Jacob Waley (1818-1873)1 By Bertram B. Benas, c.bje., ll.m., b.a. IN the eleventh Lucien Wolf Memorial Lecture delivered on the 17th April, 1947, Dr. Arthur L. Goodhart, k.b.e., q.c., now Master of University College, Oxford, then Corpus Professor of Jurisprudence in theUniversity, took for his subject "Jewish Contributions to Anglo-American Law", which was subsequently expanded to a mono? graph under the title "Five Jewish Lawyers of the Common Law." The term Common Law in this behalf was used by the Lecturer in itswidest sense so as to include the basic principles of the legal systems of England, the British Dominions and Colonies, and theUnited States ofAmerica, so far as they have adopted the principles of the Common Law of England as the foundation of their law. It does not comprise Scotland, a very few of the British territories overseas, and a small portion of theUnited States. That it was used in this sense is proved by the fact that, of the five Jewish lawyers described, Dr. Goodhart included Sir George Jessel,Master of the Rolls, who was the very embodiment of the system of Equity, whose principles formed the foundation of the law as administered in the Chancery Courts, as contrasted with Common Law in the narrower sense as administered in the Courts other than those, in general, of the old Courts of Chancery. He included some distinguished American exponents but all, whether English or American, were advocates who had outstanding careers either in the sphere of advocacy or the judiciary, or of both. Restricting the number to five, itwas inevitable that some who could have claimed to be entitled to inclusion in a collec? tion of eminent lawyers in the Anglo-American range would of necessity be excluded by this limitation, and attention to thiswas called by Lord Cohen who, in his Presidential Address, delivered before the JewishHistorical Society of England on the 3rdNovember, 1947, entitled "Levi Barent Cohen and some of his Descendants" observed that "there was one great English lawyer of the Jewish faith to whom Professor Goodhart had not referred?the late Rt. Hon. Arthur Cohen, q.c." and part of his Lordship's Address was devoted to the salient features of the life of that eminent Queen's Counsel.2 Had the range been larger, a strong claim for inclusion could have been made for Jacob Waley, Conveyancing Counsel to the Court of Chancery, one of themost eminent conveyancers of all time, a contributor of authority to the literature of conveyancing, and, for a period, holder of the Chair of Political Economy at University College, London. Of all branches of the legal profession the least known to the general public is that of Conveyancing Counsel, usually termed for short, Conveyancers. Although in a more extended sense the latter term could be applied tomembers of the solicitor branch of the profession who devote themselves more particularly to this sphere, yet, in the strictest sense of the term,Conveyancer ismore generally appropriated to thosemembers of the Bar who, either exclusively or mainly, devote themselves to conveyancing.3 Lord Justice Fry, in his "Studies by the Way" at p. 107, chapter 5, entitled 1 Presidential address delivered before the Jewish Historical Society of England on 13th November, 1952. 2 In the printed version of Dr. Goodhart's Lecture there is an ample note relating to Arthur Cohen, q.c, in addition to the reference in the text, observing that his career was predominantly forensic. Lord Cohen of Walmer was a Lord of in Ordinary in 1957. 3 appointed Appeal Sir Frederick Pollock ("Remembrances of an Ancient Victorian" entitled For my Grandson,) referred to two former Conveyancers who "unknown to the world at large, were and are in high honour in the comparative seclusion of Lincoln's Inn, where a small body of specialists grapples with the intricate problems of our law of property" (p. 35). 41 Jewish Historical Society of England is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, and extend access to Transactions Jewish Historical Society of England ® www.jstor.org 42 JACOB WALEY (1818-1873) c Conveyancing", observed, "few people know what conveyancing means; itmeans primarily the art of carrying lands and other property over from one person to another . not only is conveyancing an art?it is a fine art. The art, as it exists in England, is practised by lawyers of many degrees?the country solicitor practises it and draws the deeds which convey the field or the house from the seller to the purchaser, young barristers who frequent the Courts also practise it; but in its purest and its highest development it is the function of a small set of learned lawyers,who are chiefly to be found in London, devoting themselves exclusively