William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield (March 2, 1705 - March 20, 1793), was a British judge and politician who reached high office in the House of Lords. March 2 is the 61st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (62nd in leap years). ... Events Construction begins on Blenheim Palace, in Oxfordshire, England. ... March 20 is the 79th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (80th in Leap years). ... 1793 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... A judge or justice is an appointed or elected official who presides over a court. ... A politician is an individual involved in politics. ... This article is about the British House of Lords. ...

He was born at Scone in Perthshire, Scotland, a younger son of David Murray, 4th Viscount of Stormont (c. 1665-1731), a member of a Jacobite family. William Murray was educated at Perth grammar school and Westminster School, of which he was a king's scholar. Entering Christ Church College, Oxford, he graduated in 1727. A friend of the family, Thomas Foley, 1st Baron 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 1738 he married Lady Elizabeth Finch, daughter of the Daniel Finch, 7th Earl of Winchilsea. Perthshire is an traditional county in central Scotland, which extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south. ... Scotland (Alba in Scottish Gaelic) is a country or nation and former independent kingdom of northwest Europe, and one of the four constituent parts of the United Kingdom. ... David Murray, 4th Viscount of Stormont (1665-1731) was a Scottish politician. ... Events March 4 - Start of the Second Anglo-Dutch War March 6 - Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society begins publication March 16 - Bucharest allows Jews to settle in the city in exchange of annual tax of 16 guilders June 3 - The Duke of York defeats the Dutch Fleet off the... Events 10 Downing Street becomes the official residence of the United Kingdoms Prime Minister when Robert Walpole moves in. ... This article is not about the Jacobite Orthodox Church, nor is it about Jacobinism or the earlier Jacobean period. ... This article is about the town in Scotland. ... A grammar school is a type of school found in some English-speaking countries. ... Motto: Dat Deus Incrementum Westminster School (in full, The Royal College of St. ... Christ Church (in full: The Cathedral Church of Christ in Oxford of the Foundation of King Henry VIII) is one of the largest and wealthiest of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. ... Events June 11 - George, Prince of Wales becomes King George II of Great Britain. ... Lincolns Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. ... Events Pope Clement XII elected September 17 - Change of emperor of the Ottoman Empire from Ahmed III (1703-1730) to Mahmud I (1730-1754) Anna Ivanova (Anna I of Russia) became czarina Births May 13 - Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. ... Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (May 22, 1688 – May 30, 1744) is considered one of the greatest English poets of the eighteenth century. ... Edinburgh viewed from Arthurs Seat. ... Captain John Porteous and the Edinburgh Riots (d 1736) As Captain of the City Guard of Edinburgh, Captain John Porteous was charged with keeping the peace and when, in April 1736, two convicted smugglers were due to be publicly hanged, the public outcry was such that the hangman had to... Events 12 February — The San Carlo, the oldest working opera house in Europe, is inaugurated. ... The jury trial (not to be confused with grand jury proceedings or trial by jury) is a bench trial wherein the Judge uses a jury to advise him on the facts while he determines the law. ... Events January 1 - Bouvet Island is discovered by French explorer Jean-Baptiste Charles Bouvet de Lozier. ... Daniel Finch, 7th Earl of Winchilsea, 2nd Earl of Nottingham (2 July 1647-1 January 1730), son of Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham, entered parliament for Lichfield in 1679. ...

His political career began in 1742 with his appointment as Solicitor-General. During the next fourteen years he was one of the most conspicuous figures in the parliamentary history of the time. By birth a Jacobite, by association a Tory, he was nevertheless a Moderate, and his politics were really dominated by his legal interests. Although holding an office of subordinate rank, he was the chief defender of the government in the House of Commons, and during the time that William Pitt the Elder was in opposition had to bear the brunt of his attacks. In 1754 he became Attorney-General, and for the next two years acted as Leader of the House of Commons under the administration of Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle. But in 1756, when the government was evidently approaching its fall, an unexpected vacancy occurred in the chief justiceship of the king's bench, and he claimed the office, being at the same time raised to the peerage as Baron Mansfield. Events January 24 - Charles VII Albert becomes Holy Roman Emperor. ... The Solicitor General is a cabinet position in several countries, dealing with legal affairs. ... The term Tory derives from the Tory Party, the ancestor of the modern UK Conservative Party. ... The House of Commons is a component of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also includes the Sovereign and the House of Lords. ... William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (15 November 1708–11 May 1778) was a British statesman who achieved his greatest fame as war minister during the Seven Years War and who was later Prime Minister of Great Britain. ... 1754 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... 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. ... The Leader of the House of Commons is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom who is responsible for arranging government business in the House of Commons. ... Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne and 1st Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyme (July 21, 1693 - November 17, 1768) was a Whig statesman, whose official life extended throughout the Whig supremacy of the 18th century. ... The Earl of Mansfield and Mansfield is a peer in the Peerage of Great Britain, holding two separate creations of the title of Earl of Mansfield in that peerage, the first created in 1776 and the second in 1792. ...

