Limited effect and continued enslavement

The decision was not an end to slavery, as it only confirmed it was illegal to transport a slave out of England and Wales against his or her will. It was vague enough to allow Africans to still be hunted and kidnapped in London, Liverpool and Bristol to be sold elsewhere, an incident Olaudah Equiano recounted in his autobiography. Mansfield believed his decision meant slavery continued, because his mixed-race great-niece Dido Elizabeth Belle remained a slave in his household until his 1793 will allowed her to be considered a free woman; advertisements from the 1770s also show slaves continued to be bought and sold in England.