William Allen Jowitt, 1st Earl Jowitt (15 April 1885 - 16 August 1957), was a British lawyer and politician. He served as Lord Chancellor in the government of Clement Attlee. Jump to: navigation, search April 15 is the 105th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (106th in leap years). ... 1885 is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Jump to: navigation, search August 16 is the 228th day of the year (229th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1957 was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search A lawyer is a person licensed by the state to advise clients in legal matters and represent them in courts of law and in other forms of dispute resolution. ... A politician is an individual involved in politics. ... The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor and in former times Chancellor of England, is one of the most senior and important functionaries in the government of the United Kingdom. ... The Right Honourable Sir Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC (3 January 1883 – 8 October 1967) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951. ...

Lawyer and MP

William Jowitt was born in Stevenage, the son of the village rector. At the age of nine he was sent to Northaw Place, a preparatory school in Potters Bar, where he first met and was looked after by Clement Attlee. From Northaw he went to Marlborough, and then to New College, Oxford. He studied law and was called to the Bar in 1909, and was a member of Brick Court Chambers in London. He proved himself a skilled advocate, attracting attention for his subdued and charming manner, at a time when barristers were more inclined to browbeat witnesses. He became a King's Counsel the day before the 1922 General Election, in which he was elected MP for the Hartlepools. Jowitt was a member of the faction of the Liberal Party led by Herbert Asquith, and somewhat radical in his beliefs. He continued to practice law whilst a backbench MP, and was not considered a great orator in the House of Commons. The word rector (ruler, from the Latin regere) has a number of different meanings. ... Preparatory school or prep school may refer to: University-preparatory school, in much of the world, it is a private secondary school designed to prepare a student for higher education Preparatory school (UK), in the United Kingdom a private school for pupils under thirteen, designed to prepare a student for... Jump to: navigation, search Darkes Lane, Potters Bar. ... The Right Honourable Sir Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC (3 January 1883 – 8 October 1967) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951. ... Marlborough College is a British boarding school in the county of Wiltshire, founded in 1843 for the education of the sons of Church of England clergy, although it now accepts both boys and girls of all beliefs. ... Jump to: navigation, search College name New College Named after Blessed Virgin Mary Established 1379 Sister College Kings College Warden Prof. ... Aphorism Critical legal studies Jurisprudence Law (principle) Legal research Letter versus Spirit List of legal abbreviations Legal code Natural justice Natural law Philosophy of law Religious law External links Find more information on Law by searching one of Wikipedias sibling projects: Wikibooks Wikiversity has more about this subject: School... A bar association is a body of lawyers who, in some jurisdictions, are responsible for the regulation of the legal profession. ... 1909 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ... Queens Counsel (postnominal QC), during the reign of a male Sovereign known as Kings Counsel (KC), are barristers or, in Scotland, advocates appointed by Letters patent to be one of Her Majestys Counsel learned in the law. They do not constitute a separate order or degree of... The UK general election of 1922 was held on 15th November 1922. ... A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters of an electoral district to a parliament; in the Westminster system, specifically to the lower house. ... Location of Hartlepool constituency Hartlepool is a Parliamentary Constituency in the House of Commons. ... The Liberal Party was one of the two major British political parties from the early 19th century until the 1920s, and a third party of varying strength and importance up to 1988, when it merged with the Social Democratic Party to form a new party which would become known as... The name Herbert Asquith normally refers to: Herbert Henry Asquith, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1908–1916), but may also refer to his son: Herbert Asquith, a poet. ... A backbencher is a Member of Parliament or a legislature who does not hold governmental office and is not a Front Bench spokesperson in the Opposition. ... In some bicameral parliaments of a Westminster System, the House of Commons has historically been the name of the elected lower house. ...

Jowitt was re-elected, now part of the re-united Liberal Party, in 1923, and in 1924 was a member of the Royal Commission on Lunacy. He lost his seat in General Election later that year. Jowitt stood successfully in Preston in the 1929 General Election, again being elected as a Liberal. Following the formation of a minority Labour's government, he was offered the position of Attorney General by the new Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald. Labour had few experienced lawyers amongst its ranks in Parliament, and had experienced problems filling the positions of legal officers in its first government. Jowitt agreed, but resigned his seat and ran again as a candidate of the Labour Party. Preston re-elected him with an increased majority. As was customary, Jowitt received a knighthood upon becoming Attorney General. His work mainly concerned the drafting of government Bills, and in particular the reversal of the Trades Dispute and Trade Unions Act (1927). The UK general election of 1923 was held on 5th December 1923. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1924 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... In countries that are Commonwealth Realms a Royal Commission is a major government inquiry into an issue. ... The 1924 UK general election was held on 29th October 1924. ... Preston is a city and local government district in North West England. ... The 1929 UK general election was held on 30th May 1929, and resulted in a hung parliament. ... For minority régime, see Apartheid. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Labour Party is the principal centre-left political party in the United Kingdom (see British politics). ... In most common law jurisdictions, the Attorney General is the main legal adviser to the government, and in some jurisdictions may in addition have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions. ... Jump to: navigation, search A prime minister may be either: chief or leading member of the cabinet of the top-level government in a country having a parliamentary system of government; or the official, in countries with a semi-presidential system of government, appointed to manage the civil service and... The Right Honourable James Ramsay MacDonald (12 October 1866–9 November 1937), British politician, was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. ... A statue of an armoured knight of the Middle Ages For the chess piece, see knight (chess). ... Jump to: navigation, search A bill is a proposed new law introduced within a legislature that has not been ratified or adopted. ...

