The
Vol. I.
No. 2.
Green
Bag.
BOSTON.
February, 1889.
LORD CHIEF-JUSTICE COCKBURN. ALEXANDER JAMES EDMUND COCKBURN, the late Lord ChiefJustice of England, was descended from a Scotch family of great antiquity, which held lands of the Crown in the reign of David II. Sir William Cockburn obtained a grant of the lands and barony of Langton in 1595, and his son, William Cockburn, Esq., was created a baronet of Nova Scotia in 1627. From him the late Chief-Justice descended in male line. His father, Mr. Alexander Cockburn, was some time Envoy Extraordi nary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Co lumbia, and married a daughter of the Vicomte de Vignier. The late Sir Alexander Cockburn was born on Dec. 24, 1802, and was privately educated, partly abroad and partly in Eng land. He owed to this early training, and to the French parentage of his mother, a remarkable acquaintance with foreign lan guages. French he spoke with great purity; and he was familiar with Spanish, German, and Italian. In 1822 he became a member of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and in his sec ond year gained prizes for the best exercises in English and Latin. He took his degree in law in 1829, and was at once elected a fellow of his college, — a dignity which, with its emolument, he held for many years. In 1825 he had been admitted a member of the Middle Temple, and was called to the bar on Feb. 6, 1829, and went on the Western Cir cuit and the Devon Sessions. Soon after the Reform Bill was passed, he commenced, with Mr. Rowe, the publication of the reports of the decisions which arose out of that measure; and the volume in which 7
the reports were collected was of great and substantial merit. He was consequently engaged on several contests before election committees, and in 1834 was made a mem ber of the Municipal Corporations Commis sion. In 184 1 he received his silk gown, and his practice became large and profitable. He showed at this time a great tenacity on the subject of briefs. He always insisted on having his fee with his brief; and the story is told that when a brief for an election com mittee was ready for delivery but the fee was not forthcoming, the parties, on the assembly of the committee, found themselves without their counsel, who, observing that " a man might as well play for nothing as work for nothing," had gone off to the Derby. In 1847 Mr. Cockburn was a candidate for Southampton on advanced Liberal prin ciples. His success in the House of Com mons was conspicuous. He did not attempt to take it by storm; he spoke little at first, and then only on subjects which came within the range of his profession; and three years passed before he had an opportunity of dis playing his ability as a debater. But when the chance came he was ready for it. In the session of 1850 a vote of confidence in the foreign policy of the Ministers was proposed in the House of Commons, and during the debate Mr. Cockburn delivered the famous speech which secured his future career. This speech was delivered on June 28, and on July 12 Mr. Cockburn received the SolicitorGeneralship. Upon attaining this preferment, Sir Alex ander Cockburn was knighted in the usual course. The next year (1851), on the eleva
