Panayiotou v Sony Music Entertainment (UK) Ltd Panayiotou v Sony Music Entertainment (UK) Ltd Panayiotou and others v Sony Music Entertainment (UK) Ltd. ([1994] ChD 142) was a contract and entertainment law case before the High Court of Justice's Chancery Division. The plaintiff, entertainer George Michael, argued that his recording contract constituted an unreasonable restraint of trade. Michael alleged that the defendant had failed to promote his album "Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1" with due vigour as punishment when the artist decided to downplay his status as a sex symbol. Michael described his situation as "professional slavery" because his contract required that he produce music and cede
Slavery in the United States property owner, eventually buying and owning slaves himself. The transformation of the social status of Africans, from indentured servitude to slaves in a racial caste which they could not leave or escape, happened gradually. There were no laws regarding slavery early in Virginia's history. But, in 1640, a Virginia court sentenced John Punch, an African, to slavery after he attempted to flee his service. The two whites with whom he fled were sentenced only to an additional year of their indenture, and three years' service to the colony. This marked the first legal sanctioning of slavery in the English colonies