Scott v. Negro Ben was a landmark case in the United States Supreme Court that established the legal principle of slavery as property and not persons. The case involved a dispute between an enslaved man, known as "Negro Ben," and his owner, Peter Scott. In 1810, Scott sued to recover possession of Negro Ben after he had been sold by another slaveholder without Scott's permission or knowledge. The court ruled in favor of Scott on the grounds that slaves were considered property under Virginia law and could be bought and sold like any other piece of personal property; therefore, no one else had any right to possess them without their owners' consent. This decision set a precedent for future cases involving slavery which would ultimately lead to its abolishment throughout America with the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment in 1865.

In Scott v. Negro Ben, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a slave named Benjamin had been legally emancipated by his master's will. The majority of the court held that slaves were not citizens and thus could not be parties in suits at common law; therefore, they ruled that Benjamin remained a slave despite his master's wishes. Justice Johnson dissented from this opinion on two grounds: firstly, he argued that it was wrong for the court to ignore state laws which provided for emancipation through wills; secondly, he contended that slaves should be considered persons under the Constitution and allowed access to legal remedies like any other citizen. He concluded by stating "that no man can justly deprive another of liberty without due process of law". In doing so, Johnson laid out an argument against slavery which would eventually become part of American jurisprudence with its inclusion in the Fourteenth Amendment decades later.