32 - Interpreting Gold Coast Supreme Court Records, SCT 5/4/19 Regina (Queen) vs. Quamina Eddoo

Summary

This chapter discusses the framework for understanding a particularly moving document: the testimony of Abina Mansah in the case of Regina vs. Quamina Eddoo. The particulars of the case appear to have been written down by the magistrate, William Melton, in the Judicial Assessor's Record Book as testimony was being given. This record book was subsequently filed away, to enter the archives as file number Supreme Court Records (SCT) 5/4/19. The interpreter in Regina vs. Quamina Eddoo, James Davis, was a well-educated African of mixed parentage and a member of an important merchant family in the region, and might have been expected to act in a similar manner. Unlike the witnesses who accused them of enslavement, the defendants were generally somewhat familiar with court procedures or were able to employ trained lawyers like James Hutton Brew, who represented the defendant Quamina Eddoo and his sister Eccoah in this court case.