Sir John Jervis (1857) engraved by George Salisbury Shury (cropped)

Sir John Jervis, PC (12 January 1802 – 1 November 1856) was an English lawyer, law reformer and Attorney General in the administration of Lord John Russell. He subsequently became a judge and enjoyed a career as a robust but intelligent and innovative jurist, a career cut short by his early and sudden death.

Early life

The son of Thomas Jervis, he was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, though he did not graduate, apparently preferring to take a commission as an officer in the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

. However, after two years he returned to study law being called to the bar by the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's I ...

in 1824.Getzler (2004) Jervis followed his father onto the Oxford circuit and the Chester and north

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

circuit and built a substantial practice, being appointed a postman of the Court of Exchequer. He was offered the distinction of Queen's Counsel in 1837 but, aspiring to a political career, he declined, managing to obtain a patent of precedence instead.

Legal author (1826–1832)

Between 1826 and 1832, Jervis collaborated in law reporting with

Charles John Crompton Sir Charles John Crompton (12 June 1797 – 30 October 1865) was an English justice of the Queen's Bench. Life Crompton was born in Derby; he was the third son of Dr. Peter Crompton, and his second cousin Mary, daughter of John Crompton of Chorl ...

('' Crompton & Jervis'') and was also the co-reporter in '' Younge & Jervis''. '' Jervis's Office and Duties of Coroners'' (1829) remains the leading practitioners' text on coroners and inquests with a 13th edition due in late 2007. He undertook a major rewrite of '' Archbold Criminal Pleading, Evidence and Practice'' to produce the 4th edition (1831) and went on to edit the 5th to 8th editions. Jervis went on to author four editions of '' All the Rules of the Courts of King's Bench and Common Pleas and Exchequer'' (1832–1839) and established his reputation as a leading scholar of procedure so that in 1850 he was appointed chair of a commission to inquire into practice and procedure at the

common law In law, common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law created by judges and similar quasi-judicial tribunals by virtue of being stated in written opinions."The common law is not a brooding omniprese ...

courts, alongside James Shaw Willes and George Wilshere, 1st Baron Bramwell. The commission's findings led to the Common Law Procedure Acts 1852 and 1854 (15 & 16 Vict. c. 76 and 17 & 18 Vict. c. 135) which started the process of rationalising the English courts, until then still hampered by much medieval practice, and creating the modern system.

Political career (1832–1850)

Jervis was elected Liberal Member of Parliament for Chester in 1832 and held the seat until he became a judge in 1850. Jervis was never overly concerned with local politics and was distant as a constituency MP, even being censured in the Liberal ''Chester Chronicle'' for his inaction over the River Dee Bill and his overly-insistent attempts to ensure that his son was nominated as candidate in his stead when he stood down. Jervis did however take an uncharacteristic interest in the Chester Criminals' Execution Bill (1835), and the Weaver Churches Act 1840. Jervis was appointed Solicitor-General in 1846, becoming Attorney-General three days later when Sir Thomas Wilde was appointed a judge. Jervis was knighted on 1 August 1846. Jervis was Attorney-General while the

revolutions of 1848 The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europ ...

were unfolding across Europe and affecting events in the UK. The collateral domestic civil unrest resulted in the speedy enactment of the Treason Felony Act 1848 (11 & 12 Vict. c. 12) and Jervis was involved in the drafting and promotion of the Bill. The Act in turn generated a heavy workload for Jervis in running prosecutions against Chartist activists. Jervis won all such prosecution and achieved some fame and honour, being considered for high judicial office.

The Jervis Acts

By 1848, the institution of Justice of the Peace in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is En ...

had fallen into disrepute in some legal circles,Freestone & Richardson (1980) p. 5 its statutory basis dating back to the sixteenth century.Freestone & Richardson (1980) p. 9 Jervis was responsible for sponsoring, drafting and all but single-handedly guiding through the House of Commons three bills to reform the criminal and civil roles of a Justice of the Peace in England and Wales: * Indictable Offences Act 1848 (11 & 12 Vict. c.42); *

Summary Jurisdiction Act 1848 may refer to: * Abstract (summary), shortening a passage or a write-up without changing its meaning but by using different words and sentences * Epitome, a summary or miniature form * Abridgement, the act of reducing a written work into a sho ...

