"That won't do you know"
Cave as caricatured by Spy (Leslie Ward) in Vanity Fair, December 1893

Sir Lewis William Cave (3 July 1832 – 7 September 1897) was a British judge on the Queen's Bench during the reign of Queen Victoria.

Biography

He was born in Desborough, Northamptonshire, the eldest son of William Cave, a local landowner, and his wife, Elizabeth. After attending Rugby School, he went to Lincoln College, Oxford, from where he graduated in 1855 with a degree in humanities.[1]

Shortly after graduating, Cave started studying law, and married Julia Watkins, the daughter of the vicar of Brixworth on 5 August 1856. Cave was called to the bar on 10 June 1859 and built up a large general practice in the English Midlands.[1]

In 1873 he was appointed Recorder of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, and two years later became a Queen's Counsel. He edited several legal texts, including Stone's Practice of Petty Sessions (1861), Reports of the Court for the Consideration of Crown Cases Reserved, Addison's Treatise on the Law of Contracts (1869; 1875) and Addison's Law of Torts (1879).[1]

Despite being well known in the Midlands, Cave was not well known in London. His appointment as a Justice of the Queen's Bench in 1881, and his coincident knighthood, came as something of a surprise.[1]

As a judge, he gained a reputation as bluff and concise, often cutting short arguments which he considered too lengthy.[1] However, at the major trial of the poisoner Kate Dover at Leeds Winter Assizes in 1882, his summing-up took one hour.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Rigg, James McMullen (2004). "Cave, Sir Lewis William (1832–1897)", revised by Hugh Mooney, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press. Accessed 15 July 2008.
  2. ↑ "The Sheffield poisoning case, the trial of Kate Dover, defence and verdict". Sheffield Independent. 8 February 1882. p. 2, col. 1. Retrieved 13 July 2019 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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