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son of a jeweler and Huguenot refugee. He attended Gray’s 
Inn; became a leader of the chancery bar; solicitor-general; 
and went into the House of Commons; and after he left the 
office of solicitor-general, as a legislator, devoted himself to 
the reform of criminal law, and wrote Observations on the 
Criminal Law of England. He opposed confinement in hulks, 
penalty for treason and attainder, and suspension of the writ 
of habeas corpus. He was opposed by Lord Ellenborough 
and at first could make no progress, but at last he triumphed 
by opening the eyes of England. In 1808 was repealed the 
statute making it a capital offense to steal from a person, and 
in 1812 the statute making it a capital offense for a soldier 
to beg without a pass from a magistrate or officer. Romilly’s 
name became famous all over Europe. 
Brougham (1778-1868). Henry Brougham was another fol- 
lower of Bentham who carried on reform work after the death 
of Romilly. He was born in Edinburgh and educated at the 
University of Edinburgh. He published articles on “Light” 
and other topics in physics, and on the abolition of the slave 
trade, and helped to found the Edinburgh Review in 1802. He 
left Edinburgh for London and was called to the bar by Lin- 
coln’s Inn in 1807. He practiced before the House of Lords 
and the Privy Council, and by his eloquence procured a seat 
in Parliament in 1810, and in 1880 was called to the House 
of Peers. He acquired the leadership of his party. No ques- 
tion ever found him unprepared. His legal fame in the pop- 
ular mind was established by his great defense of Queen 
Caroline, whom he defended so well that a bill of pains and 
penalties brought against her charging adultery was with- 
drawn. This so incensed the king that on the advice of Lord 
Eldon he refused Brougham a silk gown, but under Lord 
Lyndhurst, Brougham received a patent of precedence. He 
refused a baronship in the Exchequer to remain in the House 
of Commons. When the Whigs came into power under Wil- 
liam IV he was made lord chancellor in 1830, and exerted his 
energies for the passage of the Reform Bill. He went out 
with his party in 1884, and was not reappointed in 1835, but 
continued to attend regularly on the hearing of appeals in the 
House of Lords and to further reforms. He was made lord 
rector of Glasgow in 1825, and chancellor of the University 
of Edinburgh in 1860. The carriage called “brougham” was 
named after him. 
