Charles Viner (1678–5 June 1756) was an English

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Un ...

, known as the author of ''Viner's Abridgment'', and the benefactor of the Vinerian chair and the

Vinerian Scholarship The Vinerian Scholarship is a scholarship given to the University of Oxford student who "gives the best performance in the examination for the degree of Bachelor of Civil Law". Currently, £2,500 is given to the winner of the scholarship, with an a ...

at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the world's second-oldest university in contin ...

Life

The son of Mary and Charles Viner, a draper of

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

, he was baptised at the church of St. Thomas, Salisbury, on 3 November 1678. He studied for a time at Oxford, where he matriculated at Hart Hall on 19 February 1695. He then resided at

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alde ...

, Hampshire, and had chambers in the Temple (King's Bench Walk), but was not called to the bar. He married Raleigh Weekes (1681–1761), a descendant of

Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellio ...

, on 16 November 1699 at Saint Ethelburga's church in

Bishopsgate Bishopsgate was one of the eastern gates in London's former defensive wall. The gate gave its name to the Bishopsgate Ward of the City of London. The ward is traditionally divided into ''Bishopsgate Within'', inside the line wall, and ''Bisho ...

in London. There were no children from the marriage. Viner died at Aldershot on 5 June 1756. He and his wife are buried in the churchyard of St Michael's church in Aldershot and have a memorial plaque inside the church.

Legacy

By his will, dated 29 December 1755, Viner left the remainder copies of the ''Abridgment'' and his residuary real and personal estate (value about £12,000) to the

upon trusts. Effect was given to the bequest by the endowment of the Vinerian common-law chair, scholarships, and fellowships. The first professor was Sir William Blackstone.

''Viner's Abridgment''

Viner devoted half a century to the compilation of ''A General Abridgment of Law and Equity. Alphabetically digested under proper Titles, with Notes and References to the whole'', Aldershot, 1742–53, 23 vols. folio. It was printed on a press at his home in

on paper manufactured under Viner's own direction with his initials 'C.V.' in the watermark.Frederic Madden, Bulkeley Bandinel(eds

''Collectanea Topographica Et Genealogica'', Volume 7, John Bowyer Nichols and Son, London (1841) - Google Books pg. 217 Based on the work of Viner's predecessor Henry Rolle, but built up from other material, it is a vast encyclopædia of legal lore. An ''Alphabetical Index'' was compiled by Robert Kelham (1758). A second edition of the work, including the index, appeared at London in 1791–4, 24 vols., and was followed by a supplement by several hands, entitled ''An Abridgment of the Modern Determinations in the Courts of Law and Equity'', London, 1799–1806, 6 vols.

J. G. Marvin John Gage Marvin (1815–1855) was an American lawyer, known as a legal bibliographer and figure of the history of California. Early life He was born at Le Raysville, Pennsylvania, and was educated at Wesleyan University in Connecticut. He then ta ...

wrote of it:Marvin, J.G. Legal Bibliography, or a thesaurus of American, English, Irish and Scotch law books:together with some continental treatises. T & J W Johnson. 1847
Page 711
from

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...

References

*Viner, C. A General Abridgment of Law and Equity, Alphabetically Digested under proper Titles; with Notes and References to the Whole. 23 vols. fol. Aldershot. 1742 - 53. 2d ed. 24 vols. 8vo. London. 1791 - 94.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Viner, Charles 1678 births 1756 deaths 18th-century jurists English legal professionals English legal writers People from Salisbury Writers from Aldershot Lawyers from Hampshire