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WESTBURY, RICHARD BETHELL, 1ST BARON ...

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 536 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WESTBURY, See also:RICHARD BETHELL, 1ST See also:BARON (1800-1873) , See also:lord See also:chancellor of See also:Great See also:Britain, was the son of Dr Richard Bethell, and was See also:born at See also:Bradford, Wilts. Taking a high degree at See also:Oxford in 1818, he was elected a See also:fellow of Wadham See also:College. In 1823 he was called to the See also:bar at the See also:Middle See also:Temple. On attaining the dignity of See also:queen's counsel in 184o he rapidly took the foremost See also:place at the See also:Chancery bar and was appointed See also:vice-chancellor of the See also:county See also:palatine of See also:Lancaster in 1851. His most important public service was the reform of the then existing mode of legal See also:education, a reform which ensured that students before See also:call to the bar should have at least some acquaintance with the elements of the subject which they were to profess. In 1851 he obtained a seat in the See also:House of See also:Commons, where he continued to sit, first as member for See also:Aylesbury, then as member for See also:Wolverhampton, until he was raised to the See also:peerage. Attaching himself to the liberals, he became See also:solicitor-See also:general in 1852 and See also:attorney-general in 1856 and again in 1859. On See also:June 26, 1861, on the See also:death of Lord See also:Campbell, he was created lord high chancellor of Great Britain, with the See also:title of Baron Westbury of Westbury, county Wilts. The ambition of his See also:life was to set on See also:foot the compilation of a See also:digest of the whole See also:law, but for various reasons this became impracticable. The conclusion of his See also:tenure of the chancellorship was unfortunately marked by events which,although they did not render See also:personal corruption imputable to him, made it evident that he had acted with some laxity and want of caution. Owing to the reception by See also:parliament of reports of committees nominated to consider the circumstances of certain appointments in the See also:Leeds See also:Bankruptcy See also:Court, as well as the granting a See also:pension to a Mr Leonard See also:Edmunds, a clerk in the patent See also:office, and a clerk of the parliaments, the lord chancellor See also:felt it See also:incumbent upon him to resign his office, which he accordingly did on the 5th of See also:July 1865, and was succeeded by Lord See also:Cranworth. After his resignation he continued to take See also:part in the judicial sittings of the House of Lords and the privy See also:council until his death.

In 1872 he was appointed arbitrator under the See also:

European Assurance Society See also:Act 1872, and his judgments in that capacity have been collected and published by Mr F. S. Reilly. As a writer on law he made no See also:mark, and few of his decisions take the highest judicial See also:rank. Perhaps the best known is the See also:judgment delivering the See also:opinion of the judicial See also:committee of the privy council in 1863 against the heretical See also:character of certain extracts from the well-known publication Essays and Reviews. His See also:principal legislative achievements were the passing of the See also:Divorce Act 1857, and of the See also:Land Registry Act 1862 (generally known as Lord Westbury's Act), the latter of which in practice proved a failure. What chiefly distinguished Lord Westbury was the See also:possession of a certain sarcastic See also:humour; and numerous are the stories, See also:authentic and apocryphal, of its exercise. In fact, he and Mr See also:Justice See also:Maule fill a position analogous to that of See also:Sydney See also:Smith, convenient names to whom " See also:good things " may be attributed. Lord Westbury died on the loth of July 1873, within a See also:day of the death of See also:Bishop See also:Wilberforce, his See also:special antagonist in debate. See Life of Lord Westbury by T. A. See also:Nash.

End of Article: WESTBURY, RICHARD BETHELL, 1ST BARON (1800-1873)

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