TEN 



212 



T I \ 



v TENSION (Mechanics), the name given to tin- force 

 by which a bar or string is pulled, when forming part of 

 any system in equilibrium or in motion. Thus when a 

 weight is supported by a string, the tension of the string is 

 the weight winch is suspended tn it. KMT\ point .if the 

 string may be considered as a point of application of two 

 equal and opposite forces, downwards and upwards, each 

 equal to the weight applied. 



TKNTKKDKN. [KBIT.] 



TENTERDEN, CHARLES ABBOTT, LORD, born at 

 Canterbury, on the 7th of October, 1702, was the son of a 

 barber, who has been described as ' a tall, erect, primitive- 

 looking man, with a large club pigtail, going about with 

 the instruments of his business, and attended frequently 

 by hi son Charles, a youth as decent, grave, and primitive- 

 looking as himself/ lie was entered in 1709 on the 

 foundation of the king's school of the cathedral, under 

 Dr. Osmund Beauvoir, who is stated by Sir Egerton 

 Brydges to have been an admirable classical scholar, of 

 fine taste, and some genius. Sir Egerton, who for some 

 years held the place next to Abbott in the class, speaks of 

 him as remarkable even in his school-boy days for accu- 

 racy, steadiness, and equality of labour ; as well acquainted 

 with the rules of grammar, sure in any examination or 

 task, and a tolerably correct writer of Latin verses and 

 prose themes. 



In the beginning of 1781 Abbott was elected scholar of 

 Corpus Chnsti College, Oxford, with an allowance, in- 

 cluding his exhibition, of 50/. a year. His mathematical 

 acquirements are said by his friends to have been con- 

 siderable. In 1784 he obtained the chancellor's medal for 

 the best Latin verses on Lunardi's balloon, ' Globus Aeros- 

 taticus;' in 178C his essay 'On the Use and Abuse of 

 Satire,' obtained the chancellor's medal for the English 

 This essay displays the turn for neat, lucid, and 



exhaustive arrangement, which was the most marked 

 feature of his matured intellect, and also a good deal of 

 that want of passion and imagination which, perhaps as 

 ranch as any of his positive qualities, contributed to his 

 judicial eminence. He was elected a fellow of his college, 

 and appointed junior tutor to Mr. (afterwards bishop) 

 Burgess. 



By the advice of Mr. Justice Buller, whose son was one 

 of his private pupils, Abbott entered himself of the Inner 

 Temple in 1788. He also, in compliance with the sug- 

 gestion of the same experienced lawyer, attended some 

 months the office of the London solicitors Messrs. Sandys 

 and Co. He afterwards became a pupil of Mr. (sub- 

 sequently Baron) Wood ; and, aided by his recommenda- 

 tion, began to practise as a special pleader with marked 

 success. He was called to the bar in Trinity term, 

 1790. 



He married, on the 13th of July, 1793, Mar} 1 , eldest 

 daughter of John Logier Lamotte, Esq., a gentleman of 

 fortune in Kent. It is said that when the father hinted at 

 the expediency of a marriage-settlement, Abbott said he 

 had nothing but an excellent law-library, which the 

 lawyers might tie up as tightly as they pleased. 



Having selected the Oxford circuit, he speedily rose 

 into great business. The jealousy of his young rivals 

 gave rise to rumours of his being too courteous to attor- 

 neys ; but by whatever means he may have obtained his 

 position, he kept it by the preference the leaders evinced for 

 a junior who could often suggest a case in point, and was 

 master of all the technicalities of pleading. To this he 

 owed his appointment, by Sir Vicary Gibbs, when solici- 

 tor-general, to the office known among the members of 

 the bar by the name of treasury-devil, the junior counsel 

 to whose care the business of government is intrusted. 

 In this character he took part in most of the numerous 

 Hi ate -trials which occurred about the close of last cen- 

 tury. As his character became established, he was ap- 

 pointed standing counsel to the Bank and other great 

 mercantile communities. When the returns of the income- 

 tax were called for, Mr. Abbott's account was looked upon 

 as a curiosity, both for its minute accuracy and for the 

 largeness of the sum-total of his fees during the past yeai 



In a sketch of Lord Tenterden, which appeared in the 

 nixty-ninth volume of the ' Edinburgh Review,' Lord 

 Brougham says of his career at the bar : ' As a leader he 

 wery rarely, and by some extraordinary accident only, ap- 

 peared ; and thu in a manner no little satisfactory to him- 



self, that he peremptorily declined it whenever refusal was 

 possible; and he seemed to have no notion of a leader's 

 duty beyond exposing the pleadings and the law of the 

 case to the jury, who could not comprehend them with all 

 his explanation. His legal arguments, of which for many 

 years fhe books arc full, were extremely good, without 

 reaching any very high pitch of excellence; the\ 

 quite clear, abundantly full of case law ; betokening some 

 dread of grappling with principle, and displaying none of 

 the felicitous commentary that marked Mr. Holroyd's." 



