William Brett, 1st Viscount Esher

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Life

Brett was a son of the Rev. Joseph G. Brett, of Chelsea. He was educated at Westminster and at Caius College, Cambridge. Brett rowed in the first Cambridge crew to win the University Boat Race in 1836, and which in the following year defeated the Leander Club in a race over the same course. [ [http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22196 "Sport, ancient and modern: Pastimes", A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 2: General; Ashford, East Bedfont with Hatton, Feltham, Hampton with Hampton Wick, Hanworth, Laleham, Littleton (1911), pp. 283-292. Date accessed: 08 October 2008] ] Called to the bar in 1840, he went to the northern circuit, and became a Queens Counsel in 1861. [Anon.] (1911)]

On the death of Richard Cobden he unsuccessfully contested Rochdale as a Conservative, but in 1866 was returned for Helston in unique circumstances. He and his opponent polled exactly the same number of votes, whereupon the mayor, as returning officer, gave his casting vote for the Liberal candidate. As this vote was given after four o'clock, however, an appeal was lodged, and the House of Commons allowed both members to take their seats.

Brett rapidly made his mark in the House, and in 1868 he was appointed Solicitor General. On behalf of the crown he prosecuted the Fenians charged with having caused the Clerkenwell explosion. In parliament he took a leading part in the promotion of bills connected with the administration of law and justice. He was (August 1868) appointed a justice in the Court of Common Pleas. Some of his sentences in this capacity excited much criticism, notably so in the case of the gas stokers' strike, when he sentenced the defendants to imprisonment for twelve months, with hard labor, which was afterwards reduced by the Home Secretary to four months.

On the reconstitution of the Court of Appeal in 1876, Brett was elevated to the rank of a Lord Justice. After holding this position for seven years, he succeeded Sir George Jessel as Master of the Rolls in 1883. In 1885 he was raised to the House of Lords as Baron Esher. He opposed the bill proposing that an accused person or his wife might give evidence in their own case, and supported the bill which empowered Lords of Appeal to sit and vote after their retirement. The Solicitors Act 1888, which increased the powers of the Incorporated Law Society, owed much to his influence. In 1880 he delivered a remarkable speech in the house of Lords, deprecating the delay and expense of trials, which he regarded as having been increased by the Judicature Acts.

In 1850 he married Eugénie Mayer (1814–1904).Hedley (2004)] Eugénie was possibly the illegitimate daughter of Napoleon Bonaparte and Fanny Meyer,Fact|date=November 2007 though other sources suggest that her father was one Louis Mayer. They had two sons, Reginald, 2nd Viscount Esher, and Eugène, and a daughter Violet.Fact|date=November 2007 He died in London.

Important judgments

*"Heaven v. Pender" (1883) - In the obiter dicta in his judgement of the Court of Appeal, Brett MR sought to establish a general "duty of care" between parties that would have led to a tort of negligence. Such a principle was only finally accepted by English courts in 1932. [Lunney & Oliphant (2003)]

Assessment

Lord Esher suffered, perhaps, as Master of the Rolls, from succeeding a lawyer of such eminence as Jessel. He had a caustic tongue, but also a fund of shrewd common sense, and one of his favorite considerations was whether a certain course was business or not. He retired from the bench at the close of 1897, and a Viscountcy was conferred upon him on his retirement, a dignity never given to any judge, Lord Chancellors excepted, for mere legal conduct since the time of Lord Coke.

References

Bibliography

*1911----
* [Anon.] (1911) " [http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/William_Baliol_Brett%2C_1st_viscount_Esher William Baliol Brett, 1st Viscount Esher] ", "Encyclopaedia Britannica"
*Hedley, S. (2004) " [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/3350 Brett, William Baliol, first Viscount Esher (1815–1899)] ", "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press, accessed 20 November 2007 ODNBsub
* cite book | pages="pp"91-91 | title=Tort Law:Text and Materials | author=Lunney, M. & Oliphant, K. | edition=2nd ed | publisher=Oxford University Press | location =Oxford | year=2003 | id=ISBN 0-19-926055-9 ----