Lives of Eminent Serjeants-At-Law of the English
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This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the information in books and make it universally accessible. https://books.google.com THE LAW LIBRARY The James Irvine Foundation HP LIVES or EMINENT SERJEANTS-AT-LAW OF THE ENGLISH BAR. BY HUMPHRY WILLIAM WOOLRYCH, Serjeant-at-Law. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II. LONDON i Wm. H. ALLEN & CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE, PALL MALL. S.W. 1869. Loudon : — Lewis & Son, Printers, Swan Buildings, Moorgate Street. LIVES OF EMINENT SERJEANTS. THE DARNAL*S. Whether Darnal, Darnel, or Darnell, or even Darnall, according to various readings, these lawyers were of high promise. The elder was spoken of in 1700, amongst other gossip, by Luttrell, as the new Baron of the Exchequer, and actually, though incorrectly, named by him as such.1 A classical pun is extant upon the name. Kett, or Horse Kett, as he was called at Oxford, from the resemblance which his head bore to that animal, was a master of the schools at Oxford, and with him was Mr. Darnell. The following line was immediately applied to these gentlemen : — " Infelix Lolitim, et sterilea dominant ur avense." " Oats and Darnel choke the rising corn." ' Or rather, according to Covington, nascuntur. " Xas- 1 " Diary," vol. iv. pp. 652, 653. Sir Salathiel Lovd, Recorder of London, got the vacant place. ' Dryden's "Pastorals," vol. v. p. 56.— " Virg. Eclog.," v. 87. VOL. H. 1 454 LIVES OF EMINENT SERJEANTS. cuntur," he observes, is found in all the MSS." And he distinguishes the word " dominantur" in the u Georgics," where exactly the same passage appears, by referring the last to " weeds growing amongst the corn," whereas, here the " weeds are growing instead of barley/" 1 So in Job : cockle or darnel instead of barley- 1 " Virg. Bucol. Eclog." v. 37 ; Covington's " Georgics," i. 154. And oats unblest, and darnel domineers. — Dryden's "Oeorgics," vol. i. p. 229. So regain, " Ovid's " Fast.," vol. i. p. 691. " Et eareant loliis, oculos vitantibus -agri. Nec aterilis culho snrgat avena solo." Lolium : Tares-Avena : Wild ■oats. SIR JOHN DARNAL, Senior. Serjeant-at-Law, 1692— King's Serjeant, 1698. The Darnal family were harnessed to the law. Thomas Darnell, Clerk of the Pipe, temp. Hen. VII., was buried in the Mercers' Chapel, London, in 1515, 7 Hen. VIII. John Darnell, Clerk of the Pipe, was a Baron of the Exchequer, temp. Edw. VI. He died in 1549. John Darnell, of Hertingfordbury, was of the Mid dle Temple. Henry Darnell, of Bird's Place, Essenden, Herts., was of Gray's Inn.1 "Centum patrimonia," according to Juvenal, "cau- sidicorum." But these are not all. John Darnall was a son of Ralph Darnall, of Essen den and Loughton's Hope, near Pembridge, Hereford shire.2 Little, however, is known of his early life. In 1680 Mr. Darnal became engaged in the trials for high treason during the tyranny of Oates and Dangerfield. He was assigned as counsel for Lord MS. * " Hotes and Queries," 4. vol. ii. p. 42. 456 LIVES OF EMINENT SERJEANTS. Castlemaine, with Jones and Saunders; but they do not appear to have taken an active part for the defence. The prisoner, however, was acquitted.1 Nearly at the same time he was called upon to de fend Mr. Giles for an attempt to murder Edward Arnold, Esq. The trial took place before the famous Jeffreys, then Recorder. At this time the offence was only a misdemeanor, and counsel were, therefore, able to address the jury. An alibi was set up, and several witnesses appeared in support of it ; but the jury soon returned a verdict of guilty, upon which the sentence was, that the defendant should be three times pilloried, and fined £500, and, "as a terror to all such villains," should procure sureties for good behaviour during life. ' The celebrated case of Dammaree and Purchuse is familiar to all who have read the " State Trials." Upon that occasion Mr. Whitaker and Mr. Darnal defended them ; but the latter must not be confounded with the elder Sir John, who, had he been engaged upon that occasion, would have taken precedence of Whitaker.3 ' " State Trials," vol. vii. pp. 1084, 1112. • "State Trials," vol. vii. pp. 1129, 1144, 1159. He appeared for the Crown, however, in several well-known and important cases. Against Fuller for several scandalous libels, p. 1702 ; " State Trials," vol. liv. p. 517 ; Haagen Swendsen for the abduction of Mrs. Rnwlins, Id. p. 561 ; Tutchin for libel, Id. p. 1100 ; Denew and others for conspiracy and assault, Id. p. 903 ; Arnold for shooting at Lord Onslow, vol. xvi. p. 750 ; Major Oneby for murder, vol. xvii. p. 38. In all these cases there were verdicts of " guilty." * " State Trials," vol. xv. pp. 521, 587, 627, 665. This Darnal or Darnell was made a Serjeant in 1 Geo. I., 1714, whereas Sir John had the coif con ferred on him in 1692. SIR JOHN DARNAL, SENIOR. 