to this branch of their profession in Chambers ... in these rooms they sit, day by day, and receive visits from solicitors or their clerks who bring to them the more difficult problems of the art to solve and the more difficult of the writings to prepare, and there they pursue their learned toil free from the noise and the wit of the courts and remote from the ordinary pursuits of their fellowmen." It is interesting to note that Lord Justice Fry refers to what he regards as "the earliest recorded transferof land to be found in the history ofman, the firstpiece of conveyancing practice in the books?I mean the purchase by Abraham of the field and cave ofMach pelah?what a stately and graphic narrative it is !" (p. 112). The description applied by Lord Justice Fry to the character of the narrative is hardly one which is applicable to the volumes of Conveyancing Practice at the present day, but to our Society in parti? cular this parentage of Conveyancing Practice has an especial interest. To add to that interest he observes "the art of conveyancing has come in between Abraham and Jeremiah". (See Jeremiah XXXII 6-15). Sir William Holdsworth, in his Historical Introduction to theLand Lawy observed (at p. 299) that "in themiddle ages a class of professional conveyancers had not arisen. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the growth and perplexity of the law caused the beginnings of the growth of such a class. In the course of the eighteenth . century the continued increase in the complexity of conveyances made the convey? ... ancers a class verymuch apart from other legal practitioners at the beginning of the nineteenth century an intimate knowledge of the law of Real Property [that is the law relating to land] was almost confined to a comparatively small number of eminent con? veyancers, and . the majority of lawyers, barristers, as well as judges, depended for their information upon the opinions and writings of these conveyancers." Joshua Williams, one of the most eminent conveyancers of his time (1813-81), in his Letters toJohn Bull Esq.?Lawyers and Land Reform devoted one of them to con? veyancers. The substance of the letter is devoted to the writer's complaint that this secluded and exclusive branch of the profession is hardly known to the public and its contribution to the upbuilding of English Law has not met with the recognition which he thought itmerited. He observed (p. 39) that "conveyancing may fairly be called the literary branch of the profession of the law. By far the greater part of legal text books are written by conveyancers. The custom of conveyancers has great influence on the decisions of the Courts of Justice, and has been spoken of with great respect by Lord Eldon and other eminent judges. Yet, these men, being quiet in their habits, confining themselves to Chamber practice, and loving their art for its own sake rather than for the fame which stimulates their brethren are seldom heard beyond the bounds of the profession." He further observed (at p. 43) that "as a conveyancer must cease to practise ifhe ceases to draw Deeds, he cannot be made a Queen's Counsel" and pleads that "surely the rank might be given without the title, or rank and title without the obligation of complying with the etiquette." To this day conveyancers, as a general rule, do not "take Silk", as the phrase goes, nor have they the formal status at the Bar of those JACOBWALEY (1818-1873) 43 who are appointed Queen's Counsel. Very rarely conveyancers apply to be appointed and, when appointed, either the appointment ismade at a time when they have virtually ceased to practise, for as JoshuaWilhams pointed out, their conveyancing practice must inevitably be at an end since they cannot practise as conveyancers if they are Queen's Counsel, or they have intended to upbuild a Court practice with some relation to the spheres of Law with which their former conveyancing practice was associated. Joshua was one of the Williams those exceptions, yet appeared but seldom in Courts after taking Silk. Of this group ofmen JacobWaley was an exemplar, both illustrious and characteristic. JacobWaley was the eldest son of Solomon Jacob Levi (who adopted the name ofWaley) of Devonshire Place, London, and was born at South Street in the City of London, on the 17thMarch, 1818. Solomon JacobWaley was the son of Jacob Levi and Elizabeth . Waley.1 Solomon Jacob Levi of Stockwell, Surrey, was granted on the 8th September, 1834, a licence for him and his issue by Rachael, his wife, second daughter of Nahum Hart of Goodman Fields, Middlesex, by Jane, his wife, eldest daughter of Samuel Waley of the same place, to take and use the surname ofWaley in lieu of Levi and to bear the arms ofWaley.