    
|
 Helping San Diego, California and beyond since 1997 |
|
|
Helping San Diego, California and beyond since 1997 |
Click here and add this page to your favorites!
|
Encyclopedia Britannica - Main :: MAL-MAR |
|
|
MANSFIELD, WILLIAM MURRAY, 1ST EARL of (1705-1793), English judge, was born at Scone in Perthshire, on the end of March 1705. He was a younger son of David Murray, 5th Viscount Stormont (c.16651731), the dignity having been granted in 1621 by James I. to his friend and helper, Sir David Murray (d. 1631), a Scottish politician of some note. Lord Stormont's family was Jacobite in its polities, and his second son James (c. 1690-1728), being apparently mixed up in some of the plots of the time, joined the court of the exiled Stuarts and in 1721 was created earl
William Murray was educated at Perth grammar school and Westminster School, of which he was a king's scholar., Entering Christ Church, Oxford, he graduated in 1727. , A friend of the family, Lord Foley, provided the funds for his legal training, and he became a member of Lincoln's Inn on. his departure from Oxford, being called to the bar in 1730, He was a good scholar and mixed with the best literary society, being an intimate friend of Alexander Pope. His appearance in some important Scottish appeal cases brought him into notice, and in Scotland at least he acquired an immense reputation by his appearance for the city of Edinburgh when it was threatened with disfranchisement for the affair of the Porteous mob. His English practice had as yet been scanty, but in 1737 a single speech in a jury trial of note placed him at the head of the bar, and from this time he had all he could attend to. In 1718 he married Lady Elizabeth Finch, daughter of the earl
birth
chief
House
bear the brunt of his attacks. In 1754 he became attorney-general, and for the next two years acted as leader of the House
chief
From this time the chief interest
work
body
Middlesex election and the trials for political libel; and in the subsequent years he was made the subject of the bitter attacks of Junius, in which his early Jacobite connexions, and his apparent leanings to arbitrary power, were used against him with extraordinary ability and virulence. In 1776 he was created earl of Mansfield. In 1783, although he declined to re-enter the cabinet, he acted as Speaker of the House of Lords during the coalition ministry, and with this his political career may be said to have closed. He continued to act as chief justice until his resignation in June 1788, and after five years spent in retirement died on the 20th of March 1793. He left no family, but his title had been re-granted in 1792 with a direct remainder to his nephew David Murray, 7th Viscount Stormont (1727-1796). The, 2nd earl was ambassador to Vienna and then to Paris; . Sc was secretary of state for the southern department from 1779 to 1782, and lord president of the council in 1783, and again from 1794 until his death. In 1906 his descendant Alan David Murray (b. 1864) became 6th earl of Mansfield.Lord. Mansfield's great reputation rests chiefly on his judicial career. The political trials over which he presided, although they gave rise to numerous accusations against him, were conducted with singular fairness and propriety. He was accused with especial bitterness of favouring arbitrary power by the law which he laid down in the trials for libel which arose out of the. publications of Junius and Horne Tooke, and which at a later time he reaffirmed in the case of the dean of St Asaph (see LIBEL). But we must remember that his view of the law was concurred in by the great majority of the judges and lawyers of that time, and was supported by undoubted precedents. In other instances, when the government was equally concerned, he was wholly free from suspicion. He supported Lord Camden's decision against general warrants, and reversed the outlawry of Wilkes. He was always ready to protect the rights of con-science, whether they were claimed by Dissenters or Catholics, and the popular fury which led to the destruction of his house during the Gordon riots was mainly due to the fact that a Catholic priest, who was accused of saying Mass, had escaped the penal laws by his charge to the jury. His chief celebrity, however, is founded upon the consummate ability with which he discharged the civil duties of his office. He has always been, recognized as the founder of English mercantile law. The' common law as it existed before his time was wholly inadequate to cope with the new cases and customs which arose with the increasing 'development of commerce. The facts were left to the jury to decide as best they might, and no principle was ever, extracted from them which might serve as a guide in subsequent cases. , Mansfield found the law in this chaotic state, and left it in a form that was almost ecauivalent to a (1892), I Ch. 506, 546; A.C. 356. In general usage, the term " mansion " is given to any large and important house in town or country; and " mansion house " to the official residence, when provided, of the mayor of a borough, particularly to that of the lord mayors of London and Dublin. From the general meaning of a conspicuously large dwelling-place comes the modern employment of the term " mansions," in London and elsewhere, for large buildings composed of " flats." End of Article: MANSFIELD, WILLIAM MURRAY, 1ST EARL If you wish, you can link directly to this article.
<a href="http://jcsm.org/StudyCenter/Encyclopedia/MAL_MAR/MANSFIELD_WILLIAM_MURRAY_1ST_E.html"> MANSFIELD, WILLIAM MURRAY, 1ST EARL </a> |
|
|
(Previous) MANSFIELD, RICHARD (1857-1907) |
(Next) MANSION (through O. Fr. mansion, mod. maison, f... |
Jesus Christ Saves Ministries, P.O. Box 70696, Pasadena, CA 91117JCSM is a 501(c)(3), non-profit organization. Copyright © 1997-present. |
Free & Cheap Cell
Phones |
Cheap Long Distance
Phone Service Carriers |
Talk America Local Phone Service
|
Ztel & MCI - Unlimited Long Distance
Compare
Cell Phone Plans & Companies |
International Calling Cards & Prepaid Phone Cards |
Voice Over IP Broadband Internet Phone
Service | Wireless
Phone Plans & Cheap Cell Phones
|
_____________________________________________________________________________
