Thomas Chitty (1802 – 13 February 1878) was an English lawyer and legal writer who was
pupil master
A pupil master ('pupilmaster' or 'pupil-master') or, in the case of a female barrister, 'pupil mistress' etc., is the former name given to an experienced barrister who a pupil shadows during their pupillage. The terms have now been replaced by the ...
to a generation of eminent lawyers and played a significant role in documenting the legal reforms of the 19th century.
Early life
Thomas was the third son of
Joseph Chitty and his wife, Elizabeth ''née'' Woodward. He was never
called to the bar but began to practise as a
special pleader in 1820 at the early age of nineteen.
[Hamilton (2004)]
Legal practice
Chitty practised at 1 King's Bench Walk
where he educated a generation of eminent
pupils including:
*
Hugh Cairns, a future
Lord Chancellor
The lord chancellor, formally the lord high chancellor of Great Britain, is the highest-ranking traditional minister among the Great Officers of State in Scotland and England in the United Kingdom, nominally outranking the prime minister. T ...
;
*
Farrer Herschell
Farrer Herschell, 1st Baron Herschell, (2 November 1837 – 1 March 1899), was Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain in 1886, and again from 1892 to 1895.
Life
Childhood and education
Herschell was born on 2 November 1837 in Brampton, Hamps ...
, another;
*
James Whiteside
James Whiteside (12 August 1804 – 25 November 1876) was an Irish politician and judge.
Background and education
Whiteside was born at Delgany, County Wicklow, the son of William Whiteside, a clergyman of the Church of Ireland. His father w ...
, a future
Chief Justice of Ireland
The Chief Justice of Ireland ( ga, Príomh-Bhreitheamh na hÉireann) is the president of the Supreme Court of Ireland. The chief justice is the highest judicial office and most senior judge in Ireland. The role includes constitutional and admin ...
;
*
William Shee;
[Barker, G. F. R. (2004)]
Shee, Sir William (1804–1868)
, rev. Hugh Mooney, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
'', Oxford University Press, accessed 24 July 2007
– and sundry future judges and politicians.
The practice of special pleader demanded mastery of detail and the technical intricacies of the law and Chitty's career spanned huge changes from the
Common Law Procedure Acts 1852-4
Common may refer to:
Places
* Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland
* Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts
* Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts
* Clapham Common, originally com ...
to the
Judicature Acts 1873-5, reforms that changed the ancient regime of
forms of action into, essentially, the modern system. Chitty exploited the opportunity in publishing a number of practitioners' texts including preparing new editions of:
*
John Frederick Archbold's ''The Practice of the Court of King's Bench in Personal Actions and Ejectments'', despite Archbold's objections;
*His father's ''Treatise on the Parties to Actions'';
*
Richard Burn's ''Justice of the Peace'' (1845);
– and publishing several works in his own right including ''Forms of Practical Proceedings'' (1834). His grandson
T. Willes Chitty
T is the twentieth letter of the Latin alphabet. (For the same letterform in the Cyrillic and Greek alphabets, see Te and Tau respectively).
T may also refer to:
Codes and units
* T, Tera- as in one trillion
* T, the symbol for "True" in lo ...
edited the 11th edition in 1879.
Family, personality and death
"Chitty was known as a kind and genial man, a keen
whist player and musician, and an energetic volunteer."
He retired in 1877, and died at home in London.
In 1826, he had married Eliza ''née'' Cawston, and the couple had two sons who followed in their father's legal footsteps:
*Thomas Edward Chitty (1826/7-1868), clerk to the
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city i ...
assizes;
and
*
Joseph William Chitty, became a judge in 1881, a notable
Liberal politician.
References
Bibliography
*Obituaries:
**''
Annual Register'' (1878), 136
**''Solicitors' Journal, 23 (1877–78), 329
**''Law Journal'', 23 Feb 1878, 131–2; 2 March 1878, 148
Sources
*
*Hamilton, J. A. (2004)
Chitty, Thomas (1802–1878), rev. Michael Lobban, ''
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
'', Oxford University Press, accessed 9 August 2007
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chitty, Thomas
1802 births
1878 deaths
English legal writers
19th-century English lawyers
Chitty family