Gregson v Gilbert

JurisdictionEngland & Wales
Judgment Date22 May 1783
Date22 May 1783
CourtCourt of the King's Bench

English Reports Citation: 99 E.R. 629

IN THE COURT OF KING'S BENCH

Gregson
and
Gilbert 1

irououass. gregson v.gilbert 629 qreqson v. gilbert (a). Thursday, 22d May, 1783. Where the captain of a slave-ship mistook Hispaniola for Jamaica, whereby the voyage being retarded, and the water falling short, several of the slaves died for want of water, and others were thrown overboard, it was held that these facts did not support a statement in the declaration, that by the perils of the seas, and contrary winds and currents, the ship was retarded in her voyage, and by reason thereof so much of the water on board was spent, that some of the negroes died for want of sustenance, and others were thrown overboard for the preservation of the rest. This was an action on a policy of insurance, to recover the value of certain slaves thrown overboard for want of water. The declaration stated, that by the perils of the seas, and contrary currents and other misfortunes, the ship was rendered foul and leaky, and was retarded in her voyage ; and, by reason thereof, so much of the water on board the said ship, for her said voyage, was spent on board the said ship: that before her arrival at Jamaica, to wit, on, &c. a sufficient quantity of water did not remain on board the said ship for preserving the lives of the master and mariners belonging to the said ship, and of the negro slaves on board, for the residue of the said voyage ; by reason whereof, during the said voyage, and before the arrival of the said ship at Jamaica-to wit, on, &c. and on divers days between that day and the arrival of the said ship at Jamaica-sixty negroes died for want of water for sustenance ; and forty others, for want of water for sustenance, and through thirst and frenzy thereby occasioned, threw themselves into the sea and were drowned ; and the master and mariners, for the preservation of their own lives, and the lives of the rest of the negroes, which for want of water they could not otherwise preserve, were obliged to throw overboard 150 other negroes. The facts, at the trial, appeared to be, that the ship on board of which the negroes who were the subject of this policy were, on her voyage from the coast of Guinea to Jamaica, by mistake got to leeward of that island, by mistaking it for Hispaniola, which induced the captain to bear away to leeward of it, and brought the vessel to one day's water before the mistake was discovered, when they were a month's voyage from the island, against...

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2 books & journal articles
  • Badges of Modern Slavery
    • United Kingdom
    • The Modern Law Review No. 79-5, September 2016
    • 1 September 2016
    ...in Somerset vStewart (1772) Lofft 1, 98 ER 499. And yet Lord Manf‌ield’s decision in TheZong –Gregson vGilbert (1783) 3 Dougl 232, 99 ER 629 points to the limits of the Somersetruling. As T. T. Arvind explains, ‘the entire transatlantic slave trade was based around treatingslaves as if they......
  • M. NourbeSe Philip's Zong!: Metaphors, Laws, and Fugues of Justice
    • United Kingdom
    • Journal of Law and Society No. 43-1, March 2016
    • 1 March 2016
    ...A Conversation withM. NourbeSe Philip' (2008) 26 Small Axe: A Caribbean J. of Criticism 63, at 66.2Gregson v. Gilbert (1783) 3 Doug 232, 99 E.R. 629.ß2016 The Author. Journal of Law and Society ß2016 Cardiff University Law The ship reached Jamaica, but Captain Collingwood mistook the landfa......

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