John Barnard Byles
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Sir John Barnard Byles (11 January 1801 – 3 February 1884) was a British
barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...
, judge and author of books on law and the economy. He published an influential text on
bills of exchange A negotiable instrument is a document guaranteeing the payment of a specific amount of money, either on demand, or at a set time, whose payer is usually named on the document. More specifically, it is a document contemplated by or consisting of a ...
in 1829, commonly referred to as "''Byles on Bills''".''The Early History of the Law of Bills and Notes'', pp. 6-7
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Early life

Byles was the a grandson of Mr Jeremiah Byles (1733–1790), a timber-merchant from
Stowmarket Stowmarket ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Mid Suffolk district of Suffolk, England,OS Explorer map 211: Bury St.Edmunds and Stowmarket Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton A2 edition. Publishing Date:2008. o ...
, Suffolk, England.


Career

Byles studied law and became a member 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 ...
, where he was a pupil of the renowned
Joseph Chitty Joseph Chitty (12 March 1776 – 17 February 1841) was an English lawyer and legal writer, author of some of the earliest practitioners' texts and founder of an important dynasty of lawyers. Life and practice He was himself the son of a Joseph C ...
, and became a
special pleader A special pleader was a historical legal occupation. The practitioner, or "special pleader" in English law specialised in drafting "pleadings", in modern terminology statements of case. History Up to the 19th century, there were many rules, tech ...
.Biography
bylesfamilytree.com. Accessed 27 December 2022.
In 1829, he published a seminal work on bills of exchange, ''A Treatise on the Law of Bills of Exchange, Promissory Notes, Bank-Notes, and Cheques'', which is commonly referred to as ''Byles on Bills''. He is even said to have named his horse "Bills", so that when approaching, people would utter "Here comes Byles on Bills". He was called to the Bar in November 1831. He joined the
Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...
circuit and in 1840 he was appointed recorder of
Buckingham Buckingham ( ) is a market town in north Buckinghamshire, England, close to the borders of Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, which had a population of 12,890 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census. The town lies approximately west of ...
, and then in 1843 became a Serjeant-at-law. In 1857, he was appointed Queen's Serjeant. Byles once ran as a candidate for Parliament in the
Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery and the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre, Waterside Theatre. It is located in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wycombe and Milt ...
constituency, but lost. In January 1858 he was promoted to the bench and was later made a
Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...
and
Justice of the Common Pleas Justice of the Common Pleas was a puisne judicial position within the Court of Common Pleas (England), Court of Common Pleas of England and Wales, under the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, Chief Justice. The Common Pleas was the primary court o ...
. He often oversaw cases at the Central Criminal Court in London. He was described by the contemporary press as being a judge of the "old school", reminiscent of lawyers from
Elizabethan The Elizabethan era is the epoch in the Tudor period of the history of England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603). Historians often depict it as the golden age in English history. The Roman symbol of Britannia (a female per ...
times in his predilection for employing old-fashioned sayings and "
saws A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, wire, or chain with a hard toothed edge used to cut through material. Various terms are used to describe toothed and abrasive saws. Saws began as serrated materials, and when mankind learned how to ...
". He was also a stickler for proper (black) clothing in court, once remarking to Lord Coleridge "I always listen with little pleasure to the arguments of counsel whose legs are encased in light gray trousers". In January 1873 he resigned as a judge due to his failing health. He then became, on 3 March, a member of the Privy Council but he died soon after on 3 February 1884, aged 83. He resided in Hatfield House,
Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon, northwest of Charing Cross. Uxbridge formed part of the parish of Hillingdon in the county of Middlesex. As part ...
.


Personal life

Byles married, firstly, Hannah Foster in August 1828, the daughter of John Foster, a merchant of
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; she died shortly after the marriage. He married in August 1836 Emma Nash Wedd, the daughter of Joseph Pattisson Wedd, a solicitor of Royston; she died in July 1872. Of their children, the eldest son, Walter Barnard, was called to the Bar in 1866 and the second eldest, Maurice Barnard, was called in 1866.


Notable cases

*Daniel Good - sentenced to death for murder in 1842. Before his trial, he escaped from custody and the ensuing chase caused the police to set up the Detective Branch for pursuing criminals on the run. Caught and hanged. * James Bloomfield Rush - Hanged for the murders of Isaac Jermy, the Recorder of
Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of the county of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. It lies by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. The population of the Norwich ...
, and his son, Isaac Jermy Jermy, in 1849. *
Catherine Wilson Catherine Wilson (c. 1822 – 20 October 1862) was a British murderer who was hanged for one murder, but was generally thought at the time to have committed six others. She worked as a nurse and poisoned her victims after encouraging them to l ...
- found guilty of poisoning in 1862 and hanged. Byles told defence lawyer,
Montagu Williams Montagu Stephen Williams Q.C. (30 September 1835 – 23 December 1892) was an English teacher, British Army officer, actor, playwright, barrister and magistrate. Williams was educated at Eton College and started his career as a schoolmaster at ...
, Q.C., directly after the trial ended: "I sent for you to tell you that you did that case remarkably well. But it was no good; the facts were too strong. I prosecuted Rush for the murder of Mr. Jermy, I defended Daniel Good, and I defended several other notable criminals when I was on the Norfolk Circuit; but, if it will be of any satisfaction to you, I may tell you that in my opinion you have to-day defended the greatest criminal that ever lived." * William Roupell - found guilty of fraud in 1862. *
Frances Kidder Frances Kidder (c. 1843 – 2 April 1868) was the last woman to be publicly hanged in Britain. She was convicted of murdering her stepdaughter, Louisa Kidder-Staples. Crime In 1865 Frances Turner married William Kidder, the father of her illegiti ...
- found guilty of murder in 1868, hanged. * Rev. John Selby Watson - classical translator who killed his wife. Sentenced to death in 1872 but later commuted to life in prison.


