Colin Blackburn, Baron Blackburn

Colin Blackburn, Baron Blackburn

Baron Blackburn in a cartoon in Vanity Fair magazine dated November 19, 1881

Colin Blackburn PC (* 18th May 1813 in Selkirkshire , † 8. January 1896 in Ayrshire ) was a British lawyer who most recently as one of the first two Lord of Appeal in Ordinary , due to the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 as a Life Peer and Was a member of the House of Lords .

Life

Studies, Lord Judge and Member of the House of Lords

After visiting the Edinburgh Academy and the Eton College studied Blackburn mathematics at Trinity College of Cambridge University and graduated in 1835 from. Blackburn then completed a law degree and was admitted to the bar ( Inns of Court ) of Inner Temple in 1838 . He then worked as a barrister for more than twenty years .

In 1859 he changed to the judge's service as a judge of the Chamber for Civil Matters ( Queen's Bench Division ) at the High Court of Justice responsible for England and Wales and held this judge's office until 1876. At the same time he was promoted to a Knight Bachelor in 1860 and since then has had the suffix “Sir ".

Last Blackburn was a Letters Patent of 16 October 1876 due to the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 as a life peer with the title Baron Blackburn , of Killearn in the County of Stirling for a member of the House of Lords in the nobility called and worked until 1886 as a Lord Judge ( Lord of Appeal in Ordinary ). He was one of the first two lord judges alongside Edward Gordon, Baron Gordon of Drumearn, to become members of the House of Lords on the basis of the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876. In 1876 he was also Privy Councilor .

His younger brother was the mathematician Hugh Blackburn , who for thirty years, the professor at the Department of Mathematics at the University of Glasgow held.

Significant judgments as Lord Judge

During his tenure as Lord Judge, he participated in a number of decisions such as:

• Brogden v Metropolitan Railway Company (1877): In this procedure from English contract law it was decided that a contract can also be accepted through the behavior of the parties. In addition to Lord Chancellor Hugh Cairns, 1st Earl Cairns , the former Lord Chancellors Roundell Palmer, 1st Earl of Selborne , William Page Wood, 1st Baron Hatherley and Baron Gordon of Drumearn also contributed to this decision .
• Hughes v Metropolitan Railway Co (1877): In this procedure, a decision was made for the first time on the forfeiture ( Estoppel ) of a promissory note . The judgment unfolded its effect over many years and was only renewed by the Central London Property Trust Ltd v High Trees House Ltd proceedings (1947).
• Erlanger v New Sombrero Phosphate Co (1878): it was also about questions regarding In this process, from the Contract Law Corporate Law ( Company Law ). It dealt with resigning for fraud and how the impossibility of redress can be an opportunity to resign. It is also an important example of how representatives of a company are in a fiduciary relationship ( fiduciarity ) with customers and subscribers. Lord Blackburn represented the majority opinion in these proceedings.
• Speight v Gaunt (1884): This procedure from English trust law dealt with the issue of fiduciary duty of care .
• Foakes v Beer : In these proceedings from contract law, the question was investigated whether a creditor's promise not to claim a remaining amount is effective or whether it isvoiddue to lack of consideration and the full amount can be demanded despite the promise. The House of Lords, confirming the rule from Pinnel's case , decided that such a promise is ineffective and the balance may be claimed. Lord Blackburn initially wanted to give a special vote, but ultimately agreed with the majority opinion. Nevertheless, his judgment is marked by clear and much-cited criticism of the decision.

Web links

• Colin Blackburn at Hansard (English)
• Entry in Cracroft's Peerage
• Entry in Leigh Rayment Peerage
• Lords of Appeal in Ordinary 1876-2009 in Peerages