Sir James Marriott
| Sir James Marriott | |
|---|---|
| Judge of the High Court of Admiralty | |
|
In office 1778–1798 |
|
| Monarch | George III |
| Preceded by | Sir George Hay |
| Succeeded by | Sir William Scott |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 29 October 1730 Twinstead Hall, Essex |
| Died | 21 March 1803 Twinstead Hall, Essex |
| Alma mater | Trinity Hall, Cambridge |
Sir James Marriott (29 October 1730 – 21 March 1803) was a prominent British judge, politician and scholar of the late eighteenth century who is best known for his service at the High Court of Admiralty, the highest court in Britain dealing with naval and maritime affairs. Although he presided over a number of important naval cases, his contribution to legal history lies principally in the publication of Formulare instrumentarum, a text on admiralty law that had a significant influence on American law in particular. For the rest of his career, Marriott was a shameless pursuer of political favour, siding with several factions both before and during his service as Member of Parliament for Sudbury between 1780 and 1784 and 1796 and 1802. He was less successful in other areas of his life: he served as a Fellow and subsequently Master at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, but quarrelled with his colleagues and rarely attended the College. He also produced a number of legal pamphlets and poems, which his biography in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography describes as "slender literary accomplishments".
James Marriott was born on 29 October 1730, the son of attorney Benjamin Marriott and his wife Esther at Twinstead Hall in Essex. In June 1746 he was sent to Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and was elected a scholar in 1747 and graduated LLB in 1751. Although he originally intended a career in the church, he switched to the legal profession in 1755, possibly due to the influence of his stepfather Everard Sayer, a prominent lawyer. He completed an LLD in 1757, having spent the previous three years as librarian to the Duke of Newcastle and having been made a Fellow of Trinity Hall in 1756. He subsequently joined the College of Advocates and began an undistinguished legal career in which he published twice on the issue of neutral's rights.
It was while in the service of Lord Newcastle that he began his lifelong obsession with patronage, securing the position of Receiver of Land Tax for Suffolk, but otherwise achieving little until the accession of King George III in 1760, when he transferred his allegiance to the King's new ministers, alienating Newcastle in the process. In 1764 he was elected Master of Trinity Hall and in 1767 was made king's advocate, although in both cases the promotion had more to do with a lack of suitable candidates than Marriott's own abilities. In 1767 he served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge for a year and in 1768 was prevented from taking up the position of Professor of Modern History by Thomas Gray.
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