Edward Hall Alderson
Encyclopedia
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
10 September 1787 – 27 January 1857) was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...
and judge
Judge
A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, and training of judges vary widely across different jurisdictions. The judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and in an open...
whose many judgments on commercial law
Commercial law
Commercial law is the body of law that governs business and commercial transactions...
helped to shape the emerging British capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
of the Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
.
He was a Baron of the Exchequer and so held the honorary title Baron Alderson, in print Alderson, B.
Early life
Born Great YarmouthGreat Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth, often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk, England. It is at the mouth of the River Yare, east of Norwich.It has been a seaside resort since 1760, and is the gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the sea...
, Alderson was the eldest son of Robert (died 1833), a barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
and recorder
Recorder (judge)
A Recorder is a judicial officer in England and Wales. It now refers to two quite different appointments. The ancient Recorderships of England and Wales now form part of a system of Honorary Recorderships which are filled by the most senior full-time circuit judges...
, and Elizabeth née Hurry who died in 1791. Alderson suffered an unstable childhood, variously living with relatives, unhappily attending Charterhouse School
Charterhouse School
Charterhouse School, originally The Hospital of King James and Thomas Sutton in Charterhouse, or more simply Charterhouse or House, is an English collegiate independent boarding school situated at Godalming in Surrey.Founded by Thomas Sutton in London in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian...
but, more positively, being tutored by Edward Maltby
Edward Maltby
Edward Maltby was an English clergyman of the Church of England. He became Bishop of Durham, controversial for his liberal politics, for his slightly naive ecumenism, and for the great personal wealth that he amassed....
. He was an able student of mathematics and classics
Classics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
Gonville and Caius College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college is often referred to simply as "Caius" , after its second founder, John Keys, who fashionably latinised the spelling of his name after studying in Italy.- Outline :Gonville and...
, in 1809 graduating as senior wrangler, Smith's prize
Smith's Prize
The Smith's Prize was the name of each of two prizes awarded annually to two research students in theoretical Physics, mathematics and applied mathematics at the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England.- History :...
man, and Chancellor's Gold Medal
Chancellor's Gold Medal
The Chancellor's Gold Medal is a prestigious annual award at Cambridge University for poetry, paralleling Oxford University's Newdigate prize. It was first presented by Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh during his time as Chancellor of the University of Cambridge...
list. He was consequently elected fellow.
A pupil of Joseph Chitty
Joseph Chitty (the elder)
Joseph Chitty was an English lawyer and legal writer, author of some of the earliest practitioners' texts and founder of an important dynasty of lawyers.-Life and practice:...
, Alderson was called to the bar in 1811 at the Inner Temple
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...
and began work on the northern circuit where he established a substantial practice. He joined with Richard Barnewall
Richard Barnewall
Richard Vaughan Barnewall was an English lawyer and law reporter.He was the fourth son of Robert, a London merchant reputedly descended from fifteenth century Irish chief justice Sir Nicholas Barnewall, and Sophia, daughter of Captain Silvester Barnewall, himself uncle to Robert Barnewall...
as a law report
Law report
Law reports or reporters are series of books that contain judicial opinions from a selection of case law decided by courts. When a particular judicial opinion is referenced, the law report series in which the opinion is printed will determine the case citation format.The term reporter was...
er from 1817 to 1822. On 26 October 1823 he married Georgina Drewe (died 1871) and the couple had many children.
An early indication of his abilities came in 1825 when he was instructed by opponents of the proposed Liverpool and Manchester Railway
Liverpool and Manchester Railway
The Liverpool and Manchester Railway was the world's first inter-city passenger railway in which all the trains were timetabled and were hauled for most of the distance solely by steam locomotives. The line opened on 15 September 1830 and ran between the cities of Liverpool and Manchester in North...
, principally the directors of the Bridgewater
Bridgewater Canal
The Bridgewater Canal connects Runcorn, Manchester and Leigh, in North West England. It was commissioned by Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, to transport coal from his mines in Worsley to Manchester...
and Leeds and Liverpool Canal
Leeds and Liverpool Canal
The Leeds and Liverpool Canal is a canal in Northern England, linking the cities of Leeds and Liverpool. Over a distance of , it crosses the Pennines, and includes 91 locks on the main line...
s, as their counsel in the committee stage of the private bill
Private bill
A private bill is a proposal for a law that would apply to a particular individual or group of individuals, or corporate entity. If enacted, it becomes a private Act . This is unlike public bills which apply to everyone within their jurisdiction...
needed to establish the railway. Alderson was to cross-examine
Cross-examination
In law, cross-examination is the interrogation of a witness called by one's opponent. It is preceded by direct examination and may be followed by a redirect .- Variations by Jurisdiction :In...
