The National Register.
London, England, 1816-07-07 00:00:00

,

No. 439.—V0L. IX.

legal Charactero.

I'iUNIBER I.

TIIERE is no statimi in a free country like ours,—of
more importance, true dignity, or permanent utility, than
that of the JUDGES, by whom are administered the laws
of the land, as they arc emphatically styltid, to distinguish
them from the arbitrary and variable decrees of u sole
M on arch .
By the Constitution, the King, who is the fountain of
all honour, dignity, and authority, in the administering
of the law, has vested all his power in the Judges of his
several Courts, and cannot create a new Court without
the authority of Parliament. By an Act of the present
reign, the Judges, who had been made immoveable for
the life of the King, except for just cause, on the ground
of some misdemeanours on their part, were finally ren-
dered independent of the Crown, by being declared to
hold their office for life, provided they conducted them-
selves uprightly, anti were declared not to be removable
on the demise of the Crown. These additional securities
for the purity of justice, and the preservation of our li-
berties, are the fruit and immediate offspring of that
happy revolution by which the House of Brim:wick was
placed on the Throne ; and, during the whole reign of
that family, there has not the least suspicion attached to
the character of any one of our Judges—or that any taint
of corruption has insinuated itself beneath the ermine
robe ofjustiee.
This is a proud and honourable reflection for the pre-
sent age ; anti, at a time, when charges of extravagance
are openly made against the Government ; when Parlia-
ment is accused of containing within its walls a majority—
influenced by the Crown, as Contractors, Officers, Place-
men, Pensioners. and Borough Representatives,—who,
having bought their scats, are suspected of indirectly sell-
ing their votes ; the utmost latitude of malice has scarcely
ventured to impute corruption to one of our Judges. A
remarkable instance of a charge of partiality we shall
hereafter be compelled to notice, only to repel it with
indifriation; but the exception is so rare, and the calumny
so wild and presumptuous, that it serves only to confirm
the truth of our general position.
The law is deemed so plain and open a path to ho-
nour and influence iu the State, that we are persuaded
we cannot, in the present era of peace—when all eyes
are turned upon our domestic situation, do better than
lay before our readers a concise, but clear, authentic, and
we hope just and impartial account of the present BENCII
of icnoES. We are the more induced to do this from the
circumstance, that, within a short time, nearly the whole
number have undergone a change, and three new ay-
' ointments have been made almost at the same time.
In executing this task, we shall fecl great and sincere
plettsure in being enabled to unfold to the world, the
characters of men whom we know to be possessed of
every virtue that can adorn private life, and in public to
have given recent and splendid examples of talents fully
adequate to the arduous situations which they are to Mt
The duty of a Judge in England is indeed no easy task.
The business of the Terms occupies nearly ninety days in
the year; the long Circuits nearly seventy-six, and the
intervals of Vacation arc occasionally tilled up by the ex.
tra business which is done at chambers, and the sitting
on criminal trials at the Ohl Bailey. The learning ab-
solutely necessary to the making of a tolerable appear-
ance upon the Bench in England, is such, that no law-
yer in full practice has attained it much betitre fifty years
of age, and latterly, few have been deemed adequate to
the task who have not parsed that age. With a judg-
ment of competent maturity, It is not always to he ex-
pected that vigorous health should be united after twen-
ty-five or thirty years' service in a laborious profession,
which, during the whole time, Las kept all the faculties
of body and mind in full exertion. Yet such is the
happy dispensation of Providence towards industry and
activity, that we have seldom round bodily imbecility