Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden (baptised 21 March 1714 – 18 April 1794) was an English lawyer, judge and Whig politician.
Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden (baptised 21 March 1714 – 18 April 1794) was an English lawyer, judge and Whig politician. As a lawyer and judge he was a leading proponent of civil liberties, championing the rights of the jury, and limiting the powers of the State in leading cases such as Entick v Carrington. He held the offices of Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, Attorney-General and Lord Chancellor, and was a confidant of Pitt the Elder, supporting Pitt in the controversies over John Wilkes and American independence. However, he clung to office himself, even when Pitt was out of power, serving in the cabinet for fifteen years and under five different prime ministers. During his life, Pratt played a leading role in opposing perpetual copyright, resolving the regency crisis of 1788 and in championing Fox's Libel Bill. He started the development of the settlement that was later to become Camden Town in London. Born in Kensington in 1714, he was a descendant of an old Devon family of high standing, the third son of Sir John Pratt, Chief Justice of the King's Bench in the reign of George I. Charles's mother, Elizabeth, was the daughter of Rev. Hugh Lewis of Trefeglwys, and the aunt of landscape painter Richard Wilson. He received his early education at Eton, where he became acquainted with William Pitt, and Kings College, Cambridge. He had already developed an interest in constitutional law and civil liberties. In 1734 he became a fellow of his college, and in the following year obtained his degree of BA. Having adopted his father's profession, he had entered the Middle Temple in 1728, and ten years later he was called to the Bar.
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