; and * Justices Protection Act 1848 (11 & 12 Vict. c. 44). The Acts won considerable praise as soon as they came into force though they did later attract criticism for their verbose style. In retrospect, Getzler expresses the opinion that the system of local justices would have fallen into further disrepute and ultimate decline and desuetude without these reforms. These Acts largely defined the modern system of summary and indictable offences within the magistrates' courts.Freestone & Richardson (1980) p. 10 The Indictable Offences Act 1848 is important in that it is the first codification of the police caution in

, in the words:Freestone & Richardson (1980) pp. 11–12 The first two Acts defined the duties of Justices acting other than at quarter sessions (i.e. "out of sessions"). Jervis achieved consistency of practice by appending extensive forms and precedents to the Acts so as to provide a straightforward means by which Justices could comply though allowing them, at least the perception of, freedom to adapt to local circumstances. The prudent Justice follows precedent and this was a character trait a future Attorney-General,

Alexander Cockburn Alexander Claud Cockburn ( ; 6 June 1941 – 21 July 2012) was a Scottish-born Irish-American political journalist and writer. Cockburn was brought up by British parents in Ireland, but lived and worked in the United States from 1972. Together ...

, would use in the

Common Law Procedure Act 1852 Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally co ...

and the

Common Law Procedure Act 1854 Common may refer to: Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Common, common land area in Cambridge, Massachusetts * Clapham Common, originally c ...

. A fourth Act, the Petty Sessions Act 1849, proscribed the holding of petty sessions in "unsuitable" premises such as

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

s, though it was delayed because the Bill's provisions as to

salaries A salary is a form of periodic payment from an employer to an employee, which may be specified in an employment contract. It is contrasted with piece wages, where each job, hour or other unit is paid separately, rather than on a periodic basis. F ...

for magistrates' clerks and statutory scales for court fees proved unacceptable.Freestone & Richardson (1980) p. 8

Judicial career (1850–1856)

Jervis was appointed Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and appointed a Privy Councillor. In 1854, he heard the case of '' Talbot v. Laroche'', a legal action pivotal to the

history of photography The history of photography began in remote antiquity with the discovery of two critical principles: camera obscura image projection and the observation that some substances are visibly altered by exposure to light. There are no artifacts or de ...

. His greatest judicial achievement, however, was the creation of the "indoor management rule" or

rule in Turquand's case ''Royal British Bank v Turquand'' (1856) 6 E&B 327 is a UK company law case that held people transacting with companies are entitled to assume that internal company rules are complied with, even if they are not. This "indoor management rule" or ...

, giving protection to third parties who deal with a company in good faith without knowledge that the company has not followed its own internal procedures. Jervis died suddenly, possibly of lung cancer, on 1 November 1856 in London and was buried at

Shipbourne Shipbourne ( ) is a village and civil parish situated between the towns of Sevenoaks and Tonbridge, in the borough of Tonbridge and Malling in the English county of Kent. In 2020 it was named as the most expensive village in Kent. It is located i ...

References

Bibliography

* non.''The Jurist'', new ser., 2/2 (1856), ''p.''458 * non.''Law Times'', 8 Nov 1856, ''pp''85–6 * non.(1856-7) ''Law Magazine'', new ser. 2, ''pp''302–7 * non.''The English Reports'', 178 vols. (1900–32) vols. 118–19, ''pp''138–9, 148, 169 * * * 9.216–18 *Getzler, J. S. (2004)
Jervis, Sir John (1802–1856)
, ''

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'', Oxford University Press, Retrieved 4 July 2007 *, vol.15 * *Manchester, A. H. "Jervis, John", in ''pp''279–80 *

External links

Page at Coroner's Law Resource
King's College London {{DEFAULTSORT:Jervis, John Chief Justices of the Common Pleas 19th-century English judges English legal writers 1802 births 1856 deaths Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1832–1835 UK MPs 1835–1837 UK MPs 1837–1841 UK MPs 1841–1847 UK MPs 1847–1852 British Army officers Attorneys General for England and Wales English male non-fiction writers Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom