Case of Joseph Knight important

A PLAQUE HAS been installed at the

Court of Session to commemorate an historic decision which found that slavery was not recognised in Scots Law when it was heard there in 1778.

The case of Joseph Knight v Wedderburn decided that Knight, who was bought as a slave in Jamaica and brought to Scotland, should gain freedom from ‘perpetual servitude’. The Sheriff Court in Perth which first heard the case brought by Wedderburn demanding a warrant to detain Joseph Knight as a slave in 1773, ruled that “the state of slavery is not recognised by the laws of this kingdom, and is inconsistent with the principles thereof”.

That decision of the lower court was upheld by a majority decision of the full bench of the Court of Session when it was appealed there some five years later.

Professor Sir Geoff Palmer (left) who leads the Edinburgh Slavery and

Colonialism Legacy Review Group

unveiled the plaque at a ceremony attended by The Lord President, Lord Carloway and invited guests including senior members of the judiciary.

“This historical plaque is an important part of our history,” he said. “Because it states publicly that Joseph Knight, the black servant of Sir John

Wedderburn of Ballindean, the 6th Baronet of Blackness, no longer had to work for Sir John Wedderburn’s household in Perth, Scotland, as a perpetual servant.

Sir Geoff added: “This plaque tells the world of a decision that is in keeping with the comment of one of the judges, ‘we sit here to enforce right not to enforce wrong’. Indeed, that ‘right’ was the human right to be free.”

The Lord President said: “Commemorative events such as this one are important in improving public awareness and wearing away the myth that slavery was never practised