John Scott, 1st Earl of Eldon

I always thought it better to allow myself to doubt before I decided, than to expose myself to the misery, after I had decided, of doubting whether I had decided rightly and justly.

John Scott, 1st Earl of Eldon (4 June 1751 – 13 January 1838) was Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain from 1801 to 1806 and from 1807 to 1827.

Quotes

• It is better that the law should be certain than that every judge should speculate upon improvements in it.
  • Sheldon v. Goodrich, 8 Ves. 481, 497 (1803)

• I always thought it better to allow myself to doubt before I decided, than to expose myself to the misery, after I had decided, of doubting whether I had decided rightly and justly.
  • In Horace Twiss, The Public and Private Life of Lord Chancellor Eldon (1844), p. 350

Quotes about Lord Eldon

• I was with you, Mr. Scott — till I heard your argument.
  • Edward Thurlow, 1st Baron Thurlow, related by Scott in Horace Twiss, The Public and Private Life of Lord Chancellor Eldon (1844), p. 79