Divided Loyalties

When the Labour government split over the financial crisis in 1931, Jowitt was one of only a handful of Labour MPs to follow MacDonald into the National Government. He was uncomfortable in a coalition with the Conservatives, but believed that the proposed spending cuts which caused the split were necessary, and the coalition was necessary to force them through. Like others who joined the National Government, he was expelled from the Labour Party. He was made a Privy Councillor. However he found himself in a difficult electoral position when he could not secure the withdrawal of the Conservative candidate in Preston in the 1931 General Election. He thus stood instead as the National Labour candidate for the English Universities, but here too was competing with other candidates supporting the National Government and was defeated. MacDonald persuaded Jowitt to remain as Attorney General in the hope that a new seat could be found, in order to maintain the handful of National Labour positions in the government, but this proved impossible and Jowitt stepped fown. He was replaced as Attorney General in January 1932, and returned to the Bar. Though relatively new to the party, Jowitt greatly regretted the split with Labour. He remained close to MacDonald, but after Stanley Baldwin became Prime Minister in 1935, Jowitt began campaigning for Labour. A number of Constituency Labour Parties attempted to nominate him as their candidate for the General Election that year, but he was still under expulsion. Unable to stand for Labour, he refused to stand for any other party or as an independent. This article deals with the effects of the Great Depression of the 1930s on the United Kingdom. ... In the United Kingdom the term National Government is in an abstract sense used to refer to a coalition of some or all major political parties. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Conservative Party is the largest political party on the centre-right in the United Kingdom. ... This article concerns the British Sovereigns Privy Council. ... The UK general election on Tuesday 27 October 1931 was the last in the United Kingdom not held on a Thursday. ... This article is about the political party that existed from 1931-1945. ... University constituencies existed from 1603 until 1950 to allow a University to be represented in the United Kingdom Parliament. ... January is the first month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1932 is a leap year starting on a Friday. ... Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley (August 3, 1867 - December 14, 1947) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on three separate occasions. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1935 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... A Constituency Labour Party (CLP) is an organisation of members of the British Labour Party who live in a particular parliamentary constituency in England, Scotland and Wales. ... The UK general election held on 14th November 1935 resulted in a large, though reduced, majority for the National Government now led by Stanley Baldwin. ...

Jowitt was re-admitted to the Labour Party in November 1936. Still a public figure, he was a critical of the National Government's policy of appeasement and in 1937 he called for the state control of the arms industry and rapid rearmament to face the growing threat of fascism on the continent. In February 1939 he called for the recreation of the Ministry of Munitions. In October, he was adopted as Labour's candidate at a bye-election in Ashton-under-Lyne, and duly elected. Eight months later, Winston Churchill appointed Jowitt as Solicitor General in his coalition government. He held this position for two years, before being placed in charge of planning for reconstruction. He held sinecure positions, as Paymaster General and then Minister without Portfolio, whilst in this role. In 1944 he became Minister of National Insurance at the head of a new government department. He resigned from the government when Labour left the coalition in May 1945, following victory in Europe, and was re-elected for Ashton-under-Lyne in the General Election in July. Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see November (disambiguation). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1936 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Appeasement is a strategic manoeuver, based on either pragmatism, fear of war, or moral conviction, that leads to acceptance of imposed conditions in lieu of armed resistance. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1937 was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... February is the second month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1939 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search October is the tenth month of the year in the Gregorian Calendar and one of seven Gregorian months with the length of 31 days. ... A by-election or bye-election is a special election held to fill a political office when the incumbent has died or resigned. ... Ashton-under-Lyne is a town in Greater Manchester with a population of 44,400 (2001 estimate). ... Jump to: navigation, search The Right Honourable Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, FRS, PC (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, best known as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. ... Jump to: navigation, search In the history of the United States, reconstruction was the period after the American Civil War when the states of the breakaway Confederacy were reintegrated into the United States of America. ... Paymaster-General is a ministerial position in UK. Former holders of this post include: Lord John Russell 1830-1834 Sir Edward Knatchbull, Bt 1834-1835 Sir Henry Brook Parnell 1835-1841 Edward John Stanley 1841 Sir Edward Knatchbull 1841-1845 William Bingham Baring 1845-1846 Thomas Babington Macaulay 1846-1848... A Minister without Portfolio is a government minister with no specific responsibilities. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1944 was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search National insurance is a system of taxes, and related social security benefits, that has operated in the United Kingdom since its introduction in 1911, and wider extension by the government of Clement Attlee in 1946. ... This article is about the month of May. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1945 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... World map showing Europe (geographically) When considered a continent, Europe is the worlds second-smallest continent in terms of area, with an area of 10,600,000 km² (4,140,625 square miles), making it larger than Australia only. ... The United Kingdom General Election of 1945 held on 5 July 1945 but not counted and declared until 26 July 1945 (due to the time it took to transport the votes of those serving overseas) was one of the most significant general elections of the 20th century. ...

