Erskine, Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron

Erskine, Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron

▪ English lawyer
Introduction
born January 10, 1750, Edinburgh, Scotland
died November 17, 1823, Almondell, Linlithgowshire
 British Whig lawyer (legal profession) who made important contributions to the protection of personal liberties. His defense of various politicians and reformers on charges of treason and related offenses acted to check repressive measures taken by the British government in the aftermath of the French Revolution. He also contributed to the law of criminal responsibility. He was raised to the peerage in 1806.

Early life and career
      Erskine was the youngest son of Henry David Erskine, 10th earl of Buchan. Though he wanted to enter a learned profession, because of the straitened financial circumstances of his family he sought a career in the Royal Navy instead. He became a midshipman in 1764 but left the service in 1768 and purchased a commission in a regiment of the 1st Royals. His unsigned pamphlet, Observations on the Prevailing Abuses in the British Army (1772), gained a wide audience. Finding opportunities for advancement in the British army no more favourable than in the navy and encouraged by the friendly interest of Lord Mansfield, Erskine decided to enter the law. He was admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1775, and in 1778 he received an honorary M.A. degree from Trinity College, Cambridge, after which he was called to the bar.

Professional life
      Within a few months, his future was assured by his defense of Captain Thomas Baillie, lieutenant governor of Greenwich Hospital, who had published charges of corruption in the administration of the hospital. Those accused instituted a proceeding to show cause why Baillie should not be prosecuted for criminal libel. Erskine was retained by Baillie as his junior counsel and in his first appearance at the bar vindicated his client with remarkable eloquence and courage. He very quickly rose to the leading position in the English bar. In the following year, he successfully assisted the defense in the court-martial of Admiral Augustus Keppel. His successful defense of Lord George Gordon (Gordon, Lord George) on the charge of high treason for instigating the anti-Catholic riots of 1780 substantially destroyed the English legal doctrine of constructive treason—i.e., treason imputed to a person from his conduct or course of actions, though none of his separate actions amounts to treason. Erskine appeared in most of the major cases that arose out of the disruption of commercial relations with France, which had entered the American Revolution against Britain in 1778.

      In 1784 Erskine unsuccessfully represented a clergyman defending a charge of criminal libel, but his contention that it is for the jury, not the judge, to determine whether a publication is libelous was vindicated by the passage of the Libel Act of 1792. In 1789 he won an acquittal for a bookseller who was charged with criminal libel for selling a pamphlet criticizing the trial of Warren Hastings, a former governor-general of India who was impeached for alleged misconduct. Erskine's speech on that occasion is one of the monuments in the literature of English freedom. His unsuccessful defense of Thomas Paine (Paine, Thomas), whom William Pitt, the prime minister, had caused to be indicted for treason for publishing The Rights of Man, cost him his position as attorney general to the prince of Wales.

      His defense of various politicians and reformers on charges of treason and related offenses placed a powerful check on the repressive measures taken by the ministry of William Pitt (Pitt, William, The Younger) in response to the insecurity and hysteria engendered in England by the French Revolution and its aftermath. In 1800, by establishing the defendant's insanity, he successfully defended James Hadfield, who had attempted to assassinate George III. Erskine's argument at the trial is an important contribution to the law of criminal responsibility.

      Erskine, who was an intimate of the Whig leaders Charles James Fox and Richard Brinsley Sheridan, sat in the House of Commons from 1783 to 1784 and from 1790 until he became a peer in 1806. His undistinguished parliamentary career was almost wholly devoid of the forensic triumphs that marked his legal practice. In 1806–07 he was lord chancellor during the so-called Ministry of All the Talents. His latter years were marked by private sorrows and misfortunes, which caused him almost completely to withdraw from public affairs. Toward the close of his life, however, he again achieved widespread prominence by his role in defense of Queen Caroline (Caroline of Brunswick-Lüneburg), whom her husband, George IV, had brought to trial before the House of Lords for adultery in order to deprive her of her rights and title.

      Erskine excelled principally as a jury lawyer. His courtroom speeches are characterized by vigour, cogency, and lucidity and often by great literary merit.

Francis A. Allen Ed.

Additional Reading
Lloyd Paul Stryker, For the Defense: Thomas Erskine, the Most Enlightened Liberal of His Times, 1750–1823 (1947), is a modern biography by a well-known American courtroom advocate. John Campbell, Lives of the Lord Chancellors and Keepers of the Great Seal of England, 5th ed., vol. 6 (1868, reissued 1973), presents an interesting and anecdotal account of Erskine's life, although it is marred by some inaccuracies.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Erskine — (10 January,1750 ndash; 17 November 1823), Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom, was the third and youngest son of Henry David Erskine, 10th Earl of Buchan, and was born in Edinburgh. From an early age he showed a strong desire to enter one of… …   Wikipedia

  • Thomas Farrer, 1st Baron Farrer — Thomas Henry Farrer, 1st Baron Farrer (24 June 1819 11 October 1899) was an English civil servant and statistician. Biography Farrer was the son of Thomas Farrer, a solicitor in Lincoln s Inn Fields. Born in London, he was educated at Eton… …   Wikipedia

  • Erskine (of Restormel), Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron — born Jan. 10, 1750, Edinburgh, Scot. died Nov. 17, 1823, Almondell, Linlithgowshire Scottish lawyer. He was the youngest son of Henry David Erskine, 10th Earl of Buchan. After service in the British navy and army, he entered the law, and in 1778… …   Universalium

  • Erskine May, 1st Baron Farnborough — Erskine May redirects here. For the book about British parliamentary procedure, see Erskine May: Parliamentary Practice. This article is about Sir Erskine May, the original author of Erskine May: Parliamentary Practice, who was the first Baron… …   Wikipedia

  • Thomas Farrer, 2nd Baron Farrer — Thomas Cecil Farrer, 2nd Baron Farrer (25 October 1859 12 April 1940) was the second Baron Farrer. He was the eldest son of Thomas Farrer, 1st Baron Farrer and his first wife Frances Erskine. His daughter Katharine Dianthe Farrer married Edward… …   Wikipedia

  • David Erskine, 2nd Baron Erskine — David Montagu Erskine, 2nd Baron Erskine (12 August 1776 – 19 March 1855) was a British diplomat and politician. Contents 1 Background and education 2 Political and diplomatic career 3 Family 4 …   Wikipedia

  • May, Sir Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Farnborough — (1815 1886)    Jurist and historian, ed. at Bedford School, and after holding various minor offices became in 1871 clerk to the House of Commons, retiring in 1886, when he was raised to the peerage. He had previously, 1866, been made K.C.B. He… …   Short biographical dictionary of English literature

  • Erskine, Thomas, 1st Baron Erskine — (1750 1823)    Born in Edinburgh, the youngest son the tenth earl of Buchan, he attended the grammar school at St. Andrews. He served in the Navy under Sir David Lindsay, and in the Army under John, Duke of Argyll. Around 1772 he published an… …   British and Irish poets

  • Erskine (disambiguation) — Erskine (from Erskine, the town in Scotland) can refer to: * Erskine Bridge, over the River Clyde* Erskine, Minnesota * Erskine College, South Carolina * Erskine, Western Australia * Erskine, AlbertaPeople known by the name of Erskine include the …   Wikipedia

  • John Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher — The Lord Fisher of Kilverstone Born 25 January 1841 Ceylon Died …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”