TomB
I am aware of the Garrow family connection with Aberlour but not with Culloden. I will see what I can find out. You are right about William Garrow's wife and about his life outside the Old Bailey. I am endeavouring, with a direct descendant of his in America, to produce a biography.
John
Monday 22 December 2008
Monday 1 December 2008
Saturday 29 November 2008
Sir William Garrow
Sir William Garrow (1760-1840) was an English lawyer born in Middlesex. He was admitted by Lincoln's Inn on 27 November 1778 and was called to the Bar on the same date five years later. He made his name at the Old Bailey, where he raised cross-examination to an art and won numerous cases for which he became justly celebrated. It is still exciting to read his dynamic cross-examinations in the Old Bailey Proceedings online. He was elected to the House of Commons and later became Solicitor-Geneal, Attorney-General and finally a judge. He became a barrister at a time when counsel rarely appeared for prisoners and, when they did, they were not allowed to address the jury. Nor were prisoners allowed to give evidence on oath. Bounty hunters were common and would often accuse innocent perople of crimes in orde to obtain blood money that was paid by the government for successful prosecutions. Garrow, by attacking such prosecution witnesses with his questions, generally persuaded juries to acquit his clients, helping establish adversary trial whereby the lawyers took over the conduct of criminal trials from the judges.
The adversarial system as it operates in England, the United States and other common law countries contrasts with the inquisitorial system elsewhere. It contributed the rules of evidence designed to help prisoners and the modern doctrine of human rights whereby citizens are able to take a stand against the power of the state and vested interests. Garrow played an historic role in bringing birth and meaning to adversay trial which pre-dated the American and French Revolutions which gave it constitutional recognition, although in France this was abrogated later by Napoleon. Torture and oppression have formed part of the history of inquisitorial trial which is always favoured by dictators.
Today the picture is changing. In the last decade a numbes of Latin American states have drawn up new criminal codes incorporating the adversary system of trial. Russia enacted an adversarial procedure code in 2001 and China is proceeding to a similar goal as are Georgia and the Ukraine. Similarly, there are moves to adversary trial in France, Spain, Italy and Germany. The impact of such developments is to create a global shift in criminal procedure and due process that makes universal human rights meaningful.
Garrow's role in giving birth to this gift of England's to the world was unknown until a few years ago. Recently a few writers have drawn upon his cases and I have endeavoured to present a larger picture of him and his stature in my book, Fighting for Justice: The History and Origins of Adversary Trial. (2006 Waterside Press). The world is still wilfully ignorant about Garrow and I am working on a (first) biography with an American citizen who is a direct descendant of the great man. Any information about him or his cases would be gratefully received.
John Hostettler
The adversarial system as it operates in England, the United States and other common law countries contrasts with the inquisitorial system elsewhere. It contributed the rules of evidence designed to help prisoners and the modern doctrine of human rights whereby citizens are able to take a stand against the power of the state and vested interests. Garrow played an historic role in bringing birth and meaning to adversay trial which pre-dated the American and French Revolutions which gave it constitutional recognition, although in France this was abrogated later by Napoleon. Torture and oppression have formed part of the history of inquisitorial trial which is always favoured by dictators.
Today the picture is changing. In the last decade a numbes of Latin American states have drawn up new criminal codes incorporating the adversary system of trial. Russia enacted an adversarial procedure code in 2001 and China is proceeding to a similar goal as are Georgia and the Ukraine. Similarly, there are moves to adversary trial in France, Spain, Italy and Germany. The impact of such developments is to create a global shift in criminal procedure and due process that makes universal human rights meaningful.
Garrow's role in giving birth to this gift of England's to the world was unknown until a few years ago. Recently a few writers have drawn upon his cases and I have endeavoured to present a larger picture of him and his stature in my book, Fighting for Justice: The History and Origins of Adversary Trial. (2006 Waterside Press). The world is still wilfully ignorant about Garrow and I am working on a (first) biography with an American citizen who is a direct descendant of the great man. Any information about him or his cases would be gratefully received.
John Hostettler
Legal History
For books I have written on criminal legal history and biography go to the Waterside Press website. John Hostettler
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