Joseph William Chitty - Legal and Political Career

Legal and Political Career

Chitty entered Lincoln's Inn in 1851, was called to the bar in 1856, and made a Queen's Counsel in 1874, electing to practise as such in the court of Sir George Jessel, Master of the Rolls. Chitty was highly successful in dealing with a very masterful if exceedingly able judge, and his practice grew quickly.

In 1880 he entered the House of Commons as member for the city of Oxford. His parliamentary career was short, for in 1881 the Judicature Act required that the Master of the Rolls should cease to sit regularly as a judge of first instance, and Chitty was selected to fill the vacancy thus created in the Chancery Division. Sir Joseph Chitty was for sixteen years a popular judge, in the best meaning of the phrase, being noted for his courtesy, geniality, patience and scrupulous fairness, as well as for his legal attainments, and being much respected and liked by those practising before him, in spite of a habit of interrupting counsel, possibly acquired through the example of Sir George Jessel.

In 1897, on the retirement of Sir Edward Kay, L.J., he was promoted to the Court of Appeal. There he added to his reputation as a lawyer and a judge, proving that he possessed considerable knowledge of the common law as well as of equity. He married in 1858 Clara Jessie, daughter of Chief Baron Pollock, leaving children who could claim descent from two of the best-known English legal families of the 19th century.