Richard Preston (1768–1850) was an English legal author and politician.

Life

The only son of the Rev. John Preston of

Okehampton Okehampton ( ) is a town and civil parish in West Devon in the English county of Devon. It is situated at the northern edge of Dartmoor, and had a population of 5,922 at the 2011 census. Two electoral wards are based in the town (east and west) ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...

, he was born at Ashburton in the same county in 1768, inheriting the family's notable Roman nose from his mother, Gunilda Preston. He began life as an attorney, but attracted the notice of Sir Francis Buller by his first work. On Buller's advice he entered the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and ...

in 1793. After practising for some years as a certificated conveyancer, he was called to the bar on 20 May 1807, was elected a bencher in 1834, in which year he

took silk In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or a ...

, and was reader in 1844. Preston represented Ashburton in the parliament of 1812–18, and was one of the early advocates of the

Corn Laws The Corn Laws were tariffs and other trade restrictions on imported food and corn enforced in the United Kingdom between 1815 and 1846. The word ''corn'' in British English denotes all cereal grains, including wheat, oats and barley. They wer ...

. He had invested in land in Devon. In law, as in politics, he was intensely conservative, and thought the Fines and Recoveries Act a dangerous innovation. Preston was for some time professor of law at King's College London. He died on 20 June 1850 at his seat, Lee House,

Chulmleigh Chulmleigh ( ) is a small Saxon hilltop market town and civil parish located in North Devon in the heart of the English county of Devon. It is located north west of Exeter, just north of the Mid Devon boundary, linked by the A377 and B ...

, in North Devon.

Works

Preston was author of: *''An Elementary Treatise by way of Essay on the Quantity of Estates'', Exeter, 1791. *''A Succinct View of the Rule in Shelley's Case'', Exeter, 1794. *A volume of ''Tracts'' (on cross-remainders, fines and recoveries, and related subjects), London, 1797. *''A Treatise on Conveyancing'', London, 1806–9, 2 vols.; 2nd edit., 1813; 3rd edit., 1819–29. *''An Essay in a Course of Lectures on Abstracts of Title'', London, 1818; 2nd edit. 1823–4. His political views are in ''Address to the Fundholder, the Manufacturer, the Mechanic, and the Poor on the subject of the Corn Laws'', London, 1815; and other tracts in ''The Pamphleteer'', vols. vii.–xi., London, 1816–18. Preston also edited in 1828 William Sheppard's ''Touchstone of Common Assurances'', London.

Notable Relatives

Preston's grandson,

John Burgess Karslake Sir John Burgess Karslake, QC (13 December 1821 – 4 October 1881) was an English lawyer and politician. The son of Henry Karslake, a solicitor and Confidential Secretary to the Duke of Kent, by his wife Elizabeth Marsh Preston, the daugh ...

, was a Member of Parliament from 1867-68 and 1873-76, Solicitor General in 1866, and Attorney General from 1867-86 and in 1874.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Preston, Richard 1768 births 1850 deaths Academics of King's College London English barristers English legal writers Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Ashburton UK MPs 1812–1818 People from Ashburton, Devon