Gordon Hewart, 1st Viscount Hewart

The Right Honourable The Viscount Hewart PC, KC
7th Lord Chief Justice of England
In office 8 March 1922 – 12 October 1940
Monarch	George V
Preceded by	The Lord Trevethin
Succeeded by	The Viscount Caldecote
Attorney General for England
In office 10 January 1919 – 6 March 1922
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	David Lloyd George
Preceded by	Sir F. E. Smith
Succeeded by	Sir Ernest Pollock
Solicitor General for England
In office 10 December 1916 – 10 January 1919
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	David Lloyd George
Preceded by	Sir George Cave
Succeeded by	Sir Ernest Pollock
Personal details
Born	Gordon Hewart 7 January 1870 Bury, Lancashire England United Kingdom
Died	5 May 1943(1943-05-05) (aged 73) Barnet, Hertfordshire United Kingdom
Political party	Liberal
Alma mater	University College, Oxford
Occupation	Politician, Judge

Gordon Hewart, 1st Viscount Hewart, PC (7 January 1870 – 5 May 1943) was a politician and judge in the United Kingdom.

Background and education

Born in Bury, Lancashire the son of Giles Hewart, he was educated at Manchester Grammar School and University College, Oxford.

Political and legal career

He was a Liberal Member of Parliament from 1913 and was made a Privy Counsellor in 1918, Attorney General from 10 January 1919 to 6 March 1922. He entered the cabinet in 1921, and was Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales from 8 March 1922 to 12 October 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. He 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.

Family

Lord Hewart married twice; firstly in 1892 Sarah Wood Riley, daughter of J. H. Riley and secondly in 1934, Jean Stewart, the daughter of J.R.Stewart. With his first wife he had a daughter Katharine and a son and heir, Hugh.^[2] He died in Totteridge, England on 5 May 1943. His titles were inherited by his son, Hugh Hewart, 2nd Viscount Hewart.

See also

• Rex v Sussex Justices, ex parte McCarthy

• Rex v Wallace

Notes

Further reading:
R. Jackson, The chief: the biography of Gordon Hewart, lord chief justice of England, 1922–40 (1959)
R. F. V. Heuston, Lives of the lord chancellors, 1885–1940 (1964)
R. Stevens, The independence of the judiciary: the view from the lord chancellor's office (1993)
R. Stevens, ‘Hewart, Gordon, first Viscount Hewart (1870–1943)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004)

References

1. ^ The Killing of Julia Wallace, by Jonathan Goodman (Headline, London, 1987), p.251
2. ^ http://thepeerage.com/p23483.htm

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages

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 Sir George Cave	Solicitor General for England and Wales 1916–1919	Succeeded by Sir Ernest Pollock
Preceded by Sir F. E. Smith	Attorney General for England and Wales 1919–1922	Succeeded by Sir Ernest Pollock
Preceded by The Lord Trevethin	Lord Chief Justice of England 1922–1940	Succeeded by The Viscount Caldecote
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by New Creation	Viscount Hewart 1940–1943	Succeeded by Hugh Hewart