Slavery in England had never been authorized by legal statutes. Villeinage, a form of semi-serfdom, was legally recognized but long obsolete. In 1772, a slave threatened with being taken out of England and returned to the Caribbean challenged the authority of his master in Somersett's case. Chief Justice Lord Mansfield ruled that slavery had no standing under common law and slave owners therefore were not permitted to transport slaves outside England and Wales against their will. Many observers took it to mean that slavery was ended in England.