In 1802 Mr. Abbott published his ' Treatise of the Law 

 relative to Merchant-Ships and Seamen.' This work lias 

 gone through many editions: it exhausts the subji. 

 well arranged, and well written : its merits have been re- 

 peatedly acknowledged : it is one of the best English law 

 treatises. 



In 1808 Mr. Abbott wits offered a seat on the bench, but 

 declined from prudential motives, his professional in. 

 far exceeding the salary of a judge. As years grew upon 

 him however, and his fortune increased, he began to long 

 for the comparative repose of the bench. In February, 

 1816, he was offered a seat as puisne judge in the Court of 

 Common Pleas, and accepted it. In May of the same year, 

 on the death of Mr. Justice Le Blanc, he yielded t<> the 

 importunity of Lord Ellenborough, and was chosen to sup- 

 ply the vacancy in the Court of King's Bench, and was 

 knighted about the same time. On the 4th of November, 

 1818, Sir Charlee Abbott succeeded Lord Ellenborough as 

 chief-justice of that court. 



It has been alleged that at the outset of his judicial 

 career chief-justice Abbott was apt to lose himself among 

 the minute details of the cases which were brought l> 

 him. It is allowed at the same time that during the last 

 seven or eight years of his time he took broader and more 

 comprehensive views of questions, and displayed great 

 judicial capacity. He had learned to deal with facts, and 

 his law was, as it always had been, safe, accurate, and 

 ready. His statements and decisions were clothed in cor- 

 rect, succinct, and appropriate language. He wa> averse 

 to over-curious subtleties ; loved to overrule technical ob- 

 jections both in civil and criminal pleadings ; and showed 

 great anxiety to make his decisions accord with com- 

 mon sense and substantial justice. Perhaps he shone 

 most in the management of arguments which required a 

 combination of scientific with legal knowledge : ' to see 

 him preside over a complicated patent case was a very 

 great treat, whether to a lawyer or a man of science.' A 

 reasonable distinction, a reasonable interpretation of the 

 law, were his favourite phrases. He was, as every learned 

 and judicious lawyer must be, rather impatient of the 

 check of a jury ; and was not always able to keep lu's 

 temper in command when arguing with the bar. His 

 impartiality, as far as the parties were concerned, was un- 

 questioned. ' It was an edifying sight.' says Lord Broug- 

 ham, ' to observe Lord Tenterden, whose temper had been 

 visibly affected during the trial (for on the bench he had 

 not always that entire command of it which we have de- 

 scribed him as possessing at the bar , addressing himself 

 to the points in the cause with the same perfect calnmc-s 

 and indifference with which a mathematician pursues an 

 abstract truth ; as if there were neither the parties nor the 

 advocates in existence, and only bent on the discovery- and 

 the elucidation of truth.' Chief-Justice Abbott's anxiety 

 to support the executive authority on all occasions was 

 beyond a doubt excessive ; but this appears to have been 

 the consequence of temperament and very early asso- 

 ciations: it shows itself even in his prize essay upon 

 Satire. 



Sir Charles Abbott was raised to the peerage in 1827. by 

 the title of Baron Tenterden. He made a successful debut 

 as a speaker in the House of Lords in support of Mi 

 Turner s divorce bill ; he pertinacious!) opposed the pass- 

 ing of the Corporation and Test Act Repeal Bill ; and was 

 the most impressive speaker against the Roman Catholic 

 Relief Bill. His judicial labours rendered him tor the 

 next two years an (infrequent attendant in the House of 

 Lords; but he recorded his protest against the Reform 

 Bill. He took at the same time an active part in the busi- 

 ness of legislation. Among his well-studied and carefully 

 prepared acts are 9 Gep. IV., c. 14, for the alteration of 

 the law an to the limitation of actions of account and upon 

 thi' ca-e : 11 (ieo. IV., e. 15, to prevent a failure of justicu 

 by reason of variances between records and writings pro 



