Edward Law 1st Baron Ellenborough PC KC 1750 1818 English judge Member of Parliament Attorney General Lord Chief Justice Judge
Edward Law, 1st Baron Ellenborough PC KC (16 November 1750 – 13 December 1818) was an English judge. After serving as a Member of Parliament and Attorney General, he became Lord Chief Justice. After spending five years as a special pleader under the bar, he was called to the bar in 1780. He chose the northern circuit, and in a very short time obtained a lucrative practice and a high reputation. In 1787 he was appointed principal counsel for Warren Hastings in the celebrated impeachment trial before the House of Lords, and the ability with which he conducted the defence was universally recognized. He had begun his political career as a Whig, but, like many others, he saw in the French Revolution a reason for changing sides, and became a supporter of Pitt. On the formation of the Addington ministry in 1801, he was appointed Attorney General and shortly afterwards was returned to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament for Newtown in the Isle of Wight. He was knighted in the same year. In 1802 he succeeded Lord Kenyon as chief justice of the king's bench. On being raised to the bench he was created Baron Ellenborough, of Ellenborough, in the County in Cumberland, taken from the village where his maternal ancestors had long held a small patrimony. In 1803, he introduced a bill to Parliament which went onto become the Malicious Shooting or Stabbing Act 1803 (often referred to as Lord Ellenborough's Act) which clarified the law on abortion in England and Ireland. In 1806, on the formation of Lord Grenville's ministry "of all the talents," Lord Ellenborough declined the offer of the office of Lord Chancellor, but accepted a seat in the cabinet. His doing so while he retained the chief justiceship was much criticized at the time, and, though not without precedent, was open to such obvious objections on constitutional grounds that the experiment was never repeated.
Size: 2990px × 4502px
Photo credit: © SOTK2011 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
Model Released: No
Keywords: -fashioned, 1750, 1800, 1818, 19th, 1st, 2d, academic, age, aged, ancient, antiquarian, antique, antiquity, art, artist, artistic, baron, black, book, bw, bygone, century, charcoal, classical, copy, cut, cut-, drawing, edward, ellenborough, embossed, empire, engrave, engraved, engraver, engraving, etching, expression, face, figure, fine, formal, front, frontispiece, graphic, hand, head, heritage, historic, historical, history, illustrated, illustration, image, imperial, ink, kc, law, majesty, master, monotone, mood, national, neoclassical, nineteenth, notable, obscure, obsolete, oils, olden, original, painting, paper, pastel, pc, pen, pencil, period, person, personality, pictorial, picture, portrait, portraits, pose, pre, press, print, printed, printing, profile, proof, publication, publicity, rare, real, realism, realistic, reference, regal, relief, replica, represent, representation, repro, reproduce, reproduction, retro, romantic, snapshot, social, standard, steel, studio, study, style, teach, time, title, tool, topic, topical, tract, unusual, victoria, victorian, view, vintage, watercolor, white
