t "there is good ground for the opinion that this baneful
system was never actually abolished in the present Canadian Provinces
until the vote of the British Parliament and the signature of King
William IV in 1833 rendered it illegal throughout the British Empire."

[16] J. Allen Jack, Q. C., D. C., L., of St. John, New Brunswick,
gives a full account of this case from which (and similar sources)
most of the facts are taken. In a paper read before the Royal Society
of Canada May 26, 1898, _Trans. R. S. Can._, 1898, pp. 137 sqq., Dr.
Jack conjectures that Nancy Morton is the Negro female slave conveyed
by bill of sale registered in the office of the Register of Deeds, St.
John's, N. B. Slaves were treated as realty as regards fieri facias
under the Act of 1732 (see ante, p. --) and at least "savoured of the
realty." The bill of sale registered January 31, 1791, was dated
November 13, 1778, and was executed by John Johnson of the Township of
Brooklyn in King's County, Long Island, Province of New York. It
conveyed with a covenant to warrant and defend title to Samuel Duffy,
Innkeeper for L40 currency (say $100) "a certain negro female about
fourteen years of age and goes by the name of Nancy," pp. 141, 142.
However that may be, Stair Agnew bought Nancy from William Bailey of
the County of York in the Province of New Brunswick for L40 with full
warranty of title as a slave.

[17] He was born in Boston in 1753, the son of John Chipman, a member
of the Bar. Graduating at Harvard, he joined the Boston Bar and
practised in that City until 1776. After the Peace he went to England
and in 1784 sailed for New Brunswick of which he was appointed
Solicitor General. After a quarter of a century of successful practice
he was appointed 1808 a puisne judge of the Supreme Court. He died in
February, 1826.

His services to Nancy Morton were given without fee or hope of reward.

[18] That of Mr. Chipman is given in _Trans. R. Soc. Can._, 1898, pp.
155-184.

[19] It will be seen that the return sets up that Jones bought and
owned the slave and the case was argued on that hypothesis, but the
historians say that Captain Stair Agnew was the owner. The point is
not of importance.

[20] _Mos regit legem, Mos pro lege, Leges moribus servient,
Consuetudo est optimus interpres legum_, custom is the life of the
law, custom becomes law, &c., &c. That slavery was necessary and
therefore legal in the American Colonies was admitted in the Somerse