Sir William Henry Ashurst (or Ashhurst) (1725–1807) was an English judge.

Early life

Ashurst belonged to the Lancashire family, the Ashhursts of Ashhurst or Ashurst. One of his ancestors was Henry Ashurst, the philanthropist, and another was lord mayor of London in 1693. Sir William Ashurst was born at Ashhurst, near

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

, 26 January 1725, and was educated at Charterhouse.

Career

Ashurst was admitted 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 ...

on 19 Jan. 1750. He practised for some years as a special pleader; and Mr. Justice Buller was one of his pupils. He was called to the bar on 8 February 1754, and was made a serjeant in 1770. On 25 June of the same year, on the removal of Sir

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 ...

to the

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, he succeeded him as a judge of the King's Bench, in which court

Lord Mansfield William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, (2 March 1705 – 20 March 1793), was a British judge, politician, lawyer, and peer best known for his reforms to English law. Born in Scone Palace, Perthshire, to a family of Peerage of Scotland, Scott ...

then held undisputed sway. Mr. Justice Ashurst's judgments, which are reported in Loffts and Douglas's 'Reports' and Chitty's 'Practice Cases,' are remarkable for their clearness and good sense. A contemporary writer thus describes his qualities as a judge: 'Sir William Ashurst is a man of liberal education and enlarged notions. His language has no peculiar neatness nor brilliancy, but it is perspicuous, pointed, and clear. He reasons logically, and knows well how to winnow the chaff and eloquence from argument and law.' Mr. Justice Ashurst is best remembered by his charge to the

grand jury A grand jury is a jury empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a person to testify. A grand ju ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

on 10 Nov. 1792. The charge was delivered shortly after the massacres of September in France, and at a time when the name of reform had become odious to a multitude of Englishmen. Mr. Justice Ashurst, giving expression to the fears of the hour respecting the French Revolution, attacked as 'absurd, nonsensical, and pernicious' the doctrines of its English admirers. 'There is no nation in the world that can boast of a more perfect system of government than that under which we live. . . . I trust that your minds will be impressed with these ideas, and that you will be assiduous in supporting our present form of government.' This charge was printed by the Society for preserving Liberty and Property against Republicans and Levellers as an opportune warning to the nation. It called forth several replies, one of the best-known being a pamphlet 'Justice to a Judge.' It also elicited from Bentham one of his most incisive pamphlets, 'Truth versus Ashhurst,' which was written in 1792, but was not printed until August 1823. Bentham's strictures are somewhat too sweeping. Sir William Ashurst was an admirer of what Bentham terms in this pamphlet 'the rubbish' of the

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

. But he co-operated in some degree with Mansfield in introducing a spirit of equity into its administration. His personal appearance is recorded in the lines attributed to Erskine — :Judge Ashhurst with his lanthorn jaws :Throws light upon the English laws.

Later life

Being highly esteemed as a lawyer, Sir William Ashurst was twice one of the commissioners entrusted with the great seal, which he held from 9 April 1783 to 23 December of the same year and from 15 June 1792 to 28 Jan. 1793. In 1786, Ashurst sold his home at Mount Pleasant (later known as Belmont) to William Franks.Page, William. (Ed.) (1908
"Parishes: East Barnet"
in ''A History of the County of Hertford: Volume 2''. Originally published by

Victoria County History The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History (VCH), is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of Englan ...

, London. British History Online. Retrieved 12 January 2016. On 9 June 1799 he resigned his office, and retired to his house at Waterstock, in Oxfordshire, where he died on 5 November 1807.

References and sources

;References ;Sources

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashurst, William Henry People from Wigan 1725 births 1807 deaths People educated at Charterhouse School 18th-century English judges