cox^msK.
271
kiief, beguming with Tottell, ixi. I5o7,a2Ki ooming down to I>a^vTJK>n. ia 1602. His last published -vrork vua^fiibliograpluGal Acoouxr^ o£ £aze Books," in lb6o, 2 vols. 8vo.
COLLIEB, Thi BiaHT Hlovr. Sxr BoBiBT PoBMTT, Judge of title Judicial Committee of the IPrivy CoQDcil, is Bono! the late Mj. Jolixi. Collier, of Grimstone, ^who ^^tslb, MJ>. for Plymouth from 1832 -fco 1*42, by Emma, fourth, daixglit^x of the late Bobert Porrett, of:Noi-tlx HOI HoTiae, near Plymoxitli. BLe vas born at Mount Taxnax, xreaor Plymouth, in 1817, and edixcsttieA a.ti the Plymouth Qrammor Sctiool aoxd at Trinity College, CaonlaricL^e (Bl. IWl). He was csaaied. to t,lie bw at ttifi Inner Temple in 1.843, and jcMned the "Weatem. circniti, of wbich hehecame one of "tlie etclcii.o'w- ledged leaders, being iioxaiiia.ted. a Q.C., and receiving a patent of precedence in 18»4. He lield the recordeTBhip of Penzance for some years, was an unsucceasful candi- date for Laonceston in 1841, and Bat for Plymouth in the Liberal interest from 1852 natal liis ele- Tation to the judicial l>ench. In 18^ he introduced a bill for trans- ferring the testamentary jurisdic- tion of the Ecclesiastical Courts to a civil tribunal, the main provisions of which were adopted in the Act by which the Probate Ck>virt was subse- quently established. He proposed and carried a resolution in favour of limited liability in partnerships, wMch became the basis of subse- qnent legislation on this subject. Mr. Collier was Coimsel to the Admiralty and Judge- Advocate of the Fleet from Dec., 1859, till Oct., 1863, when he was made Solicitor- O^neral, on the promotion of Sir fioundell Palmer to the Attomey- Oeneralship. Sir Bobert Collier, -vrlio had received the customary Ixonour of knighthood on being sihppointed Solicitor-General, retired from office with the Bussell adminis-
I>ec-, 1868, he was appointed A.ttomey-G«neral. He held that office until Nov., 1871, when he was appointed a paid member of the J\x<iicial Committee of the Privy CoxLncil. The Privy Council Act, passed at the close of the session of 1871, provided for the appoint- m.ent of four pidd members of the Judicial Committee of that body, to consist of two Indian Judges and t-wro Judges of the Superior Courts at Westminster, In order to qualify Sir Bobert Collier legally for the post, he was appointed a Puisne Judge of the Court of Common Pleas for two days, and then trans- lated. His merits and his claims to high judicial office were never questioned, but Lord Chief Justice Cockbum addressed a protest on the subject, attacking Mr. Glad- stone and Lord Chancellor Hather- ley on account of the evasion of the Government's own Act. Chief Justice Bovill declared himself bound, as head of the Court of Common Pleas, to state that he entirely concurred with the Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench, while Mr. Justice Willes, on the other hand, recorded his opinion that the appointment was justifiable, and within the terms of the statute. The question of Sir Bobert Collier's appointment came under the notice of Parliament early in the session of 1872. In the House of Lords a vote of censure, moved by Lord Stanhope, was negatived by 89 against 87 votes. Mr. Cross moved the vote of censure in the Lower House, and it was negatived by 268 against 241 votes; majority 27. On the motion of Sir Boundell Palmer an amendment was then agreed to, to the effect that the House saw no just cause of censure in the appoint- ment. Sir Bobert Collier has pub- lished " The BaUway Clauses, Companies' Clauses, and Lands' Clauses, Consolidation Acts, with notes. Together with an Appendix
tratiosi in July, 1866. On the return treating of the formation of a Bail- of the Liberal party to power in | way Company, the mode of passing
