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SIR GEORGE JESSEL (1824-1883)

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 336 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SIR See also:GEORGE See also:JESSEL (1824-1883)  , See also:English See also:judge, was See also:born in See also:London on the 13th of See also:February 1824 . He was the son of Zadok See also:Aaron See also:Jessel, a Jewish See also:coral See also:merchant . See also:George Jessel was educated at a school for See also:Jews at See also:Kew, and being prevented by then existing religious disabilities from proceeding to See also:Oxford or See also:Cambridge, went to University See also:College, London . He entered as a student at See also:Lincoln's See also:Inn in 1842, and a See also:year later took his B.A. degree at the university of London, becoming M.A. and See also:gold medallist in See also:mathematics and natural See also:philosophy in 1844 . In 1846 he became a See also:fellow of University College, and in 1847 he was called to the See also:bar at Lincoln's Inn . His earnings during his first three years at the bar were 52,346, and 795 guineas, from which it will be seen that his rise to a tolerably large practice was rapid . His See also:work, however, was mainly See also:conveyancing, and for See also:long his income remained almost stationary . By degrees, however, he got more work, and was called within the bar in 1865, becoming a bencher of his Inn in the same year and practising in the Rolls See also:Court . Jessel entered See also:parliament as Liberal member for See also:Dover in 1868, and although neither his See also:intellect nor his See also:oratory was of a class likely to commend itself to his fellow-members, he attracted See also:Gladstone's See also:attention by two learned speeches on the See also:Bankruptcy See also:Bill which was before the See also:house in 1869, with the result that in 1871 he was appointed See also:solicitor-See also:general . His reputation at this See also:time stood high in the See also:Chancery courts; on the See also:common See also:law See also:side he was unknown, and on the first occasion upon which he came into the court of See also:Queen's See also:bench to move on behalf of the See also:Crown, there was very nearly a collision between him and the bench . His forceful and See also:direct method of bringing his arguments See also:home to the bench was not modified in his subsequent practice before it . His See also:great See also:powers were fully recognized; his business in addition to that on behalf of the Crown became very large, and his income for three years before he was raised to the bench amounted to nearly £25,000 per annum .

In 1873 Jessel succeeded See also:

Lord See also:Romilly as See also:master of the rolls . From 1873 to 1881 Jessel sat as a judge of first instance in the rolls court, being also a member of the court of See also:appeal . In See also:November 1874 the first Judicature See also:Act came into effect, and in 1881 the Judicature Act of that year made the master of the rolls the See also:ordinary See also:president of the first court of appeal, relieving him of his duties as a judge of first instance . In the court of appeal Jessel presided almost to the See also:day of his See also:death . For some time before 1883 he suffered from See also:diabetes with chronic disorder of the See also:heart and See also:liver, but struggled against it; on the 16th of See also:March 1883 he sat in court for the last time, and on the 21st of March he died at his See also:residence in London, the immediate cause of death being cardiac See also:syncope . As a judge of first instance Jessel was a See also:revelation to those accustomed to the proverbial slowness of the chancery courts ( with a railway station 75 M . N.E.of See also:Calcutta . Pop . (1900, 8054, and of the master of the rolls who preceded him . He disposed of the business before him with rapidity combined with correctness of See also:judgment, and he not only had no arrears himself, but was frequently able to help other See also:judges to clear their lists . His knowledge of law and See also:equity was wide and accurate, and his memory for cases and command of the principles laid down in them extraordinary . In the rolls court he never reserved a judgment, not even in the See also:Epping See also:Forest See also:case (Commissioners of Sewers v .

Glasse, L.R . 19 Eq.; The Times, 11th November 1874), in which the See also:

evidence and arguments lasted twenty-two days (150 witnesses being examined in court, while the documents went back to the days of See also:King See also:John), and in the court of appeal he did so only twice, and then in deference to the wishes of his colleagues . The second of these two occasions was the case of Robarts v . The See also:Corporation of London (49 Law Times 455; The Times, loth March 1883), and those who may read Jessel's judgment should remember that, reviewing as it does the law and See also:custom on the subject, and the records of the See also:city with regard to the See also:appointment of a See also:remembrancer from the 16th See also:century, together with the facts of the case before the court, it occupied nearly an See also:hour to deliver, but was nevertheless delivered without notes—this, too, on the 9th of March 1883, when the judge who uttered it was within a fortnight of his death . Never during the 19th century was the business of any court performed so rapidly, punctually, and satisfactorily as it was when Jessel presided . He was master of the rolls at a momentous See also:period of legal See also:history . The Judicature Acts, completing the See also:fusion of law and equity, were passed while he was judge of first instance, and were still new to the courts when he died . His knowledge and See also:power of assimilating knowledge of all subjects, his mastery of every See also:branch of law with which he had to concern himself, as well as of equity, together with his willingness to give effect to the new See also:system, caused it to be said when he died that the success of the Judicature Acts would have been impossible without him . His faults as a judge See also:lay in his disposition to be intolerant of those who, not able to follow the rapidity of his judgment, endeavoured to persist in See also:argument after he had made up his mind; but though he was See also:peremptory with the most eminent counsel, See also:young men had no cause to complain of his treatment of them . Jessel sat on the royal See also:commission for the See also:amendment of the Medical Acts, taking an active See also:part in the preparation of its See also:report . He actively interested himself in the management of Lon-See also:don University, of which he was a fellow from 1861, and of which he was elected See also:vice-See also:chancellor in 1880 . He was one of the commissioners of See also:patents, and trustee of the See also:British Museum .

He was also chairman of the See also:

committee of judges which drafted the new rules rendered necessary by the Judicature Acts . He was treasurer of Lincoln's Inn in 1883, and vice-president of the See also:council of legal See also:education . He was also a fellow of the Royal Society . Jessel's career marks an See also:epoch on the bench, owing to the active part taken by him in rendering the Judicature Acts effective, and also because he was the last judge capable of sitting in the House of See also:Commons, a See also:privilege of which he did not avail himself . He was the first See also:Jew who, as solicitor-general, took a See also:share in the executive See also:government of his See also:country, the first Jew who was sworn a See also:regular member of the privy council, and the first Jew who took a seat on the judicial bench of Great See also:Britain; • he was also, for many years after being called to the bar, so situated that any one might have driven him from it, because, being a Jew, he was not qualified to be a member of the bar . In See also:person Jessel was a stoutish, square-built See also:man of See also:middle height, with dark See also:hair, somewhat heavy features, a fresh ruddy complexion, and a large mouth . He married in 1856 Amelia, daughter of See also:Joseph See also:Moses, who survived him together with • three daughters and two sons, the See also:elder of whom, See also:Charles See also:James (b . 1860), was made a See also:baronet shortly after the death of his distinguished See also:father and in recognition of his services . See The Times, March 23, 1883; E . See also:Manson, Builders of our Law (1904) .

End of Article: SIR GEORGE JESSEL (1824-1883)
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