This ruling in British courts determined that slavery in England could not be supported by common law. This legal success of Somerset and his abolitionist backers raised the moral question of slavery in England and may have contributed to increased support for slavery in the colonies and the colonial effort to gain independence from England. It did nothing, however, to stop the slave trade or ownership of slaves in England. The British Parliament passed the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833 which ended the legal trade of slaves in Britain and all its colonies except India.
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