KNIGHT, Joseph.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Information for Joseph Knight, a native of Africa, pursuer in the action at his instance; against John Wedderburn of Ballandean, Esq; Defender; First editions of three printed pleadings in the landmark Scottish freedom suit of Joseph Knight v. John Wedderburn (1775-76), the first case to test the Mansfield judgement north of the border and a decisive moment in the British debate over slavery. Knight, brought from Africa to Jamaica and later to Scotland as Wedderburn's enslaved servant, claimed his freedom on the grounds that slavery was not recognized in Scottish law. After years of litigation, the Court of Session in 1778 affirmed that he could not be enslaved or deported against his will.The pamphlets represent both sides of the argument. Allan Maconochie's Information for Joseph Knight denounces slavery as unjust in origin and incompatible with Scottish law; James Ferguson's Information for John Wedderburn mounts a full defence of the institution as natural, lawful, and essential to Britain's prosperity; and John Maclaurin's Additional Information for Joseph Knight, assisted by Boswell and Johnson, refutes these claims in a powerful moral and legal brief anticipating abolitionist reasoning.All three works are rare. ESTC locates a single copy of the first two works, in the Advocates Library, and locates two copies of the third, in the Advocates and Senate House libraries respectively. Library Hub adds another copy of the first work in the University of Dundee, and copies of

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