William Garrow - Judicial Career

Judicial Career

Garrow's first judicial appointment came in 1814, when he was made Chief Justice of Chester. This was opposed by Sir Samuel Romilly, who argued that the positions of Chief Justice and Attorney General were incompatible, saying "to appoint a gentleman holding a lucrative office at the sole pleasure of the Crown to a high judicial situation, was extremely inconsistent with that independence of the judicial character which it was so important to preserve inviolate". On 6 May 1817, Garrow was made a Baron of the Exchequer and Serjeant-at-Law, succeeding Richard Richards, and resigning his seat in Parliament and his position as Attorney General. He was not a particularly distinguished judge in the Exchequer, mainly due to a lack of knowledge of the finer points of law. Practising on the Assize Circuits, however, was a different matter; dealing with his more familiar criminal law rather than the commercial law of the Exchequer, Garrow performed far better. Braby indicates that he regularly amazed both barristers and defendants with his knowledge of the intricacies of crime. Garrow retired on 22 February 1832, replaced by John Gurney, and was made a Privy Councillor on retirement as a measure of the Government's respect for him. He died at home on 14 September 1840, aged 80.