Opinion over Mansfield's intention in his ruling in Somerset's Case is mixed, with the current prevailing view being that he did not intend to free the slaves. The judgment was particularly narrow, as it ruled only that a master could not carry his slave out of England by force, not that slaves who came to England were emancipated. This is seen as particularly telling because this was the primary argument of Davy and Hargrave. If Murray had wanted to emancipate the slaves completely, there were various bits of judicial precedent he could have based his decision on, such as "Smith v Gould" or "Shanley v Harvey", but he did not. Various comments he made before and during the case also suggest that complete emancipation was not his intent; in a preliminary judgment he said that "the setting 14,000 or 15,000 men at once free loose by a solemn opinion, is much disagreeable in the effect it threatens", which one modern legal scholar interprets as indicative of his reluctance to make a decision for fear of economic consequences. Various comments he made to Thomas Hutchinson in private letters, along with his comments about the "Somersett" decision in R v Inhabitants of Thames Ditton also suggest that emancipation was not his goal. In 1785, Lord Mansfield expressed the view in R v Inhabitants of Thames Ditton that his ruling in the Somerset case decided only that a slave could not be forcibly removed from England against his will.