The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-11-10


His Majesty's High Court of Justice in
the Kings bench Division.
Lord BRAMPToN, better known under
the name of Sir HENRY HAWKINS. the
title which he bore before his elevation
90 the peerage, vas the most distin-
guished criminal Judge Of his time in
England. His distinction at the bar was
achieved principally in the celebrated
ease of the Tichborne claimant, in which
his skill as a C-ross-examiner attracted
the attention Of the legal profession all
over the world. Another of his great
cases was that in which he succeeded in
proving the contents of the lost will Of
Lord ST. LEONARDs, at ms time Lord
Chancellor of England. Lord ST. LEON
ARDS was of the most eminent equity
lawyers of his day and an authority on
the law of real estate. He made a very
complicated will. mainly relating to
lands, but after his death the instrument
could not be found. It's contents were
proved by means Of the oral testimony
of the ~testator's daughter, Miss SUGDEN,
a woman Of marked legal ability, who
had frequently assisted her father in his
studies and had aided him in the prepara-
ton of a celebrated treatise on a branch
of the law of real property. Mr.. HAw-
KINs was counsel for the parties who
sought TO prove the will and wal SUCCESS
ful. In 1879, when his income at the bar
had become slOO,OOO a year, he was pro-
NOTED 10 the bench, and from that time
until his retirement, in 1898, he was OccJl-
pied largely in the trial of criminal cases
and generally known throughout Eng
land as the terror Of evildOers.
We have spoken Of Sir HENRY HAw-
KINs in connection with the appointment
Of the present Lord CoLERIDGE to the
bench because of the intimate profess
siOnal relations which existed between
him and the father Of the new Judge, who
was Sir JOHN DUKE COLERIDGE, after
ward the first Lord COLERIDGE, Chief
Justice Of England. Sir JOHN DUKE
COLERIDGE WAS associated with Sir
HENRY HAWKINS in the trial of tho
Tichborne cases: and in that litigation no
also obtained the prominence which led
to his elevation to the BENCH first as
| Chief Justice Of the Court Of Common
Pleas and subsequently Is Lord Chief
Justice OF England. The grandfather Of
the new Judge, Sir JOHN TAYLOR COLE
RIDGE. was also on the bench, having
been appointed Recorder Of Exeter in
1882 and a Justice Of the Court Of Kings
Bench in 1888. In the biography Of his
father IL is stated that the late master
of BallioI, BENJAMIN JOwETT, the great
classical teacher at Oxford, used to say
that there were as many Coleridges as
there were HerOds and that il was i'm
possible to remember how they were
related TO each other. This much is
plain, however: the new Judge, BERNARD
JOHN SEYMOUR COLERIDGE who is the
second Lord CoLERIDGE) is the son Of
JOHN DUKE CoLERIDGE who was the
first Lord CoLERIDGE), Lord Chief jus
tice Of England, and the grandson Of Sir
JOHN TAYLOR CoLERIDGE, who was a
Justice Of the Court of Kings Bench and
a nephew Of SAMUEL TAYLOR CoLERIDGE
the poet.
The new Judge was born in 1851, was
educated at Eton and Trinity College,
Oxford, and was called TO the bar in 1877.
He was one of the representatives of
Sheffield in Parliament from 1885 to 1894
when he succeeded his father in the
peerage. He has long enjoyed a fairly
lucrative practice and has frequently
been appointed 10 hold trial terms of
court as a commissioner of assize. Al
the last session of Parliament the King
was authorized to appoint an additional
Judge Of the High Court, and il was
generally expected that Lord CoLsRIDdE
would be appointed. Mr.. LABoUCHERE
says in London Truth that he is well
known as a clever man and good lawyer.
IT. is commonly assumed that heredi-
tary capacity for judicial Office is more
frequently manifested and recognized in
England than in this country, bun there
are many instances Of such recognition
even in the State Of New York. Thus
in this city w have on the Appellate
Division Of the Supreme Court as one oil
its ablest members GEORGE L. INGRAHAM,
a son of DANIEL p. INGRAHAM, formerly
presiding Justice Of the New York General
Term. In the Second Judicial Distric'
Judge CHARLES +. Brown, who retired
from the bench in 1896 TO acquire a high
position at the bar in this city after hav-
ing served as a Justice Of the Supreme
Court and an Associate Judge OF the
Court Of Appeals and as a Presiding JUS
tice Of the Appellate Division in Brooklyn,
is a son Of the late JOHN W. Brown Of
Newburgh, who in his time was a distin-
guished Justice Of the Supreme Court
and member Of the Court Of Appeals.
In the Third Judicial Department the
Presiding Justice Of the Appellate DiVi-
sion, WALTER LLOYD SMITH, is a son Oi
the late H. BoARDMAN SMITH, who wac
elected to the Supreme Court in the Sixth
Judicial District in 1888. His predecessor
as Presiding Justice of the Albany Appel
late Division, CHARLES f. PARKER, was
a son Of the late JOHN M. PARKER, for
merly a member OF the General Term OF
the Supreme Court in the same part OF
the State. The father Of the late WILL
lam RUMsEY, long a Justice OF the Appel
late Division in this city, was himself q