committed to a committee of the whole house on 5 May 1824, which met and reported on 7 May 1824. The amended bill had its

third reading A reading of a bill is a stage of debate on the bill held by a general body of a legislature. In the Westminster system, developed in the United Kingdom, there are generally three readings of a bill as it passes through the stages of becoming ...

in the

on 14 May 1824 and passed, with amendments. The bill, referred to as the Slave Trade Laws Consolidation Bill, had its

in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

on 18 May 1824. The bill had its

in the

on 31 May 1824 and was committed to a committee of the whole house, which met on 17 June 1824 and reported on 18 June 1824, with amendments. The amended bill had its

in the

on 21 June 1824, during which a motion to re-commit the bill to a committee of the whole house was defeated, and passed, with amendments. The amended bill was considered and agreed to by the

on 22 June 1824. The bill was granted

royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in othe ...

on 24 June 1824.

Provisions

Section 9 of the act created a capital offence (death penalty), categorising slave trading (on the

high seas The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regiona ...

) as

piracy Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...

Repealed enactments

Section 1 of the act repealed "...all the Acts and Enactments relating to the Slave Trade and the Abolition thereof, and the Exportation and Importation of Slaves, shall be and the same are hereby repealed, save and except in so far as they may have repealed any prior Acts or Enactments, or may have been acted upon, or may be expressly confirmed by this present Act.", effective on 1 January 1825.

Legacy

The capital offence for slave trading on the

was reduced to

transportation Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

for life by section 1 of the Punishment of Offences Act 1837 ( 7 Will. 4 & 1 Vict. c. 91). Slavery remained legal in most of the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

until the

Slavery Abolition Act 1833 The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 ( 3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 73) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which abolished slavery in the British Empire by way of compensated emancipation. The act was legislated by Whig Prime Minister Charl ...

( 3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 73). The whole act, except sections 2–11, 12 down to "taken to be in full force," 39, 40 and 47 were repealed by the Slave Trade Act 1873 ( 36 & 37 Vict. c. 88). The act is still in force in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, but now has no legislative effect, all the provisions having been

repeal A repeal (O.F. ''rapel'', modern ''rappel'', from ''rapeler'', ''rappeler'', revoke, ''re'' and ''appeler'', appeal) is the removal or reversal of a law. There are two basic types of repeal; a repeal with a re-enactment is used to replace the law ...

ed by subsequent legislation, although portions may have been incorporated in later legislation.

Notes

References

{{Authority control United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1824 Abolitionism in the United Kingdom Slave trade legislation Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool Consolidation Acts

Background

Passage

Provisions

Repealed enactments

Legacy

See also

Notes

References