Sir Peter Grain (1864 – 1947) was a British

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

who served in

Zanzibar Zanzibar (; ; ) is an insular semi-autonomous province which united with Tanganyika in 1964 to form the United Republic of Tanzania. It is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of the mainland, and consists of many small islands ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

and China. He was the Chief Judge of the

British Supreme Court for China The British Supreme Court for China (originally the British Supreme Court for China and Japan) was a court established in the Shanghai International Settlement to try cases against British subjects in China, Japan and Korea under the principles o ...

from 1927 to 1933 and also judge of the High Court of

Weihaiwei Weihai (), formerly called Weihaiwei (), is a prefecture-level city and major seaport in easternmost Shandong province. It borders Yantai to the west and the Yellow Sea to the east, and is the closest Chinese city to South Korea. Weihai's popula ...

from 1926 to 1930.

Early life

Grain was born on September 25, 1864. He was the son of John Peter Grain, a well-known criminal

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 ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. He was called to the bar of 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 Inn an ...

in January 1897.

Career

Grain practiced in the criminal courts in London, sometimes as his father's junior, in England for 10 years. He was a member of the

Bar Council {{see also, Bar association A bar council ( ga, Comhairle an Bharra) or bar association, in a common law jurisdiction with a legal profession split between solicitors and barristers or advocates, is a professional body that regulates the profess ...

from 1902 until 1906. In 1906, at the age of 40 or 41, Grain commenced a career with the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

Judicial Service in

. In 1906, he was made Resident Magistrate at Zanzibar, and the same year he was promoted to be Assistant Judge and a Judge of the

Court of Appeal A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

for East Africa. For a time he left the Bench to become Legal Member of Council and

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 ...

to the Government of Zanzibar, and he was for a short time, from August 1907 to April 1908 Acting First Minister there. He was awarded the Zanzibar Order of the Alijah, 1st class. In 1910, he was made Assistant Judge of the British Supreme

Consular Court Consular courts were law courts established by foreign powers in countries where they had extraterritorial rights. They were presided over by consular officers. Extraterritoriality Western powers when establishing diplomatic relations with count ...

; then Acting Judge in 1911. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

he was the Special Judge in

for the trial of German and Austrian subjects and he was also Judge of the

Prize Court A prize court is a court (or even a single individual, such as an ambassador or consul) authorized to consider whether prizes have been lawfully captured, typically whether a ship has been lawfully captured or seized in time of war or under the te ...

there. In 1915, he became Assistant Judge (and Acting Judge between 1917 and 1918) of the British Supreme Court for Egypt. He was appointed as Judge of the British Supreme Court for Egypt in 1919. In 1921, Grain was appointed Assistant Judge of the

in Shanghai. In 1926 he was concurrently appointed judge of the High Court of

. In 1927, he was promoted to Chief Judge of the British Supreme Court for China on the retirement of Sir

Skinner Turner Sir Skinner Turner (2 June 1868 – 5 July 1935) was a British judge who served in Kenya, Uganda, Siam and China. His last position was as the Chief Judge of the British Supreme Court for China from 1921 to 1927. Early life Turner was bo ...

and was knighted in February 1928.

Gilbert Walter King Gilbert Walter King OBE (30 June 1871 – 23 December 1937) was a British judge who served in China. His last position before retirement was as Assistant Judge of the British Supreme Court for China. Early life King was born in Bombay, In ...

succeeded him as Assistant Judge. He continued to serve a judge in Weihaiwei until the territory was returned Chinese rule on 1 October 1930.

Retirement and death

Grain retired in 1933 and was succeeded by

Allan Mossop Sir Allan George Mossop (30 July 1887 – 14 June 1965) was a British judge of South African origin who served in China. He was the Chief Judge of the British Supreme Court for China from 1933 to 1943. Early life Mossop was born in Fis ...

. He returned to England and died on 6 May 1947, at

Farnham Common Farnham Common is a village in Buckinghamshire, England, 3 miles north of Slough and 3 miles south of Beaconsfield, on the A355 road. It adjoins the ancient woodland of Burnham Beeches, has an area of 2.5 miles and a population of around 6,000. ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

at the age of 82.Obituary, The Times, May 7, 1947

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grain, Peter 1864 births 1935 deaths 20th-century English judges British extraterritorial judges East Africa Protectorate judges British Supreme Court for China judges British Weihaiwei people Sultanate of Zanzibar judges 19th-century English lawyers

Early life

Career

Retirement and death

Further reading

References