Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Mansfield, James
MANSFIELD (originally MANFIELD), Sir JAMES (1733–1821), lord chief justice of the court of common pleas, born in 1733, son of John James Manfield, attorney, of Ringwood, Hampshire, was elected a scholar of Eton in 17 730 (Harwood, Alumni Eton. v. 339), and proceeded to King's College, Cambridge, where he obtained a fellowship in 1764, graduated B. A. in 1765 and M.A. in 1758 (Grad. Cantabr.) His grandfather is said to have been a foreigner, and to have held some post in Windsor Castle. Mansfield inserted the s in his name while still at Cambridge. In November 1758 he was called to the bar at the Middle Temple. He practised both at common law and in chancery, and was engaged in some state trials. He was one of Wilkes's advisers on his return to England in 1768, and argued in support of his unsuccessful application in the king's bench to be admitted to bail for the purpose of prosecuting a writ of error against his outlawry (20 April). He took silk in July 1772, and was afterwards appointed counsel to the university of Cambridge. Another of Mansfield's clients was the bigamous Duchess of Kingston, whose immunity from punishment he materially contributed to secure in 1776. The same year he appeared for the defence in the Hindon bribery case, the year following for the incendiary, James Aitkin [q. v.], and in 1779 for the crown (with Attorney-general Wedderburn [q. v.]), on the information exhibited against George Stratton [q. v.] and his colleagues in the council of Fort St. George for their usurpation of the government of the settlement in 1776 [see Pigot, George, Baron Pigot of Patshull].
Mansfield entered parliament on 10 June 1779 as member for the university of Cambridge, and on 1 Sept. 1780 was appointed solicitor-general, in which capacity he took part in the prosecution of Lord George Gordon [q. v.] in February 1781, and in that of the spy De la Motte, convicted of high treason in the following July. He went into opposition with Lord North in March 1782, and returned to office on the coalition between North and Fox in November 1788. In parliament he made a poor figure, whether in office or in opposition, and after the dismissal of the coalition ministry, 18 Dec. 1783, hardly opened his mouth in debate. He lost his seat at the general election of April 1784 and never re-entered parliament. Mansfield, with Attorney-general John Scott, afterwards Lord Eldon [q. v.], represented the Trinity Hall dons, June 1795, on the appeal of Francis Wrangham [q. v.] to Lord-chancellor Loughborough, as visitor of the university of Cambridge, against their refusal to elect him to a fellowship. The argument turned upon the proper construction of the words 'idoneus moribus et ingenio' in the college statutes, and Wrangham's counsel cited Terence, Horace, and other Latin authors to prove that 'mores,' as applied to an individual, could only mean morals — Wrangham's morals being unimpeachable. Mansfield, however, disposed of this contention by a single line from Ovid describing two mistresses, 'Hæc specie melior, moribus illa fuit;' and Lord Loughborough, accordingly, dismissed the appeal. In July 1799 Mansfield was appointed to the chief-justiceship of Chester, whence in April 1804 he was transferred to that of the common pleas and knighted. On qualifying for office by taking the degree of serjeant-at-law, he chose for his ring the Horatian motto 'Serus in cœlum redeas,' in allusion to the lateness of his advancement. He was sworn of the privy council on 9 May. On the return of the whigs to power after Pitt's death, he was offered the great seal, but declined it.
Mansfield was a sound, if not a profound, lawyer, a good scholar, and a keen sportsman. On circuit it was his custom to rise at five to kill something before breakfast. He was a dull speaker, with an ungraceful delivery and a husky voice. His advancement to the bench came too late for his reputation. He presided, however, for nearly ten years in the court of common pleas without positive discredit, in spite of declining powers, and resigned in Hilary vacation 1814. He died on 23 May 1821 at his house in Russell Square.
[Gent. Mag. 1821, pt. ii. p. 572; Ann. Biog. 1821, p. 452; Foss's Lives of the Judges; Howell's State Trials, xix. 1075 et seq., xx. 402, 634, 1226 et seq., xxi. 486 et seq., 687 et seq., 1046 et seq.; Returns of Members of Parliament (Official); London Gazette, 29 Aug.–2 Sept 1780, 15–18 Nov. 1783, 8–12 May 1804; Vesey, jun.'s Reports, ii. 609; Gunning's Reminiscences, ii. 23; Ormerod's Cheshire, ed. Helsby, i. 66; Haydn's Book of Dignities, ed. Ockerby; Diary of Lord Colchester, ii. 36; Taunton's Reports, v. 392; Wraxall's Hist. Mem. 1815, i. 555, ii. 475; Hist. MSS. Comm. 8th Rep. App. p. 233 a, 10th Rep. App. pt. iv. p. 26; Jesse's George Selwyn and his Contemporaries, pp. 167, 187; Add. MSS. 6402 f. 140, 21507 ff. 381–7, and Eg. MS. 2137, f. 215; Cooper's Annals of Cambridge, iv. 392, 399, 412.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.194
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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