Byles the protectionist as seen in ''Sophisms of Free Trade''

In ''Sophisms of Free Trade'', John Byles championed protectionism against ''
laissez faire ''Laissez-faire'' ( , from , ) is a type of economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies or regulations). As a system of thought, ''laissez-faire'' ...
''. Industries do not spring up out of nowhere, and home markets needs protectionism to stave off foreign competition. Byles said, "But in truth the natural course of commercial affairs uninfluenced by legislation is impossible.""Sophisms Of Free-Trade And Popular Political Economy Examined" He could not conceive where England could have been at in 1851 without protectionism. He was convinced that new nations as well as old nations needed protectionism. He knew individuals and the private sector did not have the resources to create an immense future. Public wisdom had to do this monumental feat. Moreover, Byles called humanity the most profoundest cause. He stated that those who regard man in high esteem should not be subjected to unbridled foreign commerce. In sum, Byles saw protection as not a source of calamity and peril as free traders depicted it, but as a policy that spread industry and brought water, economic life where there was none. Byles tells his readers what is the best part about Adam Smith. Smith's disciples never thought that it was better to encourage domestic commerce over foreign commerce. This would turn free trade upside down; and shake the very foundation of free trade. For example, in Book II, Chapter V, Adam Smith reveals that encouraging domestic commerce facilitates domestic industry more than foreign commerce. Thus supporting domestic commerce benefited domestic industry the best, and this best showed that an economy was strategically organized.
"The capital, which is employed in purchasing in one part of the country in order to sell in another, and the produce of the industry of that country generally replaces, by such operation, two distinct capitals that had both been employed in agriculture or manufacture of that country, and thereby enables them to continue that employment ... When both are the produce of domestic industry, it necessarily replaces by every such operation two distinct capitals, which had both been employed in supporting productive labor, and thereby enables them to continue that support. The capital, which sends Scotch manufactures to London, and which brings back English manufactures and corn to Edinburgh, necessarily replaces, by every such operations, two British capitals, which had both been employed in the agriculture or manufactures of Great Britain." "The capital employed in purchasing foreign goods for home consumption, when this purchase is made with the produce of domestic industry, replaces too by every such operation two distinct capitals, but one of them only is employed in supporting domestic industry, replaces by every such operation two distinct capitals, but one of them only is employed in supporting domestic industry. The capital that which sends British goods to Portugal, and brings back Portuguese goods to Great Britain, replaces by every such operation only one British Capital. The other is a Portuguese one. Though the returns therefore of the foreign trade of consumption should be as quick as those of the home trade, THE CAPITAL EMPLOYED IN IT GIVE BUT ONE HALF THE ENCOURAGEMENT TO THE INDUSTRY OR PRODUCTIVE LABOR OF THE COUNTRY."
These quotations of Adam Smith instruct that foreign trade will just give half the encouragement to domestic industry or the productive labor of the nation, but favoring domestic commerce will assist domestic industry in ways foreign commerce could not. This challenges the system of free trade, which is built upon cheap labor, and foreign commerce is the way to riches. Byles not only used Adam Smith to refute free trade, but he refuted McCulloch as well. McCulloch stated that buying foreign commodities encourages domestic industry as if you bought domestic goods. Byles adopted the foreign policy of “America’s Benjamin Franklin’s Rules for reducing a Great Empire to a small one.” He called for England to give up all her colonies, but to keep India, and treat Indians the same way British subjects were, and to give India domestic commerce and development. He refuted Malthus, Ricardo, and McCulloch. He sided with Henry Carey's view that the least powerful soils are harnessed before the best ones are there by saying Ricardo was wrong. In addition, he echoed Carey's calling for having those that consume be nigh of the farmer to give him a home market that is better than a foreign one. Those that consume nigh to the farmer, will have an unfailing market, and like Carey said agriculture will become a science. Domestic commerce will flourish only when the economy is prudently organized and protectionism does this. Byles also quotes a 1727 writing of Dean Swift, Jonathan Swift, and revealed how Swift knew how to organize an economy. Through and Through one can only conclude that Swift should be called a protectionist, Byles quotes Swift saying, “ One cause of a country’s thriving is the industry of the people in working up all their native commodities to the last…..The convenience of safe ports and havens to carry out their own goods as much manufactured, and bring those of others as little manufactured as the nature of mutual commerce will allow.”


Books

*''A Treatise on the Law of Bills of Exchange, Promissory Notes, Bank-Notes, and Cheques'', 1829 *''On the Usury Laws'', 1846 *''Sophisms Of Free-Trade And Popular Political Economy Examined'', 1849. *''Foundations of Religion in the Mind and Heart of Man'', 1875


Arms


References


External links


Biography''Sophisms of Free-Trade'' - full text
{{DEFAULTSORT:Byles, John Barnard Justices of the common pleas Members of the Inner Temple 1801 births 1884 deaths Serjeants-at-law (England) Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People from Stowmarket Knights Bachelor 19th-century English judges