ment. This was the establishment of a general Register of Deeds or Titles to Land for England and Wales, which would diminish the number of unmarketable and unsafe titles, and thus simplify and cheapen the transfer of land. As head of the Real Property Commission of 1827, he had ample opportunity of observing the evils caused by the absurd system of outstanding terms,[1] and he was able to quote the example of most European countries, where compulsory publication had been found neither to hurt commercial credit nor to wound family pride. The measure of 1830 was defeated by the country attorneys, led by Sir Chas. Wetherell, but the principle has rapidly gained ground and has been partially embodied in the Land Transfer Bills of subsequent reformers. Campbell s most important appearance as member for Stafford was in defence of Lord John Russell s first Reform Bill (1831). In a temperate and learned speech, based on Fox s declaration against constitution-mongering, he supported both the enfranchising and the disfranchising clauses, and easily disposed of the cries of " corporation robbery," " nabob representation," " opening for young men of talent," &c. The following year (1832) found Campbell solicitor-general, a knight, and member for Dudley, which he represented till 1834. In that year he became attorney-general and
was returned by Edinburgh, for which he sat till 1841.[2]His political creed declared upon the hustings there was that of a moderate Whig. He maintained the connection of church and state, opposed triennial parliaments and the ballot, and railed against the dictatorship of the great duke (see Speech at Edinburgh, 3d January 1835, 8vo, London, 1835). Although in his relations with his constituents in both England and Scotland there was traceable an unpleas ant spirit of accommodation and cajolery, in Parliament his position, both political and religious, was always well defined and independent. There he continued to lend the most effective help to the Liberal party. His speech in 1835 in support of the motion for inquiry into the Irish Church Temporalities with a view to their partial appropriation for national purposes (for disestablishment was not then dreamed of as possible) contains much terse argument, and no doubt contributed to the fall of Peel and the formation of the Melbourne cabinet. The next year Campbell had a fierce encounter with Lord Stanley in the debate which followed the motion of Mr Spring Rice on the repair and maintenance of parochial churches and chapels. The legal point in the dispute (which Campbell afterwards made the subject of a separate pamphlet) was whether the churchwardens of the parish, in the absence of the vestry, had any means of enforcing a rate except the antiquated interdict or ecclesiastical censure It was not on legal technicalities, however, but on the broad principle of religious equality, that Campbell supported the abolition of Church Rates, in which he included the Edinburgh Annuity-Tax. In the same year he spoke for Lord Mel bourne in the action (thought by some to be a political conspiracy[3]) which was brought by Mr Norton against the Whig premier for criminal conversation with the beautiful and accomplished grand-daughter of Sheridan. At this time also he exerted himself for the reform of justice in the ecclesiastical courts, for the uniformity of the law of marriage (which he held should be a purely civil contract), and for giving prisoners charged with felony the benefit of counsel. His defence of the Times newspaper, which had accused Sir John Conroy, equerry to the duchess of Kent, of misappropriation of money (1838), is chiefly remarkable for the confession " I despair of any definition of libel which shall exclude no publications which ought to be suppressed, and include none which ought to be permitted." His own definition of blasphemous libel was enforced in the prosecution which, as attorney-general, he raised against the bookseller Hetherington, and which he justified on the singular ground that "the vast bulk of the population believe that morality depends entirely on revelation ; and if a doubt could be raised among them that the Ten Commandments were given by God from Mount Sinai, men would think they were at liberty to steal, and women would consider themselves absolved from the restraints of chastity." But his most distinguished effort at the bar was undoubtedly the speech for the House of Commons in the famous case of Stockdale v. Hansard. The Commons had ordered to be printed, among other papers, a Report of the Inspectors of Prisons on Newgate, which stated that an obscene book, published by Stockdale, was given to the prisoners to read. Stockdale sued the Commons publisher, and was met by the plea of parliamentary privilege, to which, however, the judges did not give effect, on the ground that they were entitled to define the privileges of the Commons, and that publication of papers was not essential to the functions of Parliament. The matter was settled by the Act 3 Viet. c. 9.
John Frost, one of the three Chartist leaders who attacked the town of Newport, all of whom were found guilty of high treason. We may also mention, as matter of historical interest, the case before the High Steward and the House of Lords which arose out of the duel fought on Wimbledon Common between the earl of Cardigan and Captain Harvey Tuckett. The law of course was clear that the "punctilio which swordsmen falsely do call honour" was no excuse for wilful murder. To the astonishment of everybody Lord Cardigan escaped from a capital charge of felony because the full name of his antagonist (Harvey Garnett Phipps Tuckett) was not legally proved. It is difficult to suppose that such a blunder was not preconcerted. Campbell himself made the extraordinary declaration that to engage in a duel which could not be declined without infamy (i.e., social disgrace) was "an act free from moral turpitude," although the law properly held it to be wilful murder. Next year, as the Melbourne administration was near its close, Plunkett, the venerable chancellor of Ireland, was forced by discreditable pressure to resign, and the Whig attorney-general, who had never practised in Equity, became chancellor of Ireland, and was raised to the peerage with the title of Baron Campbell of St Andrews, in the county of Fife. His wife, Mary Elizabeth Campbell, the eldest daughter of the first Baron Abinger by one of the Campbells of Kilmorey, Argyllshire, whom he had mar ried in 1821, had in 1836 been created Baroness Stratheden. The post of chancellor Campbell held for only sixteen days, and then resigned it to his successor Sir Edward Sugden (Lord St Leonards). It was during the period 1841-49, when he had no legal duty, except the self-imposed one of occasionally hearing Scotch appeals in the House of Lords, that the unlucky dream of literary fame troubled Lord
Campbell s leisure.[4] By two days court work in Dublin- ↑ A terminable estate in land, vested or continued in trustees, for convenience in giving security without exhibiting a title to the complete estate.
- ↑ If we may trust the scandalous chronicle of Greville, Campbell got this post on condition that he should not expect the ordinary pro motion to the bench, a condition which he immediately violated by claiming the vice-chancellorship on the death of Sir John Leach. Pepys (Lord Cottenham) and Bickersteth (Lord Langdale) were both pro moted to the bench in preference to Campbell.
- ↑ "There can be no doubt that old Wynton was at the bottom of it all, arid persuaded Lord Grantley to urge it on for mere political purposes. Greville, iii. 351.
- ↑ In 1842 he published the Speeches of Lord Campbell at the Bar and in the House of Commons, ivith an Address to the Irish Bar as Lord Cliancellor of Ireland. (Edin., Black.)
