DEATH OF AN EMINENT JUDGE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 61, 12 October 1907, Page 3

DEATH OF AN EMINENT JUDGE.

| A BKILLIAXT CAKEEK. Jn thai well-known and widely-read work, "The Ueminiscen'H'S of Sir Henry Hawkins—compiled by Mr ltichard Harris from many conversations with Lord Brampton, and from innumerable MSS. from his pen—the chief incidents of the career of the once celebrated Advocate and Judge are given to the public. In the year 1830, while at school, Henry Hawkins saw a cart pass in which was the body of a youth aged 17 years, hanged that morning al Bedford Gaol for setting lire to a *taek of corn. This picture, he says, was so photographed on his mind that when he became a Judge it was "mainly useful in impressing on my mind the great consideration of the surrounding circumstances of every crime, the degree of guilt in the criminal, and the difference in the degrees of the same kind of offence." The schoolboy anon was articled to his uncle, a country attorney, and, as he had chosen the I3a"r as a profession

j against the wishes of his friends, his father undertook to allow him a hunI dred a year for live years, after which | lie was to sink or swim as fate might deal with him. He went to London on those terms, and by sheer hard work and acumen achieved in due course a fame which was almost world wide. His first brief came in the second year after he was called to the Bar, in which year he made the large income of ,t'so. In his third year he was making £IOO. Much of his early struggle was at the Old Bailey Criminal Court, in those times a den of infamy. He narrates an amazing case where a little boy, before lieing sworn, was asked what, when they died, became of people who told lies. "If he knows that, it's a good deal more than I do," said Die presiding Judge. But the boy, having replied "hell fire" to all queries put to him to test his knowledge of right and wrong, was eventually sworn. Steadily Mr Haw-kins worked his way upward, becoming associated with many of the brilliant lawyers of the day; and steadily, also, grist in the shape of payable business came his way. A story he tells of Mr Justice Littledale is worth reproducing. This judge was sentencing a butler for stealing hia master's silver spoons, and concluded in these terms: "i'ou, prisoner, have no reason for your conduct. You owed a debt of deepest gratitude and allegiance as a faithful servant to a kind master, instead of which you paid him by fealhering'your nest with his silver spoons; therefore, you must be transported for the term of seven years!" In 1SS!) ilr Hawkins was raised to a Queen's Counsel, and became a leader instead of a junior. Even then he often patronised the prize-ring, and witnessed many notable set-to's. A laughable anecdote is told in connection with the Brighton cardsharping case. The then Lord ChiefJustice Jervois, who presided, had a great knowledge of card-sharping, and all other rogueries. The counsel for the prosecution—for the Crown, that is—was so impartial as to state that he could find no ground for complaint in respect of the cards used by the accused. The judge asked for them, examined them, and then showed the prosecutor how the trick had been done, proceeding to explain the secret signs on the cards. Two of the accused gang of sharpers were standing near Mr Hawkins, who heard one of them say to the other: "Joey, how would you like to play blind h'ookcv with that old devil?"

After taking silk, the principal eases in which Mr Hawkins was engaged were the great Bompell cases; the famous convent ease, "Saurin v. Star." 1809, in which he led for Hie defence; the Westminster election suit, Mr Hawkins as leading counsel for Mr 11. W. Smith. He was associated with Lord Coleridge in the first Tichbornc trial, particularly distinguishing himself by his exhaustive cross-examination of Mr Baigent. When the claimant was prosecuted for perjury, Mr Hawkins led for the Crown, exhibiting skill whk-h greatly enhanced his reputation. In the Probate Court he led in support of the will of the late Lord Leonard. The Gladstone and von Beable cases were among the victories in the Divorce Court. He was also counsel in numerous election petitions; acted for the Crown in the purchase of lands for tic National Defences: for the Eoyal Commissioners in the purchase of the site for the new Law Courts for the City of London; and other suits too numerous to particularise. His was a busy, a useful, and a brilliant life, to lie capped in 1876 when he was appointed a -fudge of the Higli Court of .Tu=tice. Queen's Bench Division, thence transferred to the Exchequer Division, when he received the honor of knighthood. He resigned his se.it_on the Bench in 1808, after 22 years' service as a judge, and early in 1800 was raised to the peerage as Baron Brompton. His keen sense of humor remained to the last.