ABSTRACT
Soon after becoming United Kingdom Chair of the World Court Project * (WCP) in October 1991, I found fascinating parallels between it and the British campaign to abolish slavery. By chance I discovered the direct descendant of Thomas Clarkson living two miles from me. William Wilberforce is generally credited with having led the antislavery movement. However I quickly learned that, while Wilberforce was the parliamentary champion, Clarkson conceived the campaign and drove it through. In so doing British public opinion was mobilized for the first time on a human rights issue. And despite taking forty-eight years (1785–1833), the campaign succeeded. 1
