John Dodson (judge)

Sir John Dodson
Born	19 January 1780 Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex, England
Died	27 April 1858(1858-04-27) (aged 78) Mayfair, London
Nationality	British
Occupation	Judge
Spouse	Frances Priscilla Pearson

Sir John Dodson (1780–1858) was an English judge and member of parliament.

Life

Dodson was born at Hurstpierpoint 19 January 1780. He was the eldest son of the Rev. Dr. John Dodson, rector of Hurstpierpoint, West Sussex, who died in July 1807, and Frances, daughter of the Rev. Mr. Dawson. He entered Merchant Taylors' School in 1790, and proceeded to Oriel College, Oxford, where he graduated B.A. 1801, M.A. 1804, and D.C.L. 1808. He was admitted an advocate of the College of Doctors of Laws 3 November 1808, and acted as commissary to the dean and chapter of Westminster. Dodson died at 6 Seamore Place, Mayfair, London, 27 April 1858. For many years before that he had lived at 12 Hertford street, Mayfair.

Career

From July 1819 to March 1823 he represented Rye in parliament as a Tory member. On 11 March 1829 he was appointed by the Duke of Wellington to the office of advocate to the Admiralty Court, and on being named advocate-general, 15 October 1834, was knighted at St. James's Palace on the 29th of the same month.

He was called to the bar at the Middle Temple 8 Nov. 1834, and in the following year was elected a bencher of his inn. He became master of the faculties in November 1841, and vicar-general to the lord primate in 1849. From February 1852 he was judge of the prerogative court of Canterbury until the abolition of this jurisdiction on 9 December 1857. He was dean of the Arches Court till his death. Herbert Jenner-Fust preceded him as Dean, and both were painted by F. Y. Hurlestone. He was sworn a privy councillor 5 April 1852.

Family

George Pearson (1751-1828), MD, FRS. Dodson's father-in-law.

From 1863 Burke's Landed Gentry.

Dodson was married to Frances Priscilla Pearson, eldest daughter of George Pearson of London, on 24 December 1822. His only son, John George Dodson, barrister, of Lincoln's Inn, was elected M.P. for East Sussex in April 1857 and was created Lord Monk Bretton in 1884. His brother Rev. William (St. John's, Oxford) was rector of Dexthorpe and Claxby from 1817, and died in 1852.

Works

Dodson was concerned in the following works:

1. A Report of the Case of Dalrymple the Wife against Dalrymple the Husband, 1811.
2. Reports of Cases argued and determined in the High Court of Admiralty, 1811–22, London, 1815–1828, another ed. 1853.
3. A Report of the Case of the Louis appealed from the Admiralty Court at Sierra Leone, and determined in the High Court of Admiralty, 1817.
4. A Digested Index of the Cases determined in the High Court of Admiralty, contained in the Reports of Robinson, Edwards, and Dodson, by Joshua Greene, 1818.
5. A Report of the Judgment in the Case of Sullivan against Sullivan, falsely called Oldacre, 1818.
6. Lawful Church Ornaments, by J. W. Perry. With an Appendix on the Judgment of the Right Hon. Sir J. Dodson in the appeal Liddell v. Westerton, 1857.
7. A Review of the Judgment of Sir John Dodson in the case of Liddell v. Westerton, by C. F. Trower, 1857.
8. The Judgment of the Right Hon. Sir J. Dodson, also the Judgment of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in the case of Liddell and Horne against Westerton, by A. F. Bayford, 1857.

References

Attribution

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Boase, George Clement (1888). "Dodson, John". In Leslie Stephen. Dictionary of National Biography. 15. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 175-176. 

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Thomas Phillipps Lamb Peter Browne	Member of Parliament for Rye 1819 – 1823 With: Peter Browne	Succeeded by Robert Knight Peter Browne