Sir John Paxton Norman (21 October 1819 – 21 September 1871) was an English jurist who was the acting chief Justice of the

Calcutta High Court The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in India. It is located at Esplanade Row West, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal. It has jurisdiction over the state of West Bengal and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. T ...

. He was assassinated in 1871.

Career

Paxton Norman was born in 1819; his father John Norman was a banker of

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

. He was educated at

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and

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, and then practiced as 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 ...

. In 1862 he 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 ...

at 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 ...

. In

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

he worked as a Puisne Judge of The

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till 1871. Sir Paxton Norman was appointed as acting Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court in 1870. Paxton Norman was unpopular among

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for imposing heavy sentences. He was the author of many legal treatises and papers, and also took active part in

Calcutta University The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

as the president of the Law faculty.

Death

In 1871, while Norman was coming down the steps of the

Kolkata Town Hall Kolkata Town Hall in Roman Doric style, was built in 1813 by the architect and engineer Major General John Henry Garstin (1756–1820) with a fund of 700,000 Rupees raised from a lottery to provide the Europeans with a place for social gatherings ...

, an Indian Wahabi,

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, attacked him and stabbed him to death. He died on 21 September 1871. Sir Paxton Norman was buried in St. Paul's Cathedral, Kolkata.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Norman, John Paxton 1819 births 1871 deaths Knights Bachelor Members of the Inner Temple Chief justices of the Calcutta High Court British India judges 19th-century Indian judges English barristers Assassinated British people British people murdered abroad People murdered in West Bengal 19th-century English judges People assassinated in the 19th century