457 On the 27th of April, 1692, Mr. Darnal was called to the degree of the coif.1 In 1698, about January, he was made a King's Serjeant.2 In June of the next year he was knighted by King William at Kensing ton,3 and in the same month he appeared as counsel for the Crown, to argue with Serjeant Wright the case of Knight and Burton for the false endorsement of Exchequer Bills.4 And he was again counsel against Mr. Duncombe for a similar offence, but the defendant was acquitted.' In 1696 he defended Peter Cook for high treason, and, with Sir Bartholomew Shower, made a stout op position to the prosecution, both as to law and fact, and although he was not fortunate enough to suc ceed, his client was pardoned on condition of trans portation.6 It is much to the credit of Sir John that all those implicated in the conspiracy, who had been tried before Mr. Cook, were executed. His legal reasonings and powerful advocacy must have had weight with the Court, and, subsequently, arrested the execution. Sir John died in December, 1706,7 at his house in Essex.8 He was buried on Friday, the 20th, in St. I Wynne, p. 90. * " The Law Reports of Lord Raymond," vol. i. p. 414. — Wynne, p. 91. * Luttrell's " Diary," vol. iv. p. 523. « Id. p. 526. 5 " State Trials," vol. xiii. p. 1061. * " State Trials," vol. xiii. pp. 311, 398. ' Luttrell's " Diary," vol. xi. p. 137. » MS. 458 LIVES OF EMINENT SERJEANTS. Clement Danes' Church, in the chancel vault.1 Ac cording to Luttrell, he had been dangerously ill in 1701.2 In right of his wife (with whose name we are not acquainted), he impaled a boar passant.3 The character of Vagellius, in Garth's " Dispensary," has been attributed to him, but it rather belongs to Sir Bartholomew Shower. Vagellius was a Roman lawyer of Mutina, a city of the Lombards, now Modena. He seems to have been a reckless declaimer, by no means baffled by a cause at once bad, and even perilous. Garth thus celebrates the lawyer s — " Since of each enterprise th' event's unknown, We '11 quit the sword, and hearken to the gown ; Nigh lives Vagellius, one reputed long,* For strength of lungs, and pliancy of tongue ; For fees to any form he moulds a case, The worst has merits, and the best has flaw. Five guineas make a criminal to-day, And ten to-morrow wipe the stain away ; To law then, friends, for 'tis by fate decreed, Vagellius and our money shall succeed."4 1 MS. Mr. Bridger, who refers to the English Post, Monday, December 23, 1706. 5 Luttrell, vol. v. p. 116. 3 MS. 4 Sir B. Shower. Boll's " Poets." 4 "The Dispensary," canto iv. p. 156. But the "Complete Key," notes Darnal as the Vagellius. THOMAS CARTHEW. Serjeant-at-Law, 1700. [The Author is indebted to Mr. Carthew, of Milfield, East Dereham, Suffolk, for many interesting particulars concerning his eminent great grandfather.] Carthew, in Cornish, Cardu, or Carthu, has given a name to three places in Cornwall ; Carthew in Madron, in St. Issey, and St. Austell.1 It signifies rock black.2 Thomas Carthew was born at Cannalidgy, the family seat, in the parish of St. Issey, Cornwall, on the 4th of April, 1657. He was the eldest son of Thomas Carthew, of that place. " Cannall Lidgye," says Mr. Hals,3 " was the voke lands of a considerable manor, now in several persons' hands; much of those lands being in possession of Boscawen, as I take it ; the high rents are in Hart. " As part of the same, is the pos session and birth-place of my very kind friend and neighbour, Thomas Carthew, Esq., barrister-at-law, who, by his indefatigable study and labour, first in the inferior practice of the law, under Mr. Tregena, with out being a perfect Latin grammarian, always using 1 Burke's " Landed Gentry," 1858, p. 182. ' Gilbert's " Parochial History of Cornwall," voL ii. p. 265. ' Id. 460 LIVES OF EMINENT SERJEANTS. the English words for matters or things in his decla rations, where he understood not the Latin." 1 On the 23rd of November, 1698, he was admitted of the Inner Temple.2 He arrived, however, at an eminence which, but for his early decease, would have secured for him a seat on the Judicial Bench. Carthew became a student at the Middle Temple on the 21st of May, 1683 : and on the 14th of June, 1686, he was called to the Bar3 by a mandamus from the Lord Keeper North.4 On the 7th of November, 1700, he was made a Serjeant-at-Law,5 and during his brief enjoyment of the practice he derived through this creation, "he grew into such great fame and reputation," says Mr.