Lord Mansfield

One of the most renowned jurists in English legal history. When he was recently appointed Chief Justice of the King’s Bench, Lord Mansfield decided as the second and final instance in the case Luke v. Lyde (1759) 2 Burr 882, a good case relating to the Lex Mercatoria .

Some other cases were:

• Anderson v Temple
• Vintner’s Co v. Passey (1757) 1 Kenyon 500, 503;
• Anderson v. George (1757) 1 Burr 352, 353
• Windham v. Chetwyn (1757) 1 Burr 414, 430;
• Rose v. Green (1758) 2 Kenyon 173, 178;
• Godin v. London Exchange Assurance (1758) 2 Kenyon 254, 256;
• Burton v. Thompson (1758) 2 Kenyon 375, 376;
• Hawkes v. Crofton (1758) 2 Kenyon 389, 390;
• Foxcraft v. Devonshire (1760) 1 Wm Bla 193, 195;
• Robinson v. Bland (1760) 1 Wm Bla 256, 263;
• Baskerville v. Brown (1761) 1 Wm Bla 293, 294;
• Ingle v. Wandsworth (1762) 3 Burr 1284, 1286;
• Plumer v. Marchant (1762) 3 Burr 1380, 1384;
• Bird v. Randall (1762) 3 Burr 1345, 1353
• Goodright d Carter v. Staplan (1774) 1 Cowp 201, 203
• Holman v. Johnson (1775) 1 Cowp 341, 343
• Glover v. Black (1763) 3 Burr 1394;
• Camden v. Cowley (1763) 1 W Bla 417;
• Wilson v. Smith (1764) 3 Burr 1550, 1556.
• Vallejo v. Wheeler (1774) 1 Cowp 143, 150
• Salvador v. Hopkins (1765) 3 Burr 1707, 1714.
• Heylyn v. Adamson (1758) 2 Burr 669;
• Grant v. Vaughan (1764) 3 Burr 1516, 1 Wm Bla 486;
• Medcalf v. Hall (1782) 3 Doug 113;
• Appleton v. Sweetapple (1782) 3 Doug 137.
• Vallejo v. Wheeler (1774) 1 Cowp 143, 153.
• Carter v Boehm
• Da Costa v Jones
• Dean of St Asaph
• Millar v Taylor
• Pillans v Van Mierop
• R v Baillie
• Somersett’s Case
• Trial of Lord George Gordon

In Anderson v Temple in 1768, Lord Mansfield made a famous explanation:

“The most desirable object in all judicial determinations, especially in mercantile ones, (which ought to be determined upon natural justice, and not upon the niceties of law,) is, to do substantial Justice.”

This creates some controversy in his time. In the 1770s, Junius wrote (J Cannon (ed.), The Letters of Junius (OUP, Oxford, 1978) Letter XLI pp. 209-210) that “instead of those certain, positive rules, by which the judgment of a court of law should invariably be determined, you have fondly introduced your own unsettled notions of equity
and substantial justice…. In the meantime the practice gains ground; the court of King’s
Bench becomes a court of equity, and the judge, instead of consulting strictly the law of the
land, refers only to the wisdom of the court, and to the purity of his own conscience.”

Bibliography:

• CMA McCauliff’s, ‘A Theme of Fairness Revisited: Lord Mansfield’s Legacy for a Holistic Theory of Contract Today’ [2000] Denning LJ 67
• Kent Lerch ‘Murray, Sir William, Lord Mansfield’, in: Michael Stolleis (ed) Juristen. Ein biographisches Lexikon. Von der Antike bis zum 20. Jh., (1995), 448 f. (2nd ed. 2001).
• James Oldham The Mansfield Manuscripts and the Growth of English Law in the Eighteenth Century (1993).
• KJM Smith and JPS McLaren, ‘History’s living legacy: an outline of modern historiography of the Common law ‘ (2001) 21 LS 251

Author: admin

Author: admin

Mentioned in these Entries

Common law, Law quotes 3, Lex Mercatoria.

The Legal History of Lord Mansfield

This section provides an overview of Lord Mansfield

Resources

See Also

• Legal Biography
• Legal Traditions
• Historical Laws
• History of Law

Further Reading

• Lord Mansfield in the Oxford International Encyclopedia of Legal History (Oxford University Press)
• The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Political and Legal History (Oxford University Press)
• Lord Mansfield in the Dictionary of Concepts in History, by Harry Ritter
• A Short History of Western Legal Theory, by John Kelly