Sir James Lewis Knight-Bruce, (born James Lewis Knight; 15 February 1791 – 7 November 1866) was an English barrister, judge and politician.

Life

He was the youngest son of John Knight of Fairlinch,

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, by Margaret, daughter and heiress of William Bruce of

Llanblethian Llanblethian () is a village in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales which sits upon the River Thaw. It makes up part of the community (Wales), community of Cowbridge with Llanblethian, which consists of the village itself, the larger market town of C ...

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

. He was born at

Barnstaple Barnstaple ( or ) is a river-port town and civil parish in the North Devon district of Devon, England. The town lies at the River Taw's lowest crossing point before the Bristol Channel. From the 14th century, it was licensed to export wool from ...

on 15 February 1791, and was educated at King Edward's grammar school, Bath, and at

Sherborne Sherborne is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in north west Dorset, in South West England. It is sited on the River Yeo (South Somerset), River Yeo, on the edge of the Blackmore Vale, east of Yeovil. The parish include ...

. He left Sherborne in 1805, and, after spending two years with a mathematical tutor, was articled to a solicitor in

Lincoln's Inn Fields Lincoln's Inn Fields is located in Holborn and is the List of city squares by size, largest public square in London. It was laid out in the 1630s under the initiative of the speculative builder and contractor William Newton, "the first in a ...

. When his articles had expired, he was admitted a student of

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

on 21 July 1812. On 21 November 1817 Knight was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

, and for a short time went the Welsh circuit. The increase of his

chancery Chancery may refer to: Offices and administration * Court of Chancery, the chief court of equity in England and Wales until 1873 ** Equity (law), also called chancery, the body of jurisprudence originating in the Court of Chancery ** Courts of e ...

practice soon caused him to abandon the common law bar, and he confined himself to practising in the equity courts. In Michaelmas term 1829 he was appointed a

king's counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

, and on 6 November in the same year was elected a bencher of Lincoln's Inn. On taking silk he selected the vice-chancellor's court, where Sir Edward Sugden was the leader; they had constant contests until Sugden's appointment as

Lord Chancellor of Ireland The Lord High Chancellor of Ireland, commonly known as the Lord Chancellor of Ireland, was the highest ranking judicial office in Ireland until the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922. From 1721 until the end of 1800, it was also the hi ...

in 1834. In politics Knight was a Tory, and in April 1831 he was returned for

Bishop's Castle Bishop's Castle is a market town in the south west of Shropshire, England. According to the 2011 Census it had a population of 1,893. Bishop's Castle is east of the Wales–England border, about north-west of Ludlow and about south-west of ...

, a

pocket borough A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or constituency in England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom before the Reform Act of 1832, which had a very small electo ...

belonging to

Edward Clive, 1st Earl of Powis Edward Clive, 1st Earl of Powis, (7 March 1754 – 16 May 1839), known as the Lord Clive between 1774 and 1804, was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1774 to 1794 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Clive. E ...

. His parliamentary career, however, was short, for the borough was disfranchised by the

Great Reform Bill The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the Reform Act 1832, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. 4. c. 45), enacted by the Whig government of Pri ...

. In 1834 he received the honorary degree of D.C.L. from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

. In 1835 he was one of the counsel heard at the bar of the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

on behalf of the municipal corporations against the

Municipal Reform Bill The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 ( 5 & 6 Will. 4. c. 76), sometimes known as the Municipal Reform Act, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in the incorporated boroughs of England and Wales. The le ...

, and in 1851 on behalf of the deans and chapters against the Ecclesiastical Duties and Revenues Bill. Coats of Arms of James Lewis Knight-Bruce

In 1835 and in 1837, Knight unsuccessfully contested the borough of Cambridge. In September 1837 he assumed the additional surname of Bruce by royal licence. On the abolition of the Court of Exchequer in equity and the transfer of its jurisdiction to the

Court of Chancery The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid a slow pace of change and possible harshness (or "inequity") of the Common law#History, common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over ...

, he was on 28 October 1841 appointed by

Sir Robert Peel Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850), was a British Conservative statesman who twice was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835, 1841–1846), and simultaneously was Chancellor of the Exchequer (1834–183 ...

one of the two additional vice-chancellors under 5 Vict. c. 5. He was subsequently knighted, and on 15 January 1842 was sworn a member of the privy council. In Michaelmas term 1842 he undertook the further duties of chief judge in bankruptcy, and seven years later the exercise of the jurisdiction of the old Court of Review was given to him. In 1842–3 he held the yearly office of treasurer of Lincoln's Inn, and in that office laid the foundation-stone of the new hall and library of the inn on 20 April 1843. On the creation of the Court of Appeal in chancery

Lord John Russell John Russell, 1st Earl Russell (18 August 1792 – 28 May 1878), known as Lord John Russell before 1861, was a British Whig and Liberal statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1852 and again from 1865 to 186 ...

appointed Knight-Bruce and

Lord Cranworth Robert Monsey Rolfe, 1st Baron Cranworth, PC (18 December 1790 – 26 July 1868) was a British lawyer and Liberal politician. He twice served as Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. Background and education Born at Cranworth, Norfolk, he ...

the first lords justices on 8 October 1851. In this court, Knight-Bruce sat for nearly 16 years. He was a

Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society of historians and archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1707, received its royal charter in 1751 and is a Charitable organization, registered charity. It is based ...

and elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

in 1830. Knight-Bruce died suddenly on 7 November 1866 at Roehampton Priory,

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, shortly after his retirement from the bench. His wife had also died suddenly just seven months prior to this on 27 April 1866. He was buried in Cheriton churchyard, near

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a coastal town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour, shipping port, and fashionable coastal res ...

, on 14 November.

Cases

Knight-Bruce wished to shorten procedure and save time in the discussion of technicalities, and in some of his decisions, which were over-ruled by Lord Cottenham, he anticipated reforms which were subsequently made. He frequently sat on the judicial committee of the privy council. In the

Gorham case George Cornelius Gorham (1787–1857) was a priest in the Church of England. He was denied a vicarage due to his controversial views on infant baptism, and his appeal of that decision to a secular court caused religious controversy within the Ang ...

he differed from the judgment of the majority of the court, which was pronounced by

Lord Langdale Henry Bickersteth, 1st Baron Langdale, PC (18 June 1783 – 18 April 1851), a member of the prominent Bickersteth family, was an English physician, law reformer, and Master of the Rolls. Early life and education Langdale was born on 18 June ...

, M.R., on 8 March 1850.

Family

On 20 August 1812 Knight-Bruce, as James Knight, married Eliza Mountford (Newte), the acknowledged daughter of Captain Thomas Newte of

Duvale Duvale is a historic estate in the parish of Bampton, Devon, Bampton, Devon. It is situated on a narrow flat plain in the steep-sided valley of the River Exe, 1 1/2 miles south west of the town of Bampton and 5 miles north of Tiverton, Devon, Ti ...

, near Bampton, Devon, by whom he had several children.Gray, Imogen P. Clues in Fiction: An Essex Couple's Secret Ties. The Alderton Press 2017

References

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Knight-Bruce, James Lewis 1791 births 1866 deaths Businesspeople from Barnstaple English barristers 19th-century English judges People educated at Sherborne School Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for constituencies in Shropshire Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Fellows of the Royal Society Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Knights Bachelor Tory MPs (pre-1834) UK MPs 1831–1832 Vice Chancellors (Court of Chancery) Lord justices of appeal