'THE LIVES OF THE LORD CHANCELLORS OF ENGLAND.”

SEVENTH EDITION.

IN FOUR VOLUMES.

VOL. III.

NEW YORK.

COCKCROFT & COMPANY.

CONTENTS

OF

THE THIRD VOLUME.

CHAPTER

XXIII.

LIFE OF LORD CHIEF JUSTICE HOLT, FROM HIS BIRTH TILL THE

COMMENCEMENT OF HIS CONTESTS WITH THE

TWO HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT.

Services and Character of SIR JOHN HOLT, 1. His Father, 2. His Birth,

2. At School, 3. His Early Excesses, 3. He acts the part of a Wizard, 4.

He studies Law at Gray's Inn, 5. He is called to the Bar, 6. His pro-

fessional Progress, 5. He is a Whig, 7. He is Counsel for the Earl of

Danby and the Catholic Peers charged with being concerned in the

Popish Plot, 7. He acts as Junior to Jeffreys in a Prosecution for Libel,

8. He is Counsel for Lord Russell, 9. As Counsel at the bar he "goes

the whole Hog," 9. His Argument in Earl of Macclesfield v. Starkey, 10.

Attempt to seduce him by James II., II. He is appointed Recorder of

London, made King's Sergeant, and Knighted, 11. He refuses to abet

the arbitrary Measures of his King, and is dismissed from the office of

Recorder, 12. He is continued in his office of King's Sergeant, 12.

Landing of the Prince of Orange, 13. He acts as Assessor to the Peers,

13. He is elected a Member of the Convention Parliament, 14. Con-

ference between the two Houses on "Abdication" and "Desertion," 14.

Holt's Speech as a Manager for the Commons, 14. He takes the Oaths

to William and Mary, 16. He is appointed Chief Justice of the King's

Bench, 17. His Merits as a Judge, 18. He is praised by the Tatler, 19.

His Reporters, 20. His celebrated Judgment in Coggs v. Bernard, 21.

He lays down the Doctrine that a Slave becomes free by breathing the

Air of England, 22. His Construction of the Statute requiring Persons

to attend their Parish Churches, 23. He puts an end to the Practice of

giving Evidence against a Prisoner of prior Misconduct, and of trying

Prisoners in Fetters, 24. Holt's Influence with his Brother Judges, 24.

Weight of his Opinion with the Public, 25. His Conduct in presiding at

the Trial of State Prosecutions, 21. Trial of Lord Preston for High

Treason, 26. Rex v. Charnock, 28. Rex v. Rookwood, 28. Vindication

of Holt for the Law laid down by him in Sir John Freind's Case, 29.

Liberty of the Press in the Reign of Queen Anne, 31.

CHAPTER XXIV.

CONTINUATION OF The life of Lord Chief justice Holt

TILL THE TERMINATION OF HIS CONTESTS WITH

THE TWO HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT.

Holt's Contest with the House of Lords in Rex v. Knowllys, 32. He is

summoned before a Committee of Privileges, 34. His Popularity from

his Triumph over the House of Lords, 36. The Banker's Case, 37. On

the Removal of Lord Somers, Holt refuses to be Lord Chancellor, 39.

He is a Lord Commissioner of the Great Seal, 39. Accession of Queen

Anne Holt reappointed Chief Justice, 40. A Majority of Whigs in the

House of Lords, and of Tories in the House of Commons, 40. Corrupt

Decisions of the House of Commons in Election Cases, 40. The Ayies-

bury Case, 41. Qu. whether an Action could be maintained by an Elector

against a Returning Officer for refusing his Vote? 41. The three Puisne

Judges in the Negative, 41. Holt contra, 42. Judgment of the King's

Bench reversed in the House of Lords, 44. Absurd Resolutions of the

House of Commons, 43. Counter-Resolutions of the House of Lords, 44.

Writs of the Habeas Corpus by the Aylesbury men, 46. Holt's Opinion

for discharging them, 46. He is over-ruled by all the other Judges, 49.

Qu. whether Writ of Error lies on a Judgment on a Return to a Writ of

Habeas Corpus? 49. Commitments of Counsel by the Commons, 49.

