Gordon Hewart, 1st Viscount Hewart
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Cartoon from Punch magazine Vol. 158, February 25, 1920, commenting on Hewarts' bill for the continuance of the Defence of the Realm Act, without amendments, for a short time.
Gordon Hewart, 1st Viscount Hewart, PC (7 January 1870 – 5 May 1943) was a politician and Judge in the United Kingdom.
Born in Bury, Lancashire, he was educated at Manchester Grammar School and University College, Oxford. He was a Liberal Member of Parliament from 1913 and was made a Privy Counsellor in 1918, Attorney General from January 10, 1919 to March 6, 1922. He entered the cabinet in 1921, and was Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales from March 8, 1922 to October 12, 1940.
He was given a peerage as Baron Hewart in 1922 to allow him to sit in the House of Lords as Lord Chief Justice. Upon his retirement he was created Viscount Hewart.
In 1929 Hewart published The New Despotism, in which he claimed that the rule of law in Britain was being undermined by the legislature. This book was very controversial and led to the appointment of a Committee on Ministers' Powers—chaired by the Earl of Donoughmore—but its Report rejected Hewart's arguments.
Lord Hewart has been described as "one of the most vigorous and vociferous believers in the impeccability of the English jury system of this or any other century" [1]
However, in 1931, Hewart made legal history, when (sitting with Mr. Justice Branson and Mr. Justice Hawke) he quashed the conviction for murder of William Herbert Wallace, on the grounds that the conviction was not supported by the weight of the evidence. In other words - the jury was wrong.
Lord Hewart was the originator (paraphrased from the original) of the aphorism "Not only must Justice be done; it must also be seen to be done." He died in Barnet aged 73.
[edit] See also
Rex v Sussex Justices, ex parte McCarthy
[edit] References
- ^ The Killing of Julia Wallace, by Jonathan Goodman (Headline, London, 1987), p.251
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Eliot Crawshay-Williams and Ramsay Macdonald |
Member of Parliament for Leicester 1913–1918 Served alongside: Ramsay Macdonald |
Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament for Leicester East 1918–1922 |
Succeeded by George Banton |
| Legal offices | ||
| Preceded by George Cave |
Solicitor General for England and Wales 1916–1919 |
Succeeded by Ernest Pollock |
| Preceded by F. E. Smith |
Attorney General for England and Wales 1919–1922 |
Succeeded by Ernest Pollock |
| Preceded by The Lord Trevethin |
Lord Chief Justice of England 1922–1940 |
Succeeded by The Viscount Caldecote |
 |
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