John Campbell, 1st Baron Campbell

John Campbell, 1st Baron Campbell

John Campbell, 1st Baron Campbell , PC (born September 17, 1779 in Cupar , † June 24, 1861 in London ) was a British politician and lawyer.

Life

Campbell was the second son of Pastor George Campbell and studied at the University of St Andrews . In 1806 he was appointed attorney in Lincoln's Inn , one of the four bar associations in London, was appointed. In 1827 he was appointed Crown Attorney .

Campbell became a member of the House of Commons in 1830 and remained so until 1841. During this time he was temporarily Solictor General and Attorney General. He also introduced various laws to modernize British law, particularly inheritance law , into the parliamentary process.

In June of 1841 he was raised to hereditary nobility as Baron Campbell , of St Andrews in the County of Fife , and was briefly Lord Chancellor of Ireland . From March 5, 1850 to June 24, 1859 he was Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales . In the same year he was appointed Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom in the Palmerston government. He held this office until his death in 1861.

In the mid-1840s, parliament saw the need to adequately compensate victims of rail accidents , which common law did not do well at the time. John Campbell introduced the corresponding bill , which then led to the Fatal Accidents Act 1846 , also known as the Lord Campbell's Act .

In addition to his legal and political work, Campbell was also active as a writer. He published two multi-volume works on the lives of the Lord Chancellors and the Chief Justices of England.

family

Lord Campbell married Mary Elizabeth, daughter of James Scarlett, 1st Baron Abinger , in 1821 . This was raised in 1836 in recognition of her husband's services to Baroness Stratheden , of Cupar in the County of Fife. The couple had three sons and four daughters. Heir to both titles was the eldest son William .

Web links

Sir John Campbell at Hansard (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Oliver Joseph Burke (1879) The History of the Lord Chancellors of Ireland ; E. Ponsonby, Dublin.
2. ^ W. Cornish and G. Clarke: Law and Society in England 1750-1950 . London 1989. ISBN 0-421-31150-9 , pp. 503f; RW Kostal: Law and English Railway Capitalism, 1825-1875 . Clarendon Press 1994. ISBN 019825671X , pp. 289f.

predecessor	Office	successor
New title created	Baron Campbell 1841-1861	William Campbell
Edward Sugden	Lord Chancellor of Ireland 1841	Maziere Brady