The Rt. Hon. John Dawson Mayne P.C. (1828-1917) was a British lawyer and legal expert who practised largely in the Madras Presidency

Madras Presidency

The Madras Presidency , officially the Presidency of Fort St. George and also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision of British India...

. He is largely remembered as the author of Mayne's Hindu Law regarded as a classic and the most authoritative book on the subject.

Life

Mayne was born on December 31, 1828 to an Irish lawyer, John Mayne (d.1828) who practised at Dublin, and Anna (Graves) Johnson (1798-1864), widow of Edward Johnson (d.1818) J.P., of Ballymacash, Co. Antrim. Mayne was a member of a distinguished legal family, and a grandson of Judge Edward Mayne

Edward Mayne

The Hon. Edward Mayne was one of the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas and later removed to The Court of the King's Bench....

 and Dean Richard Graves. He was a nephew of Sir Richard Mayne

Richard Mayne

Sir Richard Mayne KCB was a barrister and the joint first Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, the head of the London Metropolitan Police...

, Rev. Thomas Meredith

Thomas Meredith

The Rev. Dr Thomas Meredith D.D., F.T.C.D. was an Anglo-Irish clergyman and mathematician, best remembered for his association with the poet Charles Wolfe, and as the subject of a ghost story related in True Irish Ghost Stories and Memorials to the Dead-Background:Born at Templerany House, Co...

 and Provost Richard MacDonnell

Richard MacDonnell (scholar)

The Rev. Dr Richard MacDonnell LL.D., D.D., S.F.T.C.D. was the Reformist 29th Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, and the projector of Sorrento Terrace, Dalkey, which is today famous for being the most expensive row of houses in Ireland.-Family:...

. He was a first cousin of Admiral Richard Charles Mayne

Richard Charles Mayne

Richard Charles Mayne RN CB FGS MP was a Royal Navy Captain, later Admiral and explorer.Richard Mayne was the son of Sir Richard Mayne KCB and the grandson of Judge Edward Mayne. Both his father and grandfather were graduates of Trinity College, Dublin,. Richard Mayne was educated at Eton...

, Chief Justice Sir William Collis Meredith

William Collis Meredith

The Hon. Sir William Collis Meredith, Kt., Q.C., D.C.L. was Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Quebec.-Early life:...

, Edmund Allen Meredith

Edmund Allen Meredith

Edmund Allen Meredith LL.D., was Under Secretary of State for Canada; a prison reformer, writer, and the third principal of McGill University from 1846 to 1853.-Early life in Ireland:...

, Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell

Richard Graves MacDonnell

Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell KCMG CB was an Anglo-Irish lawyer, judge and colonial governor...

 and Francis Brinkley

Francis Brinkley

Francis Brinkley was an Irish newspaper owner, editor and scholar who resided in Meiji period Japan for over 40 years, where he was the author of numerous books on Japanese culture, art and architecture, and an English-Japanese Dictionary...

. He was the uncle of Lady Ashbourne

Edward Gibson, 1st Baron Ashbourne

Edward Gibson, 1st Baron Ashbourne PC, QC was an Irish lawyer and Lord Chancellor of Ireland.-Background and education:...

 and Lady Bewley

Bewley

Bewley is a surname originating in England around the 13th century. It is said to come from France from the spelling Beaulieu.- Bewleys of Cumberland :Some thousands of families today in the English-speaking world bear the surname of Bewley...

, and his sister married a son of Abraham Colles

Abraham Colles

Abraham Colles was professor of Anatomy, Surgery and Physiology at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Descended from a Worcestershire family, some of whom had sat in Parliament, he was born to William Colles and Mary Anne Bates of Woodbroak, Co. Wexford...

.

He was married twice. He died at his home, Shinfield Park, Berkshire

Berkshire

Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...

, in 1917.

Career in law

Mayne had his initial education in Dublin and graduated in law from Trinity College, Dublin

Trinity College, Dublin

Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...

. He was called to the bar in 1854. Mayne practised in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 from 1854 to 1856 before moving to Madras, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. Mayne practised in Madras from 1857 to 1872 and served as a member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom from 1873 to 1903.

Teaching career

Mayne served as the Professor of law, logic and moral philosophy at the Presidency College, Madras from 1857 throughout the 1860s. He also served as Assistant Legal Secretary to the Madras government from 1860 to 1872 and as a Clerk of the Crown during the 1860s. Mayne acted as the Advocate-General of Madras from 1862 to 1872.

Mayne returned to the United Kingdom in 1872 and served as a professor of Common Law at the Inns of Court from 1879 to 1883.