f Lords, 1842; 1 Phillimore on International Law,
316, 335.)

There is no nation in Europe which considers itself bound to return to
his master a fugitive slave, under the civil law or the law of
nations. On the contrary, the slave is held to be free where there is
no treaty obligation, or compact in some other form, to return him to
his master. The Roman law did not allow freedom to be sold. An
ambassador or any other public functionary could not take a slave to
France, Spain, or any other country of Europe, without emancipating
him. A number of slaves escaped from a Florida plantation, and were
received on board of ship by Admiral Cochrane; by the King's Bench,
they were held to be free. (2 Barn. and Cres., 440.)

In the great and leading case of Prigg _v._ The State of Pennsylvania,
(16 Peters, 594; 14 Curtis, 421,) this court say that, by the general
law of nations, no nation is bound to recognise the state of slavery,
as found within its territorial dominions, where it is in opposition
to its own policy and institutions, in favor of the subjects of other
nations where slavery is organized. If it does it, it is as a matter
of comity, and not as a matter of international right. The state of
slavery is deemed to be a mere municipal regulation, founded upon and
limited to the range of the territorial laws. This was fully
recognised in Somersett's case, (Lafft's Rep., 1; 20 Howell's State
Trials, 79,) which was decided before the American Revolution.

There was some contrariety of opinion among the judges on certain
points ruled in Prigg's case, but there was none in regard to the
great principle, that slavery is limited to the range of the laws
under which it is sanctioned.

No case in England appears to have been more thoroughly examined than
that of Somersett. The judgment pronounced by Lord Mansfield was the
judgment of the Court of King's Bench. The cause was argued at great
length, and with great ability, by Hargrave and others, who stood
among the most eminent counsel in England. It was held under
advisement from term to term, and a due sense of its importance was
felt and expressed by the Bench.

In giving the opinion of the court, Lord Mansfield said:

"The state of slavery is of such a nature that it is incapable of
being introduced on any reasons, moral or political, but only by
positive law, which preserves its force long after the reasons,
occasion, and time itself, from whence it was created, is era