Statements on Criminal Law.-Legal Biography. 143 While the capital punishments have in many mitted the offence without discernment, he is cases been abolished in this Country, changes acquitted; but, according to circumstances, of a similar nature have been effected in the he is either placed in a house of correction, to French laws. By a recent modification, juries be élevé et detenu, or delivered to his friends. If are permitted to attach to their verdicts a he is found to have committed the offence with spontaneous declaration of circumstances in discernment, the punishment he has incurred extenuation (circonstances attenuantes), and is greatly diminished, and in no case can he thereby to proportionate the sentence to their be punished by death, travaux forcés à peropinion of the crime. This change, the minis-pétuiteé, or any other punishment which inter states in his report, experience proves has cludes public exposure. had an influence on the truth of the verdict, and has lessened the practice of juries giving a verdict at variance with the evidence (which has been a common practice also of English Juries) solely with a view of reducing the severity of the sentence; and the minister remarks, that the law has gained in certainty what it has lost in severity. LEGAL BIOGRAPHY. SIR WILLIAM BLACKSTONE. THIS distinguished lawyer was the fourth son of The numbers capitally convicted and exe- Mr. Charles Blackstone, a silkman and citizen cuted in France in the three last years pub-of London. His mother was the eldest daughlished in the tables, as compared with the same three years in England, were, 1832-Sentenced to death 480; executed 34 1833 1834 " 523 494 17 er of Lovelace Bigg, Esq., of Chilton Foliot, Wiltshire He was born on the 10th of July, 1723. He was admitted as a scholar on the foundation of the Charter House, at the age of seven, and at 15 was at the head of the school. He then proceeded to Pembroke College, Oxford. He was distinguished both at the Charter House, and at College, and obtained an exhibition. On the 20th November, 1741, he entered 34 the Middle Temple as a student at law; and in November, 1743, he was elected a member of All-Soul's College. In the following year In 1826, the numbers capitally convicted in he was admitted fellow, and made the anniFrance were 150, of whom 111 were executed.versary speech in commemoration of the The education of criminals in both countries founder. He divided his time between Oxford has been ascertained under the same defini-and the Temple, thus pursuing concurrently tions, and admits therefore, of a direct com- his academical and professional studies. On parison. In France, the instruction of those the 12th June, 1745, he took the degree of tried before the Cours d'Asssizes only (6,952) Bachelor of Civil Law; and on the 28th Nohas been ascertained. The following is the vember, 1746, was called to the bar. centesimal proportion : 33.52 France. England & Wales. 8.7 29 52.33 10.56 He made little progress in his profession for several years. He had not the advantages of powerful connections, and was deficient in that volubility and confidence, which in some cases enables the possessor to force himself into notice. He therefore spent a large part of his time at Oxford, where he was elected bursar, and employed himself in exploring and arranging the muniments of his College. He assisted in hastening the completion of the Codrington Library, which was arranged under his directions. For these services he was rewarded with the appointment of Steward Recidives. of the College manors. On the 26th April, 590 1750, he obtained the degree of Doctor of 31-7 Civil Law. Included in the above numbers are 1,400 criminals who had undergone a previous punishment (Recidives). They may be safely assumed to be of the worst class. Their degree of instruction has been separately distinguished. The principal difference in the results is in the most educated class: Neither read nor write The proportion of juvenile offenders is far greater in England and Wales than in France: but the comparison is made between the total of offences in this country and the most violent classes in France-those tried by the Cours Assizes. Aged under 16, France 14 per cent.; England and Wales 11 per cent. 8.1 Blackstone's first professional publication 1-2 was an "Essay on Collateral Consanguinity." This was published in 1750, and was occasioned by a dispute regarding the next of kin of the founder of All Soul's College. It attracted no little attention, and when the Archbishop of Canterbury, as visitor, formed a new regulation, he appointed Blackstone his assessor. It happened to Blackstone as to many men who subsequently rose to eminence, that he met