Charles Viner (16785 June 1756) was an English

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

, known as the author of ''Viner's Abridgment'', and the benefactor of the Vinerian chair and the

Vinerian Scholarship The Vinerian Scholarship is a scholarship given to the University of Oxford student who "gives the best performance in the examination for the degree of Bachelor of Civil Law". Currently, £2,500 is given to the winner of the scholarship, with an ...

at 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 ...

Life

The son of Mary and Charles Viner, a draper of

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

, he was baptised at the church of St Thomas, Salisbury, on 3 November 1678. He studied for a time at Oxford, where he matriculated at

Hart Hall Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main gate to the Bodleian Library. The colle ...

on 19 February 1695. He then resided at

Aldershot Aldershot ( ) is a town in the Rushmoor district, Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme north-east corner of the county, south-west of London. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Farnborough/Aldershot built-up are ...

, Hampshire, and had chambers in the Temple (King's Bench Walk), but was not

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 ...

. He married Raleigh Weekes (1681–1761), a descendant of

Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebell ...

, on 16 November 1699 at Saint Ethelburga's church in

Bishopsgate Bishopsgate was one of the eastern gates in London's former defensive wall. The gate's name is traditionally attributed to Earconwald, who was Bishop of London in the 7th century. It was first built in Roman times and marked the beginning o ...

in London. There were no children from the marriage. Viner died at Aldershot on 5 June 1756. He and his wife are buried in the churchyard of St Michael's church in Aldershot and have a memorial plaque inside the church.

Legacy

By his will, dated 29 December 1755, Viner left the remainder copies of the ''Abridgment'' and his residuary real and personal estate (value about £12,000) to the

upon trusts. Effect was given to the bequest by the endowment of the Vinerian common-law chair, scholarships, and fellowships. The first professor was

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

''Viner's Abridgment''

Viner devoted half a century to the compilation of ''A General Abridgment of Law and Equity. Alphabetically digested under proper Titles, with Notes and References to the whole'', Aldershot, 1742–53, 23 vols. folio. It was printed on a press at his home in

on paper manufactured under Viner's own direction with his initials 'C.V.' in the watermark.Frederic Madden, Bulkeley Bandinel(eds

''Collectanea Topographica Et Genealogica'', Volume 7, John Bowyer Nichols and Son, London (1841) - Google Books pg. 217 Based on the work of Viner's predecessor

Henry Rolle Sir Henry Rolle (c. 1589–1656), of Shapwick in Somerset, was Chief Justice of the King's Bench and served as MP for Callington, Cornwall, (1614–1623–4) and for Truro, Cornwall (1625–1629). Origins Henry Rolle was born ''circa'' 158 ...

, but built up from other material, it is a vast encyclopædia of legal lore. An ''Alphabetical Index'' was compiled by

Robert Kelham Robert Kelham (1717–1808) was an English attorney and legal antiquary. Life He was the son of Robert Kelham, vicar of Billingborough, Threckingham, and Walcot, in Lincolnshire. He practised as an attorney in the Court of King's Bench until 17 ...

(1758). A second edition of the work, including the index, appeared at London in 1791–4, 24 vols., and was followed by a supplement by several hands, entitled ''An Abridgment of the Modern Determinations in the Courts of Law and Equity'', London, 1799–1806, 6 vols. J. G. Marvin wrote of it:Marvin, J.G. Legal Bibliography, or a thesaurus of American, English, Irish and Scotch law books:together with some continental treatises. T & J W Johnson. 1847
Page 711
from

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

References

*Viner, C. A General Abridgment of Law and Equity, Alphabetically Digested under proper Titles; with Notes and References to the Whole. 23 vols. fol. Aldershot. 1742 - 53. 2d ed. 24 vols. 8vo. London. 1791 - 94.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Viner, Charles 1678 births 1756 deaths 18th-century jurists English legal professionals English legal writers People from Salisbury Writers from Aldershot Lawyers from Hampshire