Mansfield, William Murray, 1st earl of

Mansfield, William Murray, 1st earl of (1705–93). Judge. In 1742 Mansfield became solicitor-general with a seat in Parliament for Boroughbridge. He was an effective debater, second only to Pitt. Newcastle relied heavily on Mansfield and was reluctant to see him become chief justice of King's Bench in 1756. However Mansfield remained in the cabinet until 1763 and was attacked by Junius for being a ‘political judge’. He set about reforming the slow practices of the court, developed and clarified commercial law, and, when the occasion arose, adapted the law to the needs of his day. He twice refused the lord chancellorship, preferring the security of a non-political post. Mansfield hated religious persecution and his house was burned during the Gordon Riots (1780); his country house, Kenwood, at Hampstead escaped. He retired in 1788 with a reputation as the greatest judge of the 18th cent.

Richard A. Smith