From this time the chief interest of his career lies in his judicial work, but he did not wholly dissever himself from politics. He became by a singular arrangement, only repeated in the case of Lord Ellenborough, a member of the cabinet, and remained in that position through various changes of administration for nearly fifteen years, and, although he persistently refused the chancellorship, he acted as Speaker of the House of Lords while the Great Seal was in commission. During the time of William Pitt the Younger's ascendancy he took but little part in politics, but while Lord Bute was in power his influence was very considerable, and seems mostly to have been exerted in favour of a more moderate line of policy. He was on the whole a supporter of the prerogative, but within definite limits. Macaulay terms him, justly enough, "the father of modern Toryism, of Toryism modified to suit an order of things in which the House of Commons is the most powerful body in the state." The Lord Speaker (or Lady Speaker) will be a new position in the British Parliament created once the Constitutional Reform Acts provisions about the Speakership of the House of Lords comes into effect. ... The Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England, and later of Great Britain was formerly an officer of the English Crown charged with physical custody of the Great Seal of England. ... William Pitt the Younger (28 May 1759–23 January 1806) was a British politician during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. ... In some bicameral parliaments of a Westminster System, the House of Commons has historically been the name of the elected lower house. ...

During the stormy session of 1770 he came into violent collision, with Pitt the Elder and Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden in the questions that arose out of the 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). Murray's nephew became ambassador to Vienna and then to Paris; he was Secretary of State for the Southern Department from 1779 to 1782, and Lord President of the Council in 1783. 1770 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden (1714-18 April 1794), Lord Chancellor of Great Britain, was a leading proponent of civil liberties in eighteenth century England. ... Middlesex as a traditional county before 1888. ... Junius, the pseudonym of a writer who contributed a series of letters to the London Public Advertiser, from January 21, 1769 to January 21, 1772. ... The Earl of Mansfield and Mansfield is a peer in the Peerage of Great Britain, holding two separate creations of the title of Earl of Mansfield in that peerage, the first created in 1776 and the second in 1792. ... David Murray, Viscount Stormont (1727-1796) was a British politician. ... Vienna (German: Wien [viːn]) is the capital of Austria, and also one of Austrias nine federal states (Bundesland Wien). ... The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... The Secretary of State for the Southern Department was a position in the cabinet of the government of United Kingdom up to 1782. ... The Office of Lord President of the Council is a British cabinet position, the holder of which acts as Presiding officer of the Privy Council. ...

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 John Horne Tooke, and which at a later time he reaffirmed in the case of the dean of St Asaph. 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. John Horne Tooke (June 25, 1736 - March 18, 1812), was an English politician and philologist. ...

He supported Lord Camden's decision against general warrants, and reversed the outlawry of John Wilkes. He was always ready to protect the rights of conscience, 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 equivalent to a code. He defined almost every principle that governed commercial transactions in such a manner that his successors had only to apply the rules he had laid down. His knowledge of foreign and Roman law, and the general breadth of his education, freed him from the danger of relying too exclusively upon narrow precedents, and afforded him a storehouse of principles and illustrations, while the grasp and acuteness of his intellect enabled him to put his judgments in a form which almost always commanded assent. A similar influence was exerted by him in other branches of the common law; and although, after his retirement, a reaction took place, and he was regarded for a while as one who had corrupted the ancient principles of English law, these prejudices passed rapidly away, and the value of his work in bringing the older law into harmony with the needs of modern society has long been fully recognized. Statue of John Wilkes (Fetter Lane London) John Wilkes (October 17, 1727 – December 26, 1797) was an English radical, journalist and politician. ... The Gordon riots were a Protestant religious uprising against the Roman Catholic Relief Act, 1778, which was intended to emancipate the Roman Catholics in England at the time. ... Roman Law is the legal system of ancient Rome. ...

Lord Mansfield and abolition of slavery

Lord Mansfield played a key role in smoothly ending slavery in England. A monument celebrating the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire in 1834, erected in Victoria Tower Gardens, Millbank, Westminster, London Wiktionary has a definition of: Slavery Slavery can mean one or more related conditions which involve control of a person against his or her will, enforced by violence or... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Religion...

James Somerset, a slave, brought to England by his master, a Mr. Stewart of Virginia, brought suit against him on 14 May 1772. Lord Mansfield, rendered his verdict in favor of Somerset on 22 June 1772. James Somersett or Somerset was a slave who was brought by his owner from Virginia to England. ... May 14 is the 134th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (135th in leap years). ... 1772 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... June 22 is the 173rd day of the year (174th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 192 days remaining. ... 1772 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ...

"On the part of Somerset, the case which we gave notice should be decided, this day, the Court now proceeds to give its opinion. The state of slavery is of such a nature, that it is incapable of being introduced on any reasons, moral or political; but only positive law, which preserves its force long after the reasons, occasion, and time itself from whence it was created, is erased from memory: it's so odious, that nothing can be suffered to support it but positive law. Whatever inconveniences, therefore, may follow from a decision, I cannot say this case is allowed or approved by the law of England; and therefore the black must be discharged."

Mansfield concluded that there was no legal backing for slavery in England. Furthermore, the Somerset case is the origin of the following words about British common law -- words that have been memorized by British pupils ever since. This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ...

