 African servants were common as status symbols, but their treatment was not comparable to that of plantation slaves in the colonies.The legal problems that were most likely to arise in England were if a slave were to escape in transit, or if a slave-owner from the colonies brought over a slave and expected to continue exercising his power to prevent the slave from leaving his service.Increasing numbers of slaves were indeed brought into England in the 18th century, and this may help to explain the growing awareness of the problems presented by the existence of slavery.