Sir William Henry Ashurst (or Ashhurst) (1725–1807) was an English judge.
Early life
Ashurst belonged to the Lancashire family, the Ashhursts of Ashhurst or Ashurst. One of his ancestors was
Henry Ashurst, the philanthropist, and another was lord mayor of London in 1693. Sir William Ashurst was born at
Ashhurst
Ashhurst ( mi, Whārite) is a town and outlying suburb of Palmerston North, in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand's North Island.
Location
Ashhurst is sited 14 kilometres northeast of the Palmerston North city centre. The town s ...
, near
Wigan
Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington t ...
, 26 January 1725, and was educated at Charterhouse.
Career
Ashurst was admitted of the
Inner Temple
The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and ...
on 19 Jan. 1750. He practised for some years as a special pleader; and Mr. Justice Buller was one of his pupils. He was called to the bar on 8 February 1754, and was made a serjeant in 1770. On 25 June of the same year, on the removal of Sir
William Blackstone
Sir William Blackstone (10 July 1723 – 14 February 1780) was an English jurist, judge and Tory politician of the eighteenth century. He is most noted for writing the ''Commentaries on the Laws of England''. Born into a middle-class family ...
to the
Common Pleas
A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against one ...
, he succeeded him as a judge of the
King's Bench, in which court
Lord Mansfield
William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, PC, SL (2 March 170520 March 1793) was a British barrister, politician and judge noted for his reform of English law. Born to Scottish nobility, he was educated in Perth, Scotland, before moving to Lond ...
then held undisputed sway. Mr. Justice Ashurst's judgments, which are reported in Loffts and Douglas's 'Reports' and Chitty's 'Practice Cases,' are remarkable for their clearness and good sense. A contemporary writer thus describes his qualities as a judge: 'Sir William Ashurst is a man of liberal education and enlarged notions. His language has no peculiar neatness nor brilliancy, but it is perspicuous, pointed, and clear. He reasons logically, and knows well how to winnow the chaff and eloquence from argument and law.'
Mr. Justice Ashurst is best remembered by his charge to the
grand jury of
Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...
on 10 Nov. 1792. The charge was delivered shortly after the massacres of September in France, and at a time when the name of reform had become odious to a multitude of
Englishmen. Mr. Justice Ashurst, giving expression to the fears of the hour respecting the
French revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
, attacked as 'absurd, nonsensical, and pernicious' the doctrines of its English admirers. 'There is no nation in the world that can boast of a more perfect system of government than that under which we live. . . . I trust that your minds will be impressed with these ideas, and that you will be assiduous in supporting our present form of government.' This charge was printed by the Society for preserving Liberty and Property against
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
s and Levellers as an opportune warning to the nation. It called forth several replies, one of the best-known being a pamphlet 'Justice to a Judge.' It also elicited from
Bentham one of his most incisive pamphlets, 'Truth versus Ashhurst,' which was written in 1792, but was not printed until August 1823. Bentham's strictures are somewhat too sweeping. Sir William Ashurst was an admirer of what Bentham terms in this pamphlet 'the rubbish' of 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 omnipres ...
. But he co-operated in some degree with Mansfield in introducing a spirit of equity into its administration. His personal appearance is recorded in the lines attributed to Erskine —
:Judge Ashhurst with his lanthorn jaws
:Throws light upon the English laws.
Later life
Being highly esteemed as a lawyer, Sir William Ashurst was twice one of the commissioners entrusted with the great seal, which he held from 9 April 1783 to 23 December of the same year and from 15 June 1792 to 28 Jan. 1793. In 1786, Ashurst sold his home at Mount Pleasant (later known as
Belmont) to
William Franks.
[Page, William. (Ed.) (1908]
"Parishes: East Barnet"
in ''A History of the County of Hertford: Volume 2''. Originally published by Victoria County History
The Victoria History of the Counties of England, commonly known as the Victoria County History or the VCH, is an English history project which began in 1899 with the aim of creating an encyclopaedic history of each of the historic counties of En ...
, London. British History Online. Retrieved 12 January 2016. On 9 June 1799 he resigned his office, and retired to his house at Waterstock, in Oxfordshire, where he died on 5 November 1807.
References and sources
;References
;Sources
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ashurst, William Henry
People from Wigan
1725 births
1807 deaths
People educated at Charterhouse School
18th-century English judges