Richard Aston
Encyclopedia
Sir Richard Aston was an English judge.
Aston was a younger son of Richard Aston, Esq
., of Wadley, Berkshire
, grandson of Sir Willoughby Aston, Bart
., and great-grandson of Sir Thomas Aston
, the first of the Aston Baronets
. The Astons derived their name from Aston in Cheshire
, where the family had been settled since the time of Henry II
. His mother, Elizabeth, was a daughter of John Warren, Esq., of Oxfordshire
.
It is not known at what date Richard Aston began practice as a barrister. His name appears with tolerable frequency in the first volume of Sir James Burrow
's Reports of Cases in the King's Bench (1756-8), but seldom in connection with cases of first-rate importance. He became king's counsel in 1759, and in 1761 was made lord chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas
in Ireland
, on the resignation of Sir William Yorke
. In this office he seems to have displayed considerable energy. Discovering that it was the practice of grand juries in that country to find bills of indictment upon the mere perusal of depositions without examining any witnesses, he set himself to reform so scandalous an abuse. He failed, however, to carry his colleagues with him, only two out of nine disapproving of the practice, which remained unaltered until 1816, when a bill making the examination of witnesses obligatory was introduced into the House of Commons
by Horner and passed into law. Few English judges have been popular in Ireland, and Aston was not one of the few. Accordingly, on the resignation of Sir Thomas Denison, one of the judges of the King's Bench
in England, which happened in 1765, he resigned his Irish post, and was transferred to the English court and knighted.
In 1768 Aston was a member of the court presided over by Lord Mansfield
, which unanimously decided that the writ of outlawry issued against John Wilkes
upon his conviction for publishing two seditious libels in No. 45 of the 'North Briton' and in the 'Essay on Woman', was bad by reason of two formal defects. Wilkes, who had kept out of the country until the writ was issued, voluntarily surrendered himself to the sheriff
of Middlesex
before the execution of it, and then appeared before the court upon a writ of error, claiming to have the writ of outlawry declared invalid upon certain technical grounds. The judges disallowed all the objections urged by the counsel for Wilkes, but the result of a careful examination of precedents conducted by the junior members of the court (Yates, Aston, and Willes) was to show that in the days when the writ of outlawry (capias utlagatum) was in common use 'a series of judgments required that … after the words "at my county court" should be added the name of the county, and after the word "held" should be added "for the county of —" (naming it).' The writ being faulty in these respects, the court held that it was invalid. A decision based upon a ground so purely technical, overlooked by the counsel for the applicant, and only discovered by the judges after careful research, excited in the minds of those hostile to Wilkes suspicions of corrupt motives, and a report was circulated to the effect that the judges, or at any rate Willes and Aston, had been bribed by a gift of lottery tickets, that Aston had been seen selling them on 'Change, and had remarked that he had as good a right to sell his tickets as his brother Willes. In 1770, on the sudden death of Charles Yorke
, which occurred on 20 January, immediately after his acceptance of the office of lord chancellor
in succession to Lord Camden
, the Rockingham
administration, being unable to find any lawyer of ability and character to succeed him, determined to put the great seal in commission; and Sir Sidney Stafford Smythe of the Exchequer, Sir Richard Aston of the King's Bench, and the Hon. Henry Bathurst
of the Common Pleas, were selected as commissioners. These three judges, having had no experience of chancery business, in the space of a year (1770-1) committed so many blunders that a change was plainly necessary. Accordingly, on 21 January 1771, the three commissioners delivered up the great seal, and on the same day it was redelivered to one of them, the Hon. Henry Bathurst. It was by Aston, sitting with Lord Mansfield in the court of King's Bench at Westminster, that in 1777 sentence of fine and imprisonment was passed upon John Horne (afterwards John Horne Tooke
) for a seditious libel in advertising a subscription in relief 'of the widows, orphans, and aged parents of our beloved American fellow subjects, who, faithful to the character of Englishmen, and preferring death to slavery, were, for that reason only, inhumanly murdered by the king's troops at or near Lexington and Concord
in the province of Massachusetts.' Aston was married twice, first to a Miss Eldred, and then to Rebecca, daughter of Dr. Rowland, a physician of Aylesbury, and widow of Sir David Williams, Bart., of Rose Hall, Hertfordshire
. He is said to have been brusque in his manners. He died in 1778, leaving no issue by either of his wives.
Aston was a younger son of Richard Aston, Esq
Esquire
Esquire is a term of West European origin . Depending on the country, the term has different meanings...
., of Wadley, 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...
, grandson of Sir Willoughby Aston, Bart
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
., and great-grandson of Sir Thomas Aston
Sir Thomas Aston, 1st Baronet
Sir Thomas Aston, 1st Baronet was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1640. He fought for the Royalist cause in the English Civil War.-Background:...
, the first of the Aston Baronets
Aston Baronets
There have been two Baronetcies created in the Baronetage of England for people with the surname Aston. Both are extinct.The Aston Baronetcy, of Tixall in the County of Staffordshire was created on 22 May 1611 for Walter Aston of Tixall Hall...
. The Astons derived their name from Aston in Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, where the family had been settled since the time of Henry II
Henry II of England
Henry II ruled as King of England , Count of Anjou, Count of Maine, Duke of Normandy, Duke of Aquitaine, Duke of Gascony, Count of Nantes, Lord of Ireland and, at various times, controlled parts of Wales, Scotland and western France. Henry, the great-grandson of William the Conqueror, was the...
. His mother, Elizabeth, was a daughter of John Warren, Esq., of Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
.
It is not known at what date Richard Aston began practice as a barrister. His name appears with tolerable frequency in the first volume of Sir James Burrow
James Burrow
Sir James Burrow, FRS, FSA , was a Legal Reporter at Inner Temple, London, and was Vice President and twice briefly President of the Royal Society. He was knighted in 1773....
's Reports of Cases in the King's Bench (1756-8), but seldom in connection with cases of first-rate importance. He became king's counsel in 1759, and in 1761 was made lord chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas
Court of Common Pleas (Ireland)
The Court of Common Pleas was one of the senior courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror image of the equivalent court in England...
in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, on the resignation of Sir William Yorke
William Yorke
William Yorke was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons in two periods between 1654 and 1666....
. In this office he seems to have displayed considerable energy. Discovering that it was the practice of grand juries in that country to find bills of indictment upon the mere perusal of depositions without examining any witnesses, he set himself to reform so scandalous an abuse. He failed, however, to carry his colleagues with him, only two out of nine disapproving of the practice, which remained unaltered until 1816, when a bill making the examination of witnesses obligatory was introduced into the House of Commons
House of Commons of Great Britain
The House of Commons of Great Britain was the lower house of the Parliament of Great Britain between 1707 and 1801. In 1707, as a result of the Acts of Union of that year, it replaced the House of Commons of England and the third estate of the Parliament of Scotland, as one of the most significant...
by Horner and passed into law. Few English judges have been popular in Ireland, and Aston was not one of the few. Accordingly, on the resignation of Sir Thomas Denison, one of the judges of the King's Bench
King's Bench
The Queen's Bench is the superior court in a number of jurisdictions within some of the Commonwealth realms...
in England, which happened in 1765, he resigned his Irish post, and was transferred to the English court and knighted.
In 1768 Aston was a member of the court presided over by Lord Mansfield
William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield
William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, SL, PC was a British barrister, politician and judge noted for his reform of English law. Born to Scottish nobility, he was educated in Perth, Scotland before moving to London at the age of 13 to take up a place at Westminster School...
, which unanimously decided that the writ of outlawry issued against John Wilkes
John Wilkes
John Wilkes was an English radical, journalist and politician.He was first elected Member of Parliament in 1757. In the Middlesex election dispute, he fought for the right of voters—rather than the House of Commons—to determine their representatives...
upon his conviction for publishing two seditious libels in No. 45 of the 'North Briton' and in the 'Essay on Woman', was bad by reason of two formal defects. Wilkes, who had kept out of the country until the writ was issued, voluntarily surrendered himself to the sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
of Middlesex
Middlesex
Middlesex is one of the historic counties of England and the second smallest by area. The low-lying county contained the wealthy and politically independent City of London on its southern boundary and was dominated by it from a very early time...