Fabulous Story of Chief Justice Holt threatening to commit the Speaker

of the House of Commons, 50. The Abuse of Privilege by the House of

Commons remedied by Public Opinion on a General Election, 51. Holt

again refuses the Great Seal, 51.

CHAPTER X X V.

CONCLUSION OF THE LIFE OF LORD CHIEF JUSTICE HOLT.

Remainder of Holt's Judicial Career, 53. His Death, 53. His Funeral,

53. His Monument, 55. Holt's Want of Literature and Science, 55.

He put an End to Trials for Witchcraft, 56. He exposes hypocritical

Pretenders to extraordinary Virtue, 58. His Detention of a False

Propnet, 59. His Practice of interrogating Prisoners on Trial, 60. His

supposed Opinion as to the Illegality of employing the Military to put

down Civil Disturbances, 60. His Trial at Bar with the Crown, Trin., Ga

Holt as an Author, 62. He was married to a Shrew, 63. Conclusion, 64.

CHAPTER XXVI.

CHIEF JUSTICES FROM LORD HOLT TILL THE APPOINTMENT OF

SIR DUDLEY RYDER.

"

SIR THOMAS PARKER, afterwards Earl of Macclesfield, Chief Justice, 65.

His Life already written, 66. Vacancy in the Office of Chief Justice of

the King's Bench on his Promotion to be Chancellor, 66. SIR JOHN

PRATT, Chief Justice, 67. His Origin and Progress at the Bar, 67. He

iş made a Puisne Judge, 68. Chief Justice of the King's Bench, 68. His

most celebrated Judgment, 68. His Doctrine of Suspension overturned, 69.

Chief Justice Pratt's Conduct in Dr. Bentley's Case, 70. He tries Layer

for High Treasure, 72. His Opinion respecting the Power of the King

in the Marriage and Education of the Royal Family, 74. His Death, 75.

LORD RAYMOND, 75. Son of Sir Thomas Raymond, 75. He is called

to the Bar, 77. His Eminence as a Reporter, 77. Witchcraft put an

end to by the Prosecution of an Impostor, 77. Prosecution of Beau

Fielding for Bigamy, 78. Raymond is Counsel for Lindsay the Jacobite,

78. Raymond made Solicitor General by the Tories, 79, Raymond in

Opposition, 79. His Speech against the Septennial Bill, 79. He joins

the Whigs and is made Attorney General, 81. His Speech for the Crown

in Prosecuting Layer, 81. He sinks into a Puisne Judge, 82. He is made

Chief Justice of the King's Bench, 83 He is raised to the Peerage, 84.

His Doctrine that the Publisher of an obscene Libel may be prosecuted

for a Misdemeanor, 85. He settles the Law respecting Murder and Man-

slaughter, 86. Major Oneby's Case, 86 Liability of Jailer for Murder

by Neglect, 91. Lord Raymond on the law of Libel, 95. Lord Ray-

mond's Nisi Prius Decisions, 97. Lor Raymond's Abstinence from

Politics, 97. His Opposition to the Bill for conducting Law Proceedings

in English, 97. His Death, 98. His Monvment, 98. His Epitaph, 99.

Panegyric upon him, 100. LORD HARD VICKE Chief Justice of the

King's Bench, 100. Difficulty in filling up the Office on his Promotion

tc be Chancellor, 101. SIR WILLIAM LEE Chief Justice of the King's

Bench, 101. His Birth, 102. Prophecy as to the Effect of Plodding and

Perseverance, 102. His Passion for Special Pleating, 103. His Victory

in a great Settlement Case, 104. He is Counsel in Appeal of Murder,

104. His Dislike of the House of Commons, 105. He is made a luisne

Judge, 105. His Intimacy with Lord Hardwicke, 106. He is inade

Chief Justice of England, 106. His increasing Popularity, 107. His

Judgment in favor of the "Rights of Women," 107. Other important

Points decided by him, 108. Trial of the Rebels at St. Margaret's A Will,

109. Ccionel Townley's Case, 109. An Execution for High Tre~ ɔn,

II. M'Growther's Case, III. The Kinlochs' Case, 112. Sir hn

Wedderburn's Case, 114. Signal Defeat of Chief Justice Lee in a Tial