William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper

God forbid that Judges upon their oath should make resolutions to enlarge jurisdiction.

William Cowper, 1st Earl Cowper PC KC FRS (c. 1665 – 10 October 1723) was an English politician who became the first Lord Chancellor of Great Britain. Educated at St Albans School, he was called to the bar in 1688.

Quotes

• There is no instance where men are so easily imposed upon, as at the time of their dying under the pretence of charity.
  • Attorney-General v. Barnes et uxor (1707), Gilbert Eq. Ca. 5; reported in James William Norton-Kyshe, The Dictionary of Legal Quotations (1904), p. 245-248.

• God forbid that Judges upon their oath should make resolutions to enlarge jurisdiction.
  • Reeves v. Buttler (1715), Gilbert, Eq. Ca. 196; reported in James William Norton-Kyshe, The Dictionary of Legal Quotations (1904), p. 137.

• I should have all manner of tenderness for the right of the College; they are nurseries of Religion and Learning, and therefore all donations for increase and augmentation of their revenue are to be liberally expounded.
  • Devit v. College of Dublin (1720). Gilbert Eq. Ca. 248; reported in James William Norton-Kyshe, The Dictionary of Legal Quotations (1904), p. 242.

• It is a general rule of Judgment, that a mischief should rather be admitted than an inconvenience.
  • Devit v. College of Dublin (1720), Gilbert Eq. Ca. 249; reported in James William Norton-Kyshe, Dictionary of Legal Quotations (1904), p. 176.

Quotes about Cowper

• He the robe of justice wore,
  Sully'd not, as heretofore,
  When the magistrate was sought
  With yearly gifts. Of what avail
  Are guilty hoards? for life is frail;
  And we are judg'd where favour is not bought.
  • Ambrose Philips, Ode: "On the Death of the Right Honourable William Earl Cowper" (1723), lines 137–142.