1702

New York passes An Act for Regulating Slaves., which prohibits meetings of more than three slaves, trading by slaves, and testimony by slaves in court.

England’s Court of the King’s Bench rules in Smith v. Browne & Cooper that “as soon as a Negro comes to England he is free; one may be a villein in England, but not a slave”. The high court had original jurisdiction over any business not claimed by the other courts and all cases concerning England’s monarch. Decisions of King’s Bench were controlling precedent in the North American colonies.

William III died and succeeded by Queen Anne, who almost immediately declared a renewed war against France – the War of the Spanish Succession.