Louis Perrin (15 February 1782 – 7 December 1864) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

, politician and judge.

Early life

Perrin was born in

Waterford "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

, the son of

Jean Baptiste Perrin Jean Baptiste Perrin (30 September 1870 – 17 April 1942) was a French physicist who, in his studies of the Brownian motion of minute particles suspended in liquids ( sedimentation equilibrium), verified Albert Einstein’s explanation of this ...

. Jean Baptiste, a

Frenchman The French people (french: Français) are an ethnic group and nation primarily located in Western Europe that share a common French culture, history, and language, identified with the country of France. The French people, especially th ...

, had come to Ireland to seek a living: he set himself up as a teacher of French, and earned his living mainly as a private

tutor TUTOR, also known as PLATO Author Language, is a programming language developed for use on the PLATO system at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign beginning in roughly 1965. TUTOR was initially designed by Paul Tenczar for use in co ...

to wealthy Irish families. Louis Perrin was educated at the diocesan school at

Armagh Armagh ( ; ga, Ard Mhacha, , "Macha's height") is the county town of County Armagh and a city in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Pri ...

. Removing to

Trinity College Dublin , name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin , motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin) , motto_lang = la , motto_English = It will last i ...

, he was elected a Scholar there in 1799, and graduated B.A. in 1801. At the trial of his fellow student,

Robert Emmet Robert Emmet (4 March 177820 September 1803) was an Irish Republican, orator and rebel leader. Following the suppression of the United Irish uprising in 1798, he sought to organise a renewed attempt to overthrow the British Crown and Protes ...

, in 1803, when the sentence of death was pronounced, Perrin rushed forward in the court and warmly embraced the prisoner. He devoted himself with great energy to the study of

mercantile law ''Lex mercatoria'' (from the Latin language, Latin for "merchant law"), often referred to as "the Law Merchant" in English, is the body of commercial law used by merchants throughout Europe during the Middle Ages, medieval period. It evolved simi ...

; in Hilary term 1806 was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

, and was soon much employed in cases where penalties for breaches of the revenue laws were sought to be enforced. When Watty Cox, the proprietor and publisher of ''Cox's Magazine'' was prosecuted by the government for a

libel Defamation is the act of communicating to a third party false statements about a person, place or thing that results in damage to its reputation. It can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). It constitutes a tort or a crime. The legal defini ...

in 1811, O'Connell, Burke, Bethel, and Perrin were employed for the defence; but the case was practically conducted by the junior, who showed marked ability in the matter. He was also junior counsel, in 1811, in the prosecution of Sheridan, Kirwan, and the Roman Catholic delegates for violating the Convention Act. In 1832, he became a bencher of

King's Inns, Dublin The Honorable Society of King's Inns ( ir, Cumann Onórach Óstaí an Rí) is the "Inn of Court" for the Bar of Ireland. Established in 1541, King's Inns is Ireland's oldest school of law and one of Ireland's significant historical environment ...

Politics

He was a Whig in politics, supported

Catholic emancipation Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restricti ...

, and acquired the sobriquet of "Honest Louis Perrin". On 6 May 1831, in conjunction with Sir Robert Harty, he was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Dublin City. Being unseated in August, he was returned to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

for

Monaghan Monaghan ( ; ) is the county town of County Monaghan, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It also provides the name of its Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish and Monaghan (barony), barony. The population of the town as of the 2016 census was 7 ...

at the general election on 24 December 1832, displacing Henry Robert Westenra, the previous

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

member. At the next general election, in 1835, he came in for the city of Cashel, on 14 January 1835, but resigned the following August, to take his seat on the bench. In the

he strove to prevent

grand jury A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...

jobbery, and made an able speech on introducing the Irish municipal reform bill; and he was untiring in his efforts to check intemperance by advocating regulations closing

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 was ...

s at eleven o'clock at night. From 7 February 1832 to February 1835, he was Third Serjeant, from February to April 1835 First Serjeant, and on 29 April 1835, on the recommendation of the Marquis of Normanby, he succeeded

Francis Blackburne Francis Blackburne PC (Ire) KS (11 November 1782 – 17 September 1867) was an Irish judge and eventually became Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Background Born at Great Footstown in County Meath, he was the son of Richard Blackburne of Great Foot ...

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

. While a serjeant he presided over the inquiry into the old Irish corporations, and on his report the Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840 was passed. After the death of

Thomas Burton Vandeleur Thomas Burton Vandeleur (c. 1767–1835) was an Irish barrister and judge. He was born in Kilrush, County Clare to a prominent landowning family of Dutch origin, which settled at Kilrush in the 1680s, and did much to improve the town. He was a y ...

, he was appointed a puisne justice of the

Court of King's Bench The King's Bench (), or, during the reign of a female monarch, the Queen's Bench ('), refers to several contemporary and historical courts in some Commonwealth jurisdictions. * Court of King's Bench (England), a historic court court of common ...

, on 31 August 1835. In the same year, he was gazetted a

privy councillor A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

. He was most painstaking in the discharge of his important functions; and, despite some peculiarities of manner, may be regarded as one of the ablest and upright judges who have sat on the Irish bench. He resigned on a pension in February 1860, and resided at Knockdromin near

Rush, County Dublin Rush ( ga, Ros Eó , meaning 'peninsula of the yew trees'), officially ''An Ros'', is a small seaside commuter town in Fingal, Ireland. It was one of the few towns of the historic County Dublin. Rush lies on the Irish Sea coast, between Sker ...

, where he frequently attended the

petty sessions Courts of petty session, established from around the 1730s, were local courts consisting of magistrates, held for each petty sessional division (usually based on the county divisions known as hundreds) in England, Wales, and Ireland. The session ...

. He died at his residence Knockdromin House, near Rush, on 7 December 1864, and was buried at Lusk, on 10 December. Knockdromin was destroyed in an arson attack in 2011.

Family

He married, in April 1815, Hester Connor Stewart, daughter of the Rev. Abraham Augustus Stewart, chaplain to the Royal Hibernian School, Dublin and his wife Frances Connor of

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...

, by whom he had seven sons, including James, a major in the army, who fell at

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

in 1857; Louis, rector of Garrycloyne,

Blarney, County Cork Blarney () is a suburban town within the administrative area of Cork City in Ireland. It is located approximately north-west of the city centre. It is the site of Blarney Castle, home of the legendary Blarney Stone. Blarney is part of the Dáil ...

; William, chief registrar of the Irish Court of Bankruptcy (d 1892); Charles, major of the 66th foot from 1865; Mark, registrar of judgments in Ireland; and John, of Fortfield House,

Terenure Terenure (), originally called ''Roundtown'', is an affluent, middle class suburb of Dublin in Ireland. It is located in the city's D6W postcode area. Location and transport Terenure lies primarily in the administrative area of Dublin City ...

, father of the well-known painter Mary Perrin.

References

* *

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Perrin, Louis 1864 deaths 1782 births Alumni of Trinity College Dublin Attorneys-General for Ireland Justices of the Irish King's Bench Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Dublin constituencies (1801–1922) Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Monaghan constituencies (1801–1922) Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Tipperary constituencies (1801–1922) Members of the Privy Council of Ireland Politicians from County Waterford Scholars of Trinity College Dublin Serjeants-at-law (Ireland) UK MPs 1831–1832 UK MPs 1832–1835 UK MPs 1835–1837 Whig (British political party) MPs for Irish constituencies