before the execution of it, and then appeared before the court upon a writ of error, claiming to have the writ of outlawry declared invalid upon certain technical grounds. The judges disallowed all the objections urged by the counsel for Wilkes, but the result of a careful examination of precedents conducted by the junior members of the court (Yates, Aston, and Willes) was to show that in the days when the writ of outlawry (capias utlagatum) was in common use 'a series of judgments required that … after the words "at my county court" should be added the name of the county, and after the word "held" should be added "for the county of —" (naming it).' The writ being faulty in these respects, the court held that it was invalid. A decision based upon a ground so purely technical, overlooked by the counsel for the applicant, and only discovered by the judges after careful research, excited in the minds of those hostile to Wilkes suspicions of corrupt motives, and a report was circulated to the effect that the judges, or at any rate Willes and Aston, had been bribed by a gift of lottery tickets, that Aston had been seen selling them on 'Change, and had remarked that he had as good a right to sell his tickets as his brother Willes. In 1770, on the sudden death of Charles Yorke
Charles Yorke
Charles Yorke was Lord Chancellor of Great Britain.-Life:The second son of Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, he was born in London, and was educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. His literary abilities were shown at an early age by his collaboration with his brother Philip in the...
, which occurred on 20 January, immediately after his acceptance of the office of lord chancellor
Lord Chancellor
The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor, is a senior and important functionary in the government of the United Kingdom. He is the second highest ranking of the Great Officers of State, ranking only after the Lord High Steward. The Lord Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign...
in succession to Lord Camden
Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden
Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden was an English lawyer, judge and Whig politician who was first to hold the title of Earl of Camden...
, the Rockingham
Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham
Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, KG, PC , styled The Hon. Charles Watson-Wentworth before 1733, Viscount Higham between 1733 and 1746, Earl of Malton between 1746 and 1750 and The Earl Malton in 1750, was a British Whig statesman, most notable for his two terms as Prime...
administration, being unable to find any lawyer of ability and character to succeed him, determined to put the great seal in commission; and Sir Sidney Stafford Smythe of the Exchequer, Sir Richard Aston of the King's Bench, and the Hon. Henry Bathurst
Henry Bathurst, 2nd Earl Bathurst
Henry Bathurst, 2nd Earl Bathurst PC, KC , known as the Lord Apsley from 1771 to 1775, was a British lawyer and politician. He was Lord Chancellor of Great Britain from 1771 to 1778.-Background and education:...
of the Common Pleas, were selected as commissioners. These three judges, having had no experience of chancery business, in the space of a year (1770-1) committed so many blunders that a change was plainly necessary. Accordingly, on 21 January 1771, the three commissioners delivered up the great seal, and on the same day it was redelivered to one of them, the Hon. Henry Bathurst. It was by Aston, sitting with Lord Mansfield in the court of King's Bench at Westminster, that in 1777 sentence of fine and imprisonment was passed upon John Horne (afterwards John Horne Tooke
John Horne Tooke
John Horne Tooke was an English politician and philologist.-Early life and work:He was born in Newport Street, Long Acre, Westminster, the third son of John Horne, a poulterer in Newport Market. As a youth at Eton College, Tooke described his father to friends as a "turkey merchant"...
) for a seditious libel in advertising a subscription in relief 'of the widows, orphans, and aged parents of our beloved American fellow subjects, who, faithful to the character of Englishmen, and preferring death to slavery, were, for that reason only, inhumanly murdered by the king's troops at or near Lexington and Concord
Battles of Lexington and Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. They were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy , and Cambridge, near Boston...
in the province of Massachusetts.' Aston was married twice, first to a Miss Eldred, and then to Rebecca, daughter of Dr. Rowland, a physician of Aylesbury, and widow of Sir David Williams, Bart., of Rose Hall, Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
. He is said to have been brusque in his manners. He died in 1778, leaving no issue by either of his wives.
Further reading
- Burke's Extinct Baronetage, 23, 569;
- Wotton's Baronetage
- Cal. of Home Office Papers, 1766-9, 1770-2
- Hansard, xxxii. 548, 552
- Horner's Life, Letter from Horner to Murray upon the Irish Jury Bill
- Smyth's Law Officers of Ireland, 311
- Law and Lawyers (reputed author James Grant), ii. 140
- Burrow's Settlement Cases, 533; Burrow's Reports, iv. 2527
- Howell's State Trials, xix. 1085, 1098, 1109, 1116, xx. 787
- Cr. Off. Min. B. No. 2, fol. 16; Annual Reg. xiii. 186.