with scarcely any encouragement in the practice of his profession in London. And in By the French code, a material modification is made in favour of prisoners under 16 years of age. If it is decided that the prisoner com the year 1753, he formed the resolution of retiring to his fellowship, and of practising at Oxford as a provincial barrister. About this time he commenced a course of private lectures on the Laws of England, which was numerously attended. We are told that when the chair of Civil Law at Oxford was vacant, the Duke of Newcastle consulted Mr. Murray, the Solicitor General, (afterwards Lord Mansfield), on the selection of a proper person to fill the vacancy. The Solicitor General warmly recommended Mr. Blackstone, who was accordingly introduced to the Duke. His Grace observed, that, in case of any political agitation in the University, he might, he presumed, rely upon Mr. Blakstone's exertions in behalf of government. "Your Grace may be assured that I will discharge my duty in giving law lectures to the best of my poor ability," was the reply; "and your duty in the other branch too?" added his Grace. Mr. Blackstone merely bowed in answer; and a few days afterwards Dr. Jenner was appointed to the vacant chair. splendid edition of Magna Charter, and the Charter of the Forest; also a small tract on the Law of Descents in Fee-simple. : In 1761, he was returned to parliament as one of the representatives of Hindon, in Wiltshire. He was offered the appointment of Chief Justice of the Common Pleas in Ireland, but preferred remaining in England, and soon after received a patent of precedence. With this rank, and the celebrity which he had acquired as a writer, his professional practice considerably increased. On his marriage his fellowship was of course vacated and in 1751, he was appointed principal of New Inn Hall. In 1762, his Legal Tracts were published in two volumes, 8vo.; and in the following year he received the appointment of Solicitor General to her Majesty, and was elected a Bencher of the Middle Temple.-In 1766, Mr. Blackstone resigned the Vinerian professorship, and the place of principal of New Inn Hall, in conse quence of his practice in London interfering with his duties at the University. He was returned in 1768, for Westbury, in Wiltshire, and took part in the debates which arose relative to the election of Mr. Wilkes In 1757, Blackstone was appointed one of the delegates of the Clarendon Press, and a On the resignation of Mr. Dunning, in 1770, visitor of Mr. Michel's foundation in Queen's the office of Solicitor General was offered to College. In 1754, he was retained as coun- Mr. Blackstone; but disliking the political sel in the county election, where a question contention in which he must have engaged, arose on the right of certain copyholders to he thought it prudent to decline the honor. vote; and a few years afterwards he published Soon after this event, one of the Judges of his Considerations on Copyholders."-In the Common Pleas resigned his seat, and an 1756, Mr. Viner bequeathed to the University offer was immediately made to Mr. Blackstone of Oxford the profits of his voluminous to fill the office. The patent for his appointAbridgements, for the purpose of promoting ment was about to pass, when Mr. Justice the study of the Common Law of England. Yates expressed a wish to change his court, This donation was employed in instituting and Mr. Blackstone was consequently appointa professorship of English Law, with a stipend ed in Hilary Term 1770, to the vacant seat in of 2001. per annum. It was the duty of the pro- the King's Bench. In the ensuing Trinity fessor to deliver a solemn public lecture on Term, however, on the death of Mr. Justice the Laws of England, in every academical term, Yates, he accepted the place originally designand by himself or a deputy to read yearly a ed for him in the Court of Common Pleas. a complete course of lectures, consisting of sixty lectures at the least. Blackstone was unanimously elected the first Vinerian professor: and on the 25th of October, 1758, he read his introductory discourse. Its elegance, learning, and happy arrangement were universally admired, and it was afterwards prefixed to the first volume of the Commentaries. The first course of these lectures obtained for the author so high a reputation that Mr. Blackstone was invited to read them to the young Prince,-an honour which the new professor was unable to accept, on account of his engagements at the University; but copies of the lectures were presented to His Royal Highness, for which Mr. Blackstone received a munificent acknowledgment. In his early life, Sir William Blackstone had devoted himself but too assiduously to the studies on which his advancement necessarily depended; and his health, which was never robust, had consequently suffered. He had also an aversion to exercise, and this increased a nervous complaint to which he was subject. At the close of the year 1779, he suffered from a shortness of breath, which was thought by his physicians to arise from water on the chest, and the usual remedies were applied. In Hilary Term he came to London, in order to attend his duties in Court, but again became alarmingly ill. The disorder rapidly increased, and after lying in an insensible state for some days, he died on the 14th of February 1780, in the 57th year of his age. He was buried at the parish church of St. Peter in Encouraged by the high distinction which his lectures had conferred upon him, Mr. Black-Wallingford. stone was induced in 1759, to return to London, where he resumed his practice, but still visiting Oxford to deliver his lectures. He was invited by Lord Chief Justice Willes and Mr. Justice Bathurst, to take the Degree of Serjeant at Law, but he thought proper to decline the honor. He published the same year a Before entering on a brief summary of the character of Sir Wm. Blackstone, we shall advert to his Commentaries on the Laws of England, upon which the main part of his fame is dependent. The first volume of this celebrated work was published in 1765. It was usual, previous Legal Biography. ly to this time, to place in the hands of the teem." 145 enlivened her with metaphors and allusions; and sent her abroad in some measure to instruct, and in still greater measure to entertain the most miscellaneous and even the most fastidious societies. The merit to which, as much perhaps as to any, the work stands indebted for its reputation, is the enchanting harmony of its numbers; a kind of merit that of itself is sufficient to give a certain degeee of celebrity to a work devoid of every other: so much is man governed by the ear." "The fame of Sir William Blackstone, as a Commentator on the laws of England, has rendered, (says Mr. Roscoe,) his character as a Judge less conspicuous. His judgments, indeed, are never wanting in learning and good sense; but they would not alone have raised his name to the distinguished station which it now occupies. The notes of his judgments, published with his other reports after his death, are not remarkable for their research or accuracy; and it is probable that his legal acquirements rather declined than advanced after the publication of his Commentaries." The private character of Sir William Blackstone, is represented in favorable colours, but seems to have been misunderstood by those who did not enjoy an intimate acquaintance On the style of the Commentaries, a high with him. His appearance was not prepossespanegyric had been pronounced by Mr. Fox. sing. The heaviness of his features and figure, In one of his letters he says, "You, of course, and the contraction of his brow, gave a charead Blackstone over and over again; and if racter of moroseness to his countenance which so, pray tell me whether you agree with me in did not exist in fact. He was not, however, thinking his style of English the very best free from occasional irritation of temper, which among our modern writers; always easy and was increased by the nervous complaints to intelligible, far more correct than Hume, and which he was subject. In his own family he less studied and made up than Robertson. was chearful, agreeable, and even facetious, His purity of style I particularly admire. He and a diligent observer of those economical was distinguished as much for simplicity and arrangements, upon which so much of the resstrength as any writer in the English language. pectability and comfort of life depends. The He was perfectly free from all gallicisms and disposal of his time was so skilfully managed, ridiculous affectations, for which so many of that, though he was a laborious student, he our modern authors and orators are so re- freely mingled in the amusements and relaxamarkable: upon this ground, therefore, I es- tions of society,. This he effected by his rigid teem Judge Blackstone; but as a constitutional punctuality. During the years in which he writer, he is by no means an object of iny es-read his lectures at Oxford," says his biographer, "it could not be remembered that he Another very competent Judge of the sub-had ever kept his audience waiting for him ject, Mr. Bentham, says, "while with this freedom I expose our author's ill deserts, let me not be backward in acknowledging and paying homage to his various merits: a justice due not to him alone, but to that public, which now for so many years has been dealing out to him (it cannot be supposed altogether without