Richard Burn (1709 – 12 November 1785) was an English

legal writer Legal writing involves the analysis of fact patterns and presentation of arguments in documents such as legal memoranda and briefs. One form of legal writing involves drafting a balanced analysis of a legal problem or issue. Another form of leg ...

Education and career

Burn was born in Winton,

Kirkby Stephen Kirkby Stephen () is a market town and civil parish in Cumbria, England. It lies on the A685 and is surrounded by sparsely populated hill country, about from the nearest larger towns, Kendal and Penrith. The River Eden rises away in the pea ...

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland''R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref>) is an area of North West England which was Historic counties of England, historically a county. People of the area ...

. He matriculated at

The Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...

in 1729. He was not awarded his B.A. until 1735, three years after he left the university to accept a position as schoolmaster at

in Westmorland. Burn then entered the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

, and in 1736 became

vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...

of Orton in Westmorland. He was a justice of the peace for the counties of Westmorland and

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

, and devoted himself to the study of law. In 1762, after Burn had attained notoriety as a legal scholar, 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 ...

awarded him an honorary

LL.D A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

. He was appointed chancellor of the

diocese of Carlisle In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

in 1765, an office which he held until his death. He died, aged 86, in Orton.

Writings

Burn's ''Justice of the Peace and Parish Officer'', first published in 1755, was for many years the standard authority on the law relating to justices of the peace. It has passed through some 30 editions, half of which appeared after Burn's death. His ''Ecclesiastical Law'' (1760), a work of much research, was the foundation upon which were built many modern commentaries on ecclesiastical law. Burn's other publications include: ''Digest of the Militia Laws'' (1760), ''History of the Poor Laws: with observations'' (1764), and ''A New Law Dictionary'' (2 vols., 1792). The last-named work, published after the author's death by his son, was an update of

William Blackstone Sir William Blackstone (10 July 1723 – 14 February 1780) was an English jurist, Justice (title), justice, and Tory (British political party), Tory politician most noted for his ''Commentaries on the Laws of England'', which became the best-k ...

's ''

Commentaries on the Laws of England The ''Commentaries on the Laws of England'' (commonly, but informally known as ''Blackstone's Commentaries'') are an influential 18th-century treatise on the common law of England by Sir William Blackstone, originally published by the Clarend ...

''. Burn was a noted

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artefacts, archaeological and historic si ...

. He collaborated with Joseph Nicolson to compile ''The History and Antiquities of the Counties of Westmorland and Cumberland'', published in 1777. The two-volume work relates information concerning the families, customs, architecture, and political and religious history of the two counties, and continues to be of great interest to family and local historians.

Personal life

Burn married first in 1736 Eleanor Nelson (died 1739) and second in 1740 Anne Kitchen. He and his wife Anne had one son,

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

, born in 1744.

Notes

References

* * *B. C. Jones, "Introduction," in Joseph Nicolson and Richard Burn, ''The History and Antiquities of the Counties of Westmorland and Cumberland'' (West Yorkshire, England: EP Publishing, 1976), xiv-xxiii. *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burn, Richard English legal writers English antiquarians 1709 births 1785 deaths People from Kirkby Stephen British legal historians 18th-century Anglican clergy 18th-century English Anglican priests 18th-century Anglican theologians Canon law of the Anglican Communion Canon law jurists