Sir Edward Hyde East, 1st Baronet (9 September 1764 – 8 January 1847) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

Member of Parliament, legal writer, and

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. He served as chief justice of

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

from 1813 to 1822. He was the first Principal of Hindu College (later

Hindu School, Kolkata Hindu School is a state government-administered school in Kolkata (Calcutta), India. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest modern educational institution in Asia (then known as ''Hindu College''). The institution played a key role during Bengal R ...

Life

Early life

Edward Hyde East was born in

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

island on 9 September 1764. He was the great-grandson of Captain John East (aka Edward East) who was active in the English conquest of Jamaica. Hyde East owned a number of plantations at the behest of the King – George IV

Prince Regent A prince regent or princess regent is a prince or princess who, due to their position in the line of succession, rules a monarchy as regent in the stead of a monarch, e.g., as a result of the sovereign's incapacity (minority or illness) or ab ...

in Jamaica along with the people on them. He became a student of 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 association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...

, London, and was called to the

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on 10 November 1786. He sat in the parliament of 1792 for Great Bedwin, and steadily supported William Pitt.

Career in India

In 1813 East was chosen to succeed Sir Henry Russell as chief justice of the supreme court at Fort William,

Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...

. Before he left England he was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

by the

. Besides performing his judicial duties, he interested himself in Indian education, and was the chief promoter of the

Hindu College Hindu College may refers to several colleges around the world, including: India * Dharmamurthi Rao Bhahadur Calavala Cunnan Chetty's Hindu College, Chennai, Tamil Nadu * Gobardanga Hindu College, West Bengal *Hindu College, Delhi, founded in 1899 ...

. When he retired from office in 1822 the Indians presented him with an address and subscribed for a statue of him. This, executed by

Francis Chantrey Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey (7 April 1781 – 25 November 1841) was an English sculptor. He became the leading portrait sculptor in Regency era Britain, producing busts and statues of many notable figures of the time. Chantrey's most notable w ...

, was afterwards placed in the grand-jury room of the supreme court. On his return to the UK, East was made a

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

, on 25 April 1823.

Return to UK

East represented

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

in parliament from 1823 to 1831, was sworn of the Privy Council, and appointed a member of the judicial committee of that body, in order to assist in the disposal of Indian appeals. He was also chosen a bencher of the Inner Temple and a fellow of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

. East died at his residence, Sherwood Lodge,

Battersea Battersea is a large district in southwest London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and also extends along the south bank of the Thames Tideway. It includes the Battersea Park. Hist ...

, on 8 January 1847.

Works

East is known as a legal writer mainly for his ''Reports of Cases in the Court of King's Bench from Mich. Term, 26 Geo. III (1785), to Trin. Term, 40 Geo. III (1800)'' (

8vo Octavo, a Latin word meaning "in eighth" or "for the eighth time", (abbreviated 8vo, 8º, or In-8) is a technical term describing the format of a book, which refers to the size of leaves produced from folding a full sheet of paper on which multip ...

, 5 vols., 1817, by C. Durnford and E. H. East). These were the first law reports published regularly at the end of each term., and so were called the ''Term Reports''. They were continued by East alone in his ''Reports of Cases argued and determined in the Court of King's Bench from Mich. Term, 41 Geo. III (1800), to Mich. Term, 53 Geo. III (1812)'', 1801, 1814. There are various American editions of both series. "No English reports", says Marvin, "are oftener cited in American courts than these" (Marvin, p. 282). East also wrote: # ''Pleas of the Crown; or a General Treatise on the Principles and Practice of Criminal Law'', 2 vols. 1803. This, the result of fifteen years' labour, is based partly on a careful study of previous writers and on private collections of cases. # ''A Report of the Cases of Sir Francis Burdett against the Right Hon. Charles Abbott'', 1811.

Family

East married Jane Isabella Hankey in 1786. She was the second daughter of Joseph Chaplin Hankey the banker of

East Bergholt East Bergholt is a village in the Babergh District of Suffolk, England, just north of the Essex border. The nearest town and railway station is Manningtree, Essex. East Bergholt is north of Colchester and south of Ipswich. Schools include E ...

, and sister of

Joseph Chaplin Hankey Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

the Member of Parliament for Wareham, and of

Richard Hankey Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language">Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and ...

, Member of Parliament for Plympton Erle. They had a son and daughter. The son, James Buller East, succeeded him in the title. His wife predeceased him by three years.

References

* Marvin, ''Legal Bibliography'' (1847)

Notes

External links

* Edward Hyde East
''Treatise of Pleas of the Crown'' vol.1
1803 Edition (London). * Edward Hyde East
''Treatise of Pleas of the Crown'' vol.1
1806 Edition (Philadelphia). * Edward Hyde East
''Treatise of Pleas of the Crown'' vol.2
1806 Edition (Philadelphia). ;Attribution * {{DEFAULTSORT:East, Edward Hyde 1764 births 1847 deaths Members of the Inner Temple British legal writers British India judges

201 Year 201 ( CCI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Fabianus and Arrius (or, less frequently, year 954 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 201 for this yea ...

Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Great Bedwyn Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies UK MPs 1820–1826 UK MPs 1826–1830 UK MPs 1830–1831 Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Jamaican slave owners British MPs 1790–1796 18th-century Jamaican people