"The air of England is too pure for a slave to breathe, and so everyone who breathes it becomes free. Everyone who comes to this island is entitled to the protection of English law, whatever oppression he may have suffered and whatever may be the colour of his skin."

This ruling applied only to England, and not the rest of the British Empire, and British commerce in slaves continued for thirty-five years until 1807, when Parliament formally abolished the slave trade. From Lord Mansfield's ruling in this case comes also the famous quote, "Let Justice be done, though the Heavens may fall." The British Empire in 1897, marked in pink, the traditional colour for Imperial British dominions on maps. ... 1807 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative institution in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories (it alone has parliamentary sovereignty). ...

See Holiday's Life (1797); Campbell's Chief Justices; Foss's Judges; Greville's Memoirs; Horace Walpole's Letters; Wise's Though The Heavens May Fall; Horace Walpole's Letters; and other memoirs and works on the period. John Campbell, 1st Baron Campbell of St Andrews (17 September 1779-1861), was a British politician and Lord Chancellor of Great Britain. ... Edward Foss (October 16, 1787 - July 27, 1870) was an English lawyer and biographer. ... Charles Cavendish Fulke Greville (April 2, 1794 _ January 18, 1865) was an English diarist, a great-grandson by his father of the 5th earl of Warwick, and son of Lady Charlotte Bentinck, daughter of the duke of Portland, formerly a leader of the Whig party, and first minister of... Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford, more commonly known as Horace Walpole, (September 24, 1717-March 2, 1797), was a politician, writer and forerunner of the Gothic revival. ... Steven M. Wise is the author of Though the Heavens May Fall, a book concerning the 18th century trial in England which led to the abolition of slavery. ... Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford, more commonly known as Horace Walpole, (September 24, 1717-March 2, 1797), was a politician, writer and forerunner of the Gothic revival. ...

Her Majestys Solicitor General for England and Wales, often known as the Solicitor General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Attorney General, whose duty is to advise the Crown and Cabinet on the law. ... Richard Lloyd is one of the founding members of the punk band Television. ... Dudley Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby (1762-1847), the eldest son of Nathaniel Ryder, 1st Baron Harrowby (d. ... Her Majestys Attorney General for England and Wales, usually known as the Attorney General, is the chief legal adviser of the Crown in England and Wales. ... Robert Henley, 1st Earl of Northington (c. ... Dudley Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby (1762-1847), the eldest son of Nathaniel Ryder, 1st Baron Harrowby (d. ... The Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales is the second-highest judge of the Courts of England and Wales, after the Lord Chancellor, and the presiding judge of Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal, and of the Queens Bench Division of the High Court. ... Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon (5 October 1732 - 4 April 1802), Lord Chief Justice, Kings Bench, was descended on his fathers side from an old Lancashire family; his mother was from Wales. ... Henry Bilson-Legge (29 May 1708 - 23 August 1764) was an English statesman. ... The Right Honourable Gordon Brown, PC, MP, current Chancellor of the Exchequer The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the ancient title held by the British cabinet minister whose responsibilities are akin to the posts of Minister for Finance or Secretary of the Treasury in other jurisdictions. ... Henry Bilson-Legge (29 May 1708 - 23 August 1764) was an English statesman. ...

The Earl of Mansfield and Mansfield is a peer in the Peerage of Great Britain, holding two separate creations of the title of Earl of Mansfield in that peerage, the first created in 1776 and the second in 1792. ... The Earl of Mansfield and Mansfield is a peer in the Peerage of Great Britain, holding two separate creations of the title of Earl of Mansfield in that peerage, the first created in 1776 and the second in 1792. ... David Murray, 2nd Earl of Mansfield, 7th Viscount Stormont (1727-1796), known before 1793 as Viscount Stormont was a British politician who served as the last Secretary of State for the Northern Department. ...

Lord Mansfield and copyright law

Lord Mansfield's role in an important decision in formation of copyright law is seen as uncharacteristicly short-sighted. In Millar v. Taylor, Mansfield held in favor of an English publisher, who argued that a common law right to copyright continued after the limited term granted under the Statute of Anne expired. While his decision in the case is seen as a logical deduction, it is criticized for ignoring the context of the Statute of Anne as a response, following the English Civil War, to the monopolies of the Crown. By upholding a common law right to copyright, Mansfield ruled in favor of a copyright that would never expire and sidesteped the intent of the Statute of Anne to create a public domain. Mansfield's ruling was overruled in a later decision by the House of Lords, Donaldson v. Beckett. For copyright issues in relation to Wikipedia itself, see Wikipedia:copyrights. ... Millar v. ... This article concerns the common-law legal system, as contrasted with the civil law legal system; for other meanings of the term, within the field of law, see common law (disambiguation). ... The Statute of Anne (8 Anne c. ... The English Civil War (or Wars) refers to the series of armed conflicts and political machinations which took place between Parliamentarians and Royalists from 1642 until 1651, specifically to the first (1642–1645) and second (1648–1649) civil wars between the supporters of King Charles I and the supporters of... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ... This article is about the British House of Lords. ... Donaldson v. ...

Reference

• This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.