- Gordon Hewart, 1st Viscount Hewart
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The Right Honourable
The Viscount Hewart
PC, KC7th Lord Chief Justice of England In office
8 March 1922 – 12 October 1940Monarch George V Preceded by The Lord Trevethin Succeeded by The Viscount Caldecote Attorney General for England In office
10 January 1919 – 6 March 1922Monarch George V Prime Minister David Lloyd George Preceded by Sir F. E. Smith Succeeded by Sir Ernest Pollock Solicitor General for England In office
10 December 1916 – 10 January 1919Monarch George V Prime Minister David Lloyd George Preceded by Sir George Cave Succeeded by Sir Ernest Pollock Personal details Born Gordon Hewart
7 January 1870
Bury, Lancashire
England
United KingdomDied 5 May 1943 (aged 73)
Barnet, Hertfordshire
United KingdomPolitical party Liberal Alma mater University College, Oxford Occupation Politician, Judge Gordon Hewart, 1st Viscount Hewart, PC (7 January 1870 – 5 May 1943) was a politician and judge in the United Kingdom.
Contents
Background and education
Born in Bury, Lancashire the son of Giles Hewart, he was educated at Manchester Grammar School and University College, Oxford.
Political and legal career
He was a Liberal Member of Parliament from 1913 and was made a Privy Counsellor in 1918, Attorney General from 10 January 1919 to 6 March 1922. He entered the cabinet in 1921, and was Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales from 8 March 1922 to 12 October 1940. He was given a peerage as Baron Hewart in 1922 to allow him to sit in the House of Lords as Lord Chief Justice. Upon his retirement he was created Viscount Hewart.
In 1929 Hewart published The New Despotism, in which he claimed that the rule of law in Britain was being undermined by the legislature. This book was very controversial and led to the appointment of a Committee on Ministers' Powers—chaired by the Earl of Donoughmore—but its Report rejected Hewart's arguments. He has been described as "one of the most vigorous and vociferous believers in the impeccability of the English jury system of this or any other century"[1] However, in 1931, Hewart made legal history, when (sitting with Mr. Justice Branson and Mr. Justice Hawke) he quashed the conviction for murder of William Herbert Wallace, on the grounds that the conviction was not supported by the weight of the evidence. In other words – the jury was wrong. Lord Hewart was the originator (paraphrased from the original) of the aphorism "Not only must Justice be done; it must also be seen to be done." He died in Barnet aged 73.
Family
Lord Hewart married twice; firstly in 1892 Sarah Wood Riley, daughter of J. H. Riley and secondly in 1934, Jean Stewart, the daughter of J.R.Stewart. With his first wife he had a daughter Katharine and a son and heir, Hugh.[2] He died in Totteridge, England on 5 May 1943. His titles were inherited by his son, Hugh Hewart, 2nd Viscount Hewart.
See also
- Rex v Sussex Justices, ex parte McCarthy
Notes
Further reading:
R. Jackson, The chief: the biography of Gordon Hewart, lord chief justice of England, 1922–40 (1959)
R. F. V. Heuston, Lives of the lord chancellors, 1885–1940 (1964)
R. Stevens, The independence of the judiciary: the view from the lord chancellor's office (1993)
R. Stevens, ‘Hewart, Gordon, first Viscount Hewart (1870–1943)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004)References
- ^ The Killing of Julia Wallace, by Jonathan Goodman (Headline, London, 1987), p.251
- ^ http://thepeerage.com/p23483.htm
Parliament of the United Kingdom Preceded by
Eliot Crawshay-Williams and
Ramsay MacdonaldMember of Parliament for Leicester
1913–1918
Served alongside: Ramsay MacdonaldConstituency abolished New constituency Member of Parliament for Leicester East
1918–1922Succeeded by
George BantonLegal offices Preceded by
Sir George CaveSolicitor General for England and Wales
1916–1919Succeeded by
Sir Ernest PollockPreceded by
Sir F. E. SmithAttorney General for England and Wales
1919–1922Succeeded by
Sir Ernest PollockPreceded by
The Lord TrevethinLord Chief Justice of England
1922–1940Succeeded by
The Viscount CaldecotePeerage of the United Kingdom Preceded by
New CreationViscount Hewart
1940–1943Succeeded by
Hugh HewartCategories:- 1870 births
- 1943 deaths
- Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies
- Liberal Party (UK) MPs
- Lords Chief Justice of England and Wales
- Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
- Viscounts in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
- UK MPs 1910–1918
- UK MPs 1918–1922
- Attorneys General for England and Wales
- Solicitors General for England and Wales
- Old Mancunians
- Alumni of University College, Oxford
- People from Bury
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