Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

JOHN BRAND (1744-1806)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V04, Page 419 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

JOHN See also:BRAND (1744-1806)  , See also:English See also:antiquary, was See also:born on the 19th of See also:August 1744 at See also:Washington, See also:Durham, where his See also:father was See also:parish clerk . His See also:early years were spent at Newcastleon-See also:Tyne with his See also:uncle, a cordwainer, to whom he was apprentice in his fourteenth See also:year . Showing promise, however, at See also:Newcastle See also:grammar school, See also:friends interested themselves in him and assisted him to go to See also:Oxford . It was not, however, until his twenty-eighth year that he matriculated at See also:Lincoln See also:College, but before this he had been ordained, holding in See also:succession the curacies of Bolam, See also:Northumberland, of St See also:Andrew's, Newcastle, and of Cramlington, 8 m. from the See also:county See also:town . He graduated in 1775 and two years later was elected See also:fellow of the Society of Antiquaries . Having for a See also:short See also:time been under-See also:usher at the Newcastle grammar school, the See also:duke of Northumberland, a former See also:patron, gave him in 1784 the rectory of the combined parishes of St See also:Mary-at-See also:Hill and St Mary Hubbard, See also:London . Appointed secretary to the Society of Antiquaries in the same year, he was annually re-elected until his See also:death in ,8o6 . He was buried in the See also:chancel of his See also:church . His most important See also:work is Observations on Popular Antiquities: including the whole of Mr See also:Bourne's "Antiquitates Vulgares," with addenda to every See also:chapter of that work . This was published in London in 1777, and after See also:Brand's death, a new edition embodying the See also:MSS. See also:left by him, was published by See also:Sir See also:Henry See also:Ellis in 1813 . Brand also published 419 of the See also:Common See also:Law See also:Procedure See also:Commission, which resulted in the Common Law Procedure See also:Act of 1852 . This act he drafted jointly with his friend Mr (afterwards Mr See also:Justice) Willes, and thus began the abolition of the See also:system of See also:special See also:pleading .

In 1851 See also:

Lord See also:Cranworth made See also:Bramwell a See also:queen's counsel, and the Inner See also:Temple elected him a bencher—he had ceased to be a member of Lincoln's See also:Inn in 1841 . In 1853 he served on the royal commission to inquire into the assimilation of the See also:mercantile See also:laws of See also:Scotland and See also:England and the law of See also:partnership, which had as its result the Companies Act of 1862 . It was he who, during the sitting of this commission, suggested the addition of the word " limited " to the See also:title of companies that sought to limit their liability, in See also:order to prevent the obvious danger to persons trading with them in See also:ignorance of their See also:limitation of liability . As a queen's counsel Bramwell enjoyed a large and steadily increasing practice, and in 1856 he was raised to the See also:bench as a See also:baron of the See also:court of See also:exchequer . In.1867, with Mr Justice See also:Blackburn and Sir See also:John See also:Coleridge, he was made a member of the judicature commission . In 1871 he was one of the three See also:judges who refused the seat on the judicial See also:committee of the privy See also:council to which Sir See also:Robert See also:Collier, in evasion of the spirit of the act creating the See also:appointment, was appointed; and in 1876 he was raised to the court of See also:appeal, where he sat till the autumn of 1881 . As a See also:puisne See also:judge he had been conspicuous as a See also:sound lawyer, with a strong logical mind unfettered by technicalities, but endowed with considerable respect for the common law . His rulings were always clear and decisive, while the same quality marked his dealings with fact, and, coupled with a straightforward, unpretentious manner, gave him See also:great See also:influence with juries . In the court of appeal he was perhaps not so entirely in his See also:element as at nisi See also:Arius, but the same See also:combination of sound law, strong common sense and clear expression characterized his judgments . His decisions during the three stages of his See also:practical career are too numerous to be referred to particularly, although See also:Ryder v . See also:Wombwell (L . R .

3 Ex . 95); R. v . See also:

Bradshaw (14 See also:Cox C . C . 84); See also:Household See also:Fire See also:Insurance See also:Company v . See also:Grant (4 Ex . Div . 216); Stonor v . Fowle (13 App . Cas . 20), The See also:Bank of England v . Vagliano See also:Brothers (App .

Cas . 1891) are See also:

good examples . Upon his retirement, announced in the See also:long vacation of 1881, twenty-six judges and a huge gathering of the See also:bar entertained him at a banquet in the Inner Temple See also:hall . In See also:December of the same year he was raised to the See also:peerage, taking the title Baron Bramwell of }See also:lever, from his See also:home in See also:Kent . In private See also:life Bramwell had See also:simple tastes and enjoyed simple pleasures . He was musical and fond of See also:sports . He was twice married: in 183o to Jane (d . 1836), daughter of See also:Bruno See also:Silva, by whom he had one daughter, and in 1861 to Martha Sinden . He died on the 9th of May 1892 . His younger See also:brother, Sir See also:Frederick Bramwell (1818-1903), was a well-known consulting engineer and " See also:expert See also:witness." At all times Lord Bramwell had been fond of controversy and controversial See also:writing, and he wrote See also:constant letters to The Times over the See also:signature B . (he also signed himself at different times Bramwell, G . B. and L .

L.) . He joined in 1882 the See also:

Liberty and See also:Property See also:Defence See also:League, and some of his writings after that date took the See also:form of See also:pamphlets published by that society .

End of Article: JOHN BRAND (1744-1806)
[back]
BRANCOVAN, or BRANCOVRANU
[next]
SIR JOHN HENRY BRAND (1823-1888)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.