George Stephenson
George Stephenson
George Stephenson was an English civil engineer and mechanical engineer who built the first public railway line in the world to use steam locomotives...
on his designs for the railway and the surveys on which they were based. Alderson proved an able advocate and Stephenson a poor witness. Stephenson later confessed, "I was not long in the witness box before I began to wish for a hole to creep out at." Largely owing to Alderson's devastating closing speech, the bill was lost, the railway was delayed for several years and Stephenson's early reputation badly damaged.
Judicial career
However, Alderson sought neither the title of a QCQueen's Counsel
Queen's Counsel , known as King's Counsel during the reign of a male sovereign, are lawyers appointed by letters patent to be one of Her [or His] Majesty's Counsel learned in the law...
nor a seat in Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
. Despite his lack of the outward trappings of ambition, he was appointed to the Common Law Commission in 1828 and a judge of the Court of Common Pleas
Court of Common Pleas (England)
The Court of Common Pleas, or Common Bench, was a common law court in the English legal system that covered "common pleas"; actions between subject and subject, which did not concern the king. Created in the late 12th to early 13th century after splitting from the Exchequer of Pleas, the Common...
in 1830, with the attendant knighthood. He became a "Baron" of the Court of Exchequer
Court of Exchequer
Court of Exchequer may refer to:*Exchequer of Pleas, an ancient English court, that ceased to exist independently in the late nineteenth century...
in 1834 and transferred to the Court of Chancery
Court of Chancery
The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid the slow pace of change and possible harshness of the common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over all matters of equity, including trusts, land law, the administration of the estates of...
in 1841. He was an advocate of the plasticity of the common law
Common law
Common law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
in adapting to the changing times. According to Hedley, he was popular and jocular, a "clever, analytical, and forthright judge, with little patience for those of lesser abilities".
Personality and family
Though, as a criminalCriminal law
Criminal law, is the body of law that relates to crime. It might be defined as the body of rules that defines conduct that is not allowed because it is held to threaten, harm or endanger the safety and welfare of people, and that sets out the punishment to be imposed on people who do not obey...
judge at the assizes
Assizes
Assize or Assizes may refer to:Assize or Assizes may refer to:Assize or Assizes may refer to::;in common law countries :::*assizes , an obsolete judicial inquest...
, he was instrumental in suppressing the Luddites and Chartists, he believed that rehabilitation
Rehabilitation (penology)
Rehabilitation means; To restore to useful life, as through therapy and education or To restore to good condition, operation, or capacity....
was the principal goal of sentencing
Sentence (law)
In law, a sentence forms the final explicit act of a judge-ruled process, and also the symbolic principal act connected to his function. The sentence can generally involve a decree of imprisonment, a fine and/or other punishments against a defendant convicted of a crime...
. He was dubious of the effects of deterrence
Deterrence (legal)
Deterrence is the use of punishment as a threat to deter people from committing a crime. Deterrence is often contrasted with retributivism, which holds that punishment is a necessary consequence of a crime and should be calculated based on the gravity of the wrong done.- Categories :Deterrence can...
and argued for the limitation of capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
, himself seeking to disapply it, by whatever technical means he could creatively devise.
An active member of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
and a close friend of Bishop of London
Bishop of London
The Bishop of London is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 458 km² of 17 boroughs of Greater London north of the River Thames and a small part of the County of Surrey...
Charles James Blomfield
Charles James Blomfield
Charles James Blomfield was a British divine, and a Church of England bishop for 32 years.-Early life:Blomfield was born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk and educated at the local grammar school and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he won the Browne medals for Latin and Greek odes, and the Craven...
, Alderson supported the Gorham judgment which held that the Church was subject to secular law. He was a noted advocate of affirmation
Affirmation in law
In law, an affirmation is a solemn declaration allowed to those who conscientiously object to taking an oath. An affirmation has exactly the same legal effect as an oath, but is usually taken to avoid the religious implications of an oath...
as an alternative to the oath
Oath
An oath is either a statement of fact or a promise calling upon something or someone that the oath maker considers sacred, usually God, as a witness to the binding nature of the promise or the truth of the statement of fact. To swear is to take an oath, to make a solemn vow...
for witnesses but opposed the growing contemporary campaign for secular education. Hedley describes Alderson as a "Conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
... suspicious of the ‘tyranny’ he saw in democracy".
Alderson established homes in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and Lowestoft
Lowestoft
Lowestoft is a town in the English county of Suffolk. The town is on the North Sea coast and is the most easterly point of the United Kingdom. It is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and south-east of Norwich...
where he wrote poetry, in English and Latin, and corresponded with his cousin, novelist Amelia Opie
Amelia Opie
Amelia Opie, née Alderson , was an English author who published numerous novels in the Romantic Period of the early 19th century, through 1828.-Life and work:...
. He was also an enthusiastic and knowledgeable follower of horse racing
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
.
While sitting at Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
assizes in December 1856, he heard of a serious injury to one of his sons and collapsed. He died the following January at his London home from a brain disease. He was buried at St Mary Magdalen's Church, Risby, near Bury St Edmunds.
Alderson's daughter Georgina Charlotte
Georgina Gascoyne-Cecil, Marchioness of Salisbury
Georgina Charlotte Gascoyne-Cecil, Marchioness of Salisbury, VA, CI was the wife of British statesman, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury....
married British statesman
Statesman
A statesman is usually a politician or other notable public figure who has had a long and respected career in politics or government at the national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term...
, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, KG, GCVO, PC , styled Lord Robert Cecil before 1865 and Viscount Cranborne from June 1865 until April 1868, was a British Conservative statesman and thrice Prime Minister, serving for a total of over 13 years...
in 1857. Salisbury's father, James Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury
James Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury
James Brownlow William Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury, KG, PC , styled Viscount Cranborne until 1823, was a British Conservative politician. He held office under the Earl of Derby as Lord Privy Seal in 1852 and Lord President of the Council between 1858 and 1859...
, opposed the marriage owing to Georgina's lack of wealth and social standing.
Cases
- Winterbottom v. WrightWinterbottom v. WrightWinterbottom v Wright 10 M&W 109 was an important case in English common law responsible for constraining the law's stance on negligence in the nineteenth century.-Facts:...
(1842) - Reasserted the traditional doctrine of privity of contractPrivity of contractThe doctrine of privity in the common law of contract provides that a contract cannot confer rights or impose obligations arising under it on any person or agent except the parties to it....
to dismiss a negligenceNegligenceNegligence is a failure to exercise the care that a reasonably prudent person would exercise in like circumstances. The area of tort law known as negligence involves harm caused by carelessness, not intentional harm.According to Jay M...
claim for damagesDamagesIn law, damages is an award, typically of money, to be paid to a person as compensation for loss or injury; grammatically, it is a singular noun, not plural.- Compensatory damages :...
by a pedestrian who was injured by a defective vehicle. - Wood v Peel (1844) - in a trial to determine the winner of the DerbyEpsom DerbyThe Derby Stakes, popularly known as The Derby, internationally as the Epsom Derby, and under its present sponsor as the Investec Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies...
, Alderson ordered that the purported winner Running Rein be produced in court. The horse could not be found and the result of the race was overturned. - R v. Griffin (1853) - Alderson suggested, contrary to precedent but obiter dicta, that the principle of priest-penitent privilegePriest-penitent privilege in the UKThe doctrine of priest–penitent privilege does not appear to apply in English law. The orthodox view is that under the law of England and Wales privileged communication exists only in the context of legal advice obtained from a professional adviser. A statement of the law on priest–penitent...
applied in England. - White v BluettWhite v BluettWhite v Bluett 23 LJ Ex 36 is an English contract law case, concerning the scope of consideration in English law.-Facts:Mr Bluett had lent his son some money. Mr Bluett died. The executor of Mr Bluett's estate was Mr White. He sued the son to pay back the money...
- Hadley v Baxendale (1854) - Defined the scope of contractContractA contract is an agreement entered into by two parties or more with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. Contracts can be made orally. The remedy for breach of contract can be "damages" or compensation of money. In equity, the remedy can be specific...
ual damagesDamagesIn law, damages is an award, typically of money, to be paid to a person as compensation for loss or injury; grammatically, it is a singular noun, not plural.- Compensatory damages :...
in English law. - Blyth v Company Proprietors of the Birmingham Water Works (1856) - Introduced the concept of the reasonable personReasonable personThe reasonable person is a legal fiction of the common law that represents an objective standard against which any individual's conduct can be measured...
in setting judicial standards for the appropriate level of care owed to another.
External links
- The trial of Feargus O'Connor and 58 other Chartists - 1843 - a trial at which Alderson was judge