The complete account of the momentous trial which led to the abolition of slavery in the Western world is told for the first time in this fascinating new book In 1772 the trial in London of James Somerset, rescued from a ship bound for the West Indies slave markets, was a decisive turning point in history. Steven M Wise has uncovered layer upon layer of fascinating revelations about the case which, according to slave owners threatened to bring the economy of the British Empire to a crashing halt. In a gripping narrative of Somerset's trial - and of the slave trials that led up to it - he sets the stages for the unexpected decision by the famously conservative judge, Lord Mansfield, which would lead to the abolition of slavery, both in England and the United States, and the end of the African slave trade. As the case drew to a close Lord Mansfield spoke these stirring words that continue to resound more than two centuries later: Let Justice be done, though the Heavens may fall. The characters in this great historical moment go beyond a screenwriter's dream: Somerset's novice attorneys arguing their first case; the fervent British abolitionist Granville Sharp, who had brought case after case to court in an attempt to abolish slavery; the master's two-faced and skilful lawyer, who had recently argued before Mansfield that slavery could not exist in England; and finally, the greatest judge of his time, Lord Mansfield, whose own mulatto grand-niece, Dido Belle, was his slave.