Charles Sprengel Greaves

Not to be confused with Charles Greaves.

Charles Sprengel Greaves MA QC (1802–1881), eldest son of William Greaves MD (1771–1848) of Mayfield, Staffordshire, by his first wife, Anne-Lydia, was born at Burton on 18 July 1802.[1][2][3] He entered Rugby School on 18 July 1816[4] and matriculated at Queen's College, Oxford on 27 February 1819,[1] graduating BA on 25 November 1823[5] (in the lower portion of the second class in classics)[6] