The Sun.
London, England, 1856-11-03 00:00:00

DEATH OF SIR JOHN JERVIS.

We regret to announce the death of Sir John Jervis,
Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. This me-
lancholy event took place, as we are informed, on Satur-
day night, and, we believe, had been foreseen for sows
time, though so speedy a termination to the disease with
which Sir John Jervis was affected was not expected.
That disease had latterly assumed the form of atrophy,
itself merely the result of a long period of delicate health,
by which a constitution naturally robust was gradually
impaired and undermined.
Before his elevation to the Chief .Tusticeship, an event
whish took place in the year 1850, the Into Sir John
Jervis was distinguished inure for his general ability,—
for his quickness and dexterity as an advecata, than for
any special knowledge of the Is wor profoun l acq t•
ante with origin arid principlee. He was no L:ack-
letter lawyer, perhaps, but he was a most shrewd and
ready counsel; and Ws,. quality, which he possessed in a
pre-eminent degree, and the want of which has con-
demned many a profound blacL•letter lawyer to vegetate
s
unseen—a legal cactus—in Stone-
i nildinge or Figtree-
court, procured for Sir John Jervis riot only a large
share of professional emolument, but ultinistely raised
!inn to one of the highest stations on the bench,
It may not, perhaps, be generally known that the late
Chief Justice served for some time in the army before
trying his fortune at the bar. Being induced, we know I
not from what cause, to cbanee his professior, he was
called to the bar in the year 1821, went the Oxford and
Chester circuits, and soon attracted attention by his
ability. Becoming a Queen's Counsel, and his reputation
still te, ntinuieg, he was raised to the dignity of Attorney-
General in the year 1816, an office which he filled with
great capacity in a very trying time, as our readers will
remember when we remind them that Sir John Jervis
was Attorney General in the year 1843, and that he suc-
ceeded, without a single exception, in convincing those
misguided political offenders who then attempted to dis-
turb the public peace. In 1850 he was raised to the Chief
Justiceship of the Common Pleas, in succession to Lord
Truro, who was raised to the Chancellorship. It was
feared by many that en advocate by some thought un-
scrupulous, and, at any rate, distinguished by dexterity
rather than profundity, might not have worn the ermine
of the bench with becoming gravity and impartiality.
This fear, we are bound to say, proved entirely without
futztelation. The common s !nse which Sir J. Jervis pop
sassed in addition to his great professional experience
kept him clear of all judicial blunders, and in criminal
matters, which form so large a portion of judicial duties,
an abler judge in all probability never sat on the bench.
His sagacity and acuteness here found a fitting field, and
his dexterity and sound practical sense stood him in
good stead, whether in detecting crime or in exposing
the fallacies put forward by counsel. In his purely legal
decisions he showed the same qualities, and we believe
we only utter the opinion of that profession which this
day meets together after the long vacation in Weßtmin-
ster-liall when we say that in all respects the late ,Sir J.
Jervis was an excellent judge.
In politics we need hardly say that the late Chief joa-
tice was a Liberal. He sat for Chester from 1832 to 1850,
and invariably voted with his party, except on one or
two occasions about the year 1836, when he thought him-
self ill-eyed by the Government, who refused him, as we
have heard, an Indian judgeship. In this, as in so much
else in life, what seems to a man injustice is often good
fortune in an unkind shape. His health would not pro-
bably have withstood the change to a tropical climate,
and certainly, had he quitted England for a seat on
the Indian bench, he would never have lived to rise to
be one of the chief judicial dignitaries of the mother
country. An Indian Judgeship is, no doubt, a high
dignity, but is also a high "shelf," and when a man
has been .on a high shelf for 20 years in a tropcal cli-
mate he may be fit for many things, but he is off the
rail of promotion which runs through Westminster hall,
and can hardly expect to rise to the Chief Justiceship of
the Common Pleas. It is expected that, as is customary
in such cases, the vacant judgeship will be offered to Sir
Alexander Cockburn, her Majesty's Attorney-General.

RESIGNATION OF MR. BARON PLATT.

We are informed that Mr. Baron Platt has resigned
his Feat as a Baron of the Exchequer. Mr. Watson,
Q,.0., is spoken of as likely to become the new judge.