Charles Thomas Le Quesne (3 November 1885 – 22 November 1954), was a

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the l ...

born, British

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

politician and barrister.

Background

He was born in

Saint Helier St Helier (; Jèrriais: ; french: Saint-Hélier) is one of the twelve parishes of Jersey, the largest of the Channel Islands in the English Channel. St Helier has a population of 35,822 – over one-third of the total population of Jersey – ...

, Jersey, the son of Charles John Le Quesne. He was educated at

Victoria College, Jersey Victoria College is a Government-run, fee-paying, academically selective day schoolExeter College, Oxford (Let Exeter Flourish) , old_names = ''Stapeldon Hall'' , named_for = Walter de Stapledon, Bishop of Exeter , established = , sister_college = Emmanuel College, Cambridge , rector = Sir Richard Trainor ...

where he received a 1st class Honors in Mods in 1906 and a 1st class in Lit. Hum. in 1908. He married Eileen Gould. They had four sons and one daughter.

Legal career

He was called to the bar, at

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 ...

, in 1912. He took silk, becoming a King's Counsel in 1925. In 1950, he returned to Jersey and was appointed Lieutenant Bailiff. Up to this point, the

Royal Court A royal court, often called simply a court when the royal context is clear, is an extended royal household in a monarchy, including all those who regularly attend on a monarch, or another central figure. Hence, the word "court" may also be appl ...

's judgments were in the French style of ''jugements motivés'', written in French by the Greffier rather than the judge, and expressing the reasons for the court's decision only very briefly. Le Quesne changed the language of judgments to English and adopted 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 ...

style of judgments, where the judge gives detailed reasons for accepting or rejecting the rival submissions made at trial by counsel.

Political career

In 1908 he was President of the Oxford Union. He was a last minute Liberal candidate for the

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500. Developed after the Second World War as a new ...

Division of Hertfordshire at the 1929 General Election; Following the formation of the National Government in 1931, an election was called. Le Quesne stood again as a Liberal in support of the government but his main opponent, the Conservative was also a supporter; In June 1936 he was elected to serve on the Liberal Party Council.The Liberal Magazine, 1936 From 1946-47 he was President of the

Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland Baptists Together (officially The Baptist Union of Great Britain) is a Baptist Christian denomination in England and Wales. It is affiliated with the Baptist World Alliance and Churches Together in England. The headquarters is in Didcot. H ...

. He was made a Commander of the Dutch

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...

References

External links

Portrait of Le Quesne at the National Portrait Gallery: http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitLarge/mw102801/Charles-Thomas-Le-Quesne {{DEFAULTSORT:LE QUESNE, Charles Thomas 1885 births 1954 deaths 20th-century Baptists Alumni of Exeter College, Oxford British Baptists Commanders of the Order of Orange-Nassau Presidents of the Oxford Union