John Campbell, 1st Baron Campbell

John Campbell, 1st Baron Campbell,

Campbell took advantage of being in London to attend a session of the House of Commons, hearing William Wilberforce speak against slavery, followed by Charles James Fox and William Pitt. He describes it vividly in his memoirs forty years later, concluding, "After hearing this debate, I could no longer have been content with being 'Moderator of the General Assembly [of the Church of Scotland]'.".^[3]

In 1800 Campbell was entered as a student at

Legal and political career

Campbell at once began to report cases decided at nisi prius (i.e. on jury trial). Of these reports he published four volumes; they extend from

To this end his name is associated with the Fines and Recoveries Abolition Act 1833; the Inheritance Act 1833; the Dower Act 1833; the Real Property Limitation Act 1833; the Wills Act 1837; the Copyhold Tenure Act 1841; and the Judgments Act 1838. The second was called for by the preference which the common law gave to a distant collateral over the brother of the half-blood of the first purchaser; the fourth conferred an indefeasible title on adverse possession for twenty years (a term shortened by Lord Cairns in 1875 to twelve years); the fifth reduced the number of witnesses required by law to attest wills, and removed the distinction which existed in this respect between freeholds and copyholds; the last freed an innocent debtor from imprisonment only before final judgment (or on what was termed mesne process), but the principle stated by Campbell that only fraudulent debtors should be imprisoned was ultimately given effect to for England and Wales in 1869.

Perhaps his most important appearance as a member of parliament (MP) for Stafford was in defence of

the vast majority of the population believe that morality depends entirely on revelation; and if a doubt could be raised among them that the ten commandments were given by God from Mount Sinai, men would think they were at liberty to steal, and women would think themselves absolved from the restraints of chastity.^[6]

In 1840 Campbell conducted the prosecution against John Frost, one of the three Chartist leaders who attacked the town of Newport, all of whom were found guilty of high treason. Next year, as the Melbourne administration was near its close, Plunkett, the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, was forced to resign, and was succeeded by Campbell, who was raised to the peerage as Baron Campbell, of St Andrews in the County of Fife. The post of chancellor Campbell held for only sixteen days, and then resigned it to his successor Sir Edward Sugden. It was during the period 1841–1849, when he had no legal duty, except the self-imposed one of occasionally hearing Scottish appeals in the House of Lords, that Lord Campbell turned to literary pursuits. He bought Hartrigge House in Jedburgh during this period.^[7] However, he did take up the cause of the families of railway accident victims in introducing and steering through the Commons, the Fatal Accidents Act 1846, known as Lord Campbell's Act.

Literary endeavours

Following in the path struck out by Strickland in her Lives of the Queens of England, and by Lord Brougham's Lives of Eminent Statesmen, Campbell produced Lives of the Lord Chancellors and Keepers of the Great Seal of England, from the earliest times till the reign of Queen Victoria, in ten volumes. He followed it with Lives of the Chief Justices of England, in four volumes (two additional volumes were a "Continuation by Sir Joseph Arnould – Late Judge of the High Court of Bombay"). He also wrote Shakespeare's Legal Acquirements Reconsidered.

In the House of Lords

While composing his biographical works Campbell remained active in the

The Act provided for the seizure and destruction of any material deemed to be obscene, and held for sale or distribution, following information being laid before a "court of summary jurisdiction" (magistrates' court). The Act required that following evidence of a common-law offence being committed – for example, on the report of a plain-clothes policeman who had successfully purchased the material – the court could issue a warrant for the premises to be searched and the material seized. The proprietor then would be called upon to attend court and give reason why the material should not be destroyed. Critically, the Act did not define "obscene," leaving this to the will of the courts.^[9]

In 1859 Campbell was made Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, possibly on the understanding that Bethell should succeed as soon as he could be spared from the House of Commons. His short tenure was undistinguished, and he died in 1861.

Family

In 1821 Campbell married the Hon. Mary Elizabeth, eldest daughter of James Scarlett, 1st Baron Abinger; they had three sons and four daughters. In 1836 Lady Campbell was created (in her own right) Baroness Stratheden, of Cupar in the County of Fife, in recognition of her husband's withdrawal of his claim to the office of Master of the Rolls; she died in March 1860, aged 63. Lord Campbell survived her by just over a year and died in June 1861, aged 81. They were succeeded by their eldest son, William, who became Lord Stratheden and Campbell.

References

Wikisource has original works by or about:
John Campbell (1779-1861)