William Murray
William Murray was a Whig politician and member of the Parliament in Great Britain.
Contents
History
Murray was a younger son of David Murray, viscount of Stormont. He rose to prominence as a lawyer. One of his most important works in legalism was the Yorke-Talbot opinion, which argued that slavery was legal in Great Britain.
He entered the House of Commons in 1742 for Boroughbridge, a rotten borough.
He was created baron of Mansfield in 1756.
Murray is prominently remembered for his opinion in Somerset v Stewart; he ruled that slavery can only be preserved by positive law. He did not outlaw slavery, so much as rule that a slave brought into Great Britain could not be compelled to leave it.
He was raised to earl of Mansfield in 1776 and was afforded a seat in the House of Lords. He only briefly assumed it, in 1783, in an attempt to help the North government pass the East India Bill. He was appointed to Lord Chancellor for that time.
Murray did not have any children. His inheritance was planned to revert to the lineage of his elder brother, David Murray (same name as their father). The earldom created in 1776 (in the county of Nottingham) specifically had remainder to his nephew's wife, Louisa. A technically separate earldom (in the county of Middlesex) was created for him in 1792 with remainder to that same nephew, David Murray (same name as William's father and brother).