Lord Chancellor

Labour now formed its first majority government and the new Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, appointed Jowitt as Lord Chancellor. As soon as he was appointed, Jowitt met with Robert Jackson to resolve outstanding points of contention over the draft London Charter, which would govern the procedures of the Nuremberg Trials. He retained the Conservative MP and out-going Attorney General, Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe, as the official liaison, but indicated that the new Attorney General, Sir Hartley Shawcross, would serve as Britain's Chief Prosecutor in the trials themselves. He was raised to the peerage as Baron Jowitt on 2 August (he became a Viscount in 1947), and entered the House of Lords. He lead much important judicial legislation during the life of the Labour government, including an Act which granted full legal sovereignty to a Canada and a number of other Commonwealth countries. He was also responsible for some key changes to the legal culture in Britain. He attempted to end political and social imbalances in the Magistrates Courts and is considered to have been the first Lord Chancellor to adopt a policy of appointing Judges purely on the basis of merit. The Right Honourable Sir Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC (3 January 1883 – 8 October 1967) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951. ... The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor and in former times Chancellor of England, is one of the most senior and important functionaries in the government of the United Kingdom. ... Jump to: navigation, search Justice Jackson Robert Houghwout Jackson (February 13, 1892 – October 9, 1954) was United States Attorney General (1940 - 1941) and an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court (1941 - 1954). ... The London Charter of the International Military Tribunal (usually referred to simply as the London Charter) was the decree that set down the laws and procedures by which the Nuremberg trials were to be conducted. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Nuremberg Trials is the general name for two sets of trials of Nazis involved in World War II and the Holocaust. ... David Patrick Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of Kilmuir (1900-1967) was an important British politician and jurist. ... Hartley Shawcross, Attorney-General of England and Wales 1945-51 The Right Honourable Hartley William Shawcross, Baron Shawcross, PC, GBE KC (February 4, 1902–July 10, 2003), was a British barrister and politician and the lead British prosecutor at the Nuremberg War Crimes tribunal. ... Jump to: navigation, search August 2 is the 214th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (215th in leap years), with 151 days remaining. ... A viscount is a member of the European nobility, especially, as in the British peerage, ranking above a baron, below a (British) earl or (his continental equivalent) count. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1947 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search This article is about the British House of Lords. ... In Westminster System parliaments, an Act of Parliament is a part of the law passed by the Parliament. ... Jump to: navigation, search The Commonwealth of Nations, usually known as The Commonwealth, is an association of independent sovereign states, almost all of which are former territories of the British Empire. ... A magistrate is a judicial officer with limited authority to administer and enforce the law. ... Jump to: navigation, search A judge or justice is an official who presides over a court. ...

As Lord Chancellor he also served as Speaker of the House of Lords - a delicate job given the Conservative majority in the Lords - and head of the Crown Court, from 1945 to 1951. Christopher Addison, Labour's leader in the Lords, died shortly after the party's defeat in the 1951 General Election. Labour was now in Opposition, and Jowitt took over as leader of the Labour peers. He became an Earl on Christmas Eve. A senior figure in the party, and a member of the Shadow Cabinet, Jowitt was careful to keep the Labour peers out of the conflict between the Bevanites and Gaitskellites during the early 1950s. The opposition to the Conservative government in the Lords was meagre, but sometimes successfully rallied support from government backbenchers: In 1955, for instance, Jowitt lead a successful rebellion in the Lords over a government Bill to criminalise the medical use of marijuana. He stood down as leader in November of that year, at the age of seventy, dying two years later. His Dictionary of English Law was published posthumously. His peerage, however, did not survive his death, and as he had no eligible heirs. Jump to: navigation, search The term Speaker is usually the title given to the presiding officer of a countrys lower house of parliament or congress (i. ... Role Her Majestys Crown Court is, together with the High Court of Justice and the Court of Appeal, one of the constituent parts of the Supreme Court of Judicature in England and Wales. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1945 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Jump to: navigation, search 1951 was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... Christopher Addison, 1st Viscount Addison, KG, PC (19 June 1869 - 11 December British medical doctor and politician. ... The 1951 election was held soon after the UK general election, 1950, which Labour won, but with an unworkable majority. ... An Earl as a member of the British peerage ranks below a Marquess and above a Viscount. ... See also Christmas The Christmas Eve (1904-05), watercolor painting by the Swedish painter Carl Larsson (1853-1919) Christmas Eve, December 24, the day before Christmas Day, is treated to a greater or a lesser extent in most Christian societies as part of the Christmas festivities. ... Jump to: navigation, search 1955 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Jump to: navigation, search Species Cannabis indica Cannabis ruderalis Cannabis sativa Cannabis is a genus of flowering plant that includes one or more species. ... Jump to: navigation, search For other uses, see November (disambiguation). ...