title), so large a measure of its applause. Correct, elegant, unembarrassed, ornamented; the style is such as could scarce fail to recommend a work more vicious in point of matter, to the multitude of readers. He it is, in short, who, first of all institutional writers, has taught jurisprudence to speak the language of the scholar and the gentleman; put a polish upon that rugged science; cleansed her from the dust and cobwebs of the office, and if he has not enriched her with that precision which is drawn only from the sterling treasury of the sciences, has decked her out, however, to advantage, from the toilet of classic erudition even for a few minutes. As he valued his own time, he was extremely careful not to be instrumental in squandering or trifling away that of others, who, he hoped, might have as much regard for theirs as he had for his. Indeed punctuality was in his opinion so much a virtue, that he could not bring himself to think perfectly well of any one who was notoriusly defective in it. Clerks' Names and Residences. Mutlow, William, Ledbury ; and 17, Elizabeth To whom articled, assigned, &c. George James Duncan, Liverpool. Robert Williams, Carnarvon. James Collins, Ledbury. Alfred Southby Crowdy, Swindon. George Dew, Salisbury; assigned to Henry Frederick Fisher, Doncaster. Alexander Poulden, Portsea. James Sheffield Brooks, 29, John Street, Bed ford Row. James Cox and Philip Matthews Chitty, Shaftesbury, Dorset; assigned to Timothy Goodman, Warminster. John Geare, City of Exeter; assigned to Wightwick Roberts, 57, Lincoln's Inn Fields. Charles Potts, City of Chester. John Mills, Brunswick Place, City Road; as signed to Henry Hill, Crutched Friars: George Truwhitt, Cook's Court, Carey Street! Samuel Richardson Radford, Derby. William Payne, Aldermanbury. William Ogle Hunt, 6, Frederick's Place, Old Jewry. Thomas Kirk, 10, Symond's Inn, Chancery Lane Attorneys to be Admitted. Clerks Names and Residence. Rogerson, Thomas, 5, Collier Street, Pentonville, Middlesex; and Leeds, York. Robinson, George Lockett, 49, Great Chart Street, Hoxton; and Stoke-upon-Trent, Stafford. Shapland, John Terrell, Crediton, Devon; and 7, Great Ryder Street, Saint James' Symons, John, 23, Stamford Street, Surrey. Shepheard, Charles, 106, Oxford Street. Simpson, Palgrave, 14, Compton Street; 58, To whom articled, assigned, &c. Samuel Lister Booth, Leeds, York. 147 James Bagnall Astbury, and William Williams, Stoke-upon-Trent; assigned to Campbell Wright Hobson, Gray's Inn. Poyntz Charles Byne, South Molton; assigned to George Tanner, Crediton; assigned to Hull Terrell, Basinghall Street. John Nuttall, Nottingham; assigned to Martin Forster, Lawrence-Pountney-Place. John Finch, Tokenhouse Yard. John Browne Smith, Dartmouth. John Hammond, West Burton, York. Robert Crabtree, Halesworth, Suffolk. George William Ledger, Dover, Kent. Smale, Willian Adderley, Tottenham, Mid- Thomas Lacy, King's Arms Yard, Coleman dlesex; and Argyle Street. Street; assigned to William Batty, Charles Scandrett, William Lloyd, Aberystwith, Car- John Hughes, Aberystwith, Cardigan. digan; and Southwark. Turner, Sayers, 15, Queen Square, Westmins ter. Tolver, Antony, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. Townsend, George Barnard, Salisbury, Wilts. Tarrant, William Barnes, 10, Red Lion Square. Underhay, John, Warwick Court, Holborn. Walford, Frederick, 26, Woburn Place, Rus sell Square. Were, Nicholas, Plymouth. Wall, William John, Devizes, Wilts; 3, Verulam Buildings; and 32, Bedford Row. Whitley, Henry Constantine, Wrington, Somerset; and 14, Upper King Street, Blooms, bury. Woodward, John Harry Jonathan, Grantham, Lincoln; 8, Frederick Place, Goswell Street Road. Walker, Henry Pinkney, Bury St. Edmunds; 14, New North Street, Red Lion Square; and 4, South Square, Gray's Inn. Weatherhead, Samuel, Bingley, York. Yewens, William Cape Brice, articled by the name of Wm. Yewens, the younger, 16, Claremont Place, Fentonville; and Malmsbury, Wilts. Yceles, James, 23, Little St. Thomas Apostle; and 37, Lincoln's Inn Fields. Zachary, Francis Daniel, Lower Areley, Worcester; 46, Nelson Square, Surrey. William Ferguson Holroyde, Halifax, York. John Firth Empson, Glamford Briggs, Lin coln; assigned to John Nicholson, Glam. ford Briggs, Lincoln. Robert John Turner, City of Norwich; Tho- Peter Bruce Turner, Basing Lane. James Pitts, City of Exeter. John Edmonds, Plymouth. Peter Bruce Turner, 8, Basing Lane; assigned to George White, Grantham. John Wayman and Harry Wayman, Bury St. Edmunds. Francis Butterfield, Bingley. Thomas Chubb, Malmsbury, Wilts; assigned to Robert Few, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden. Mark Kennaway, City of Exeter. John Bury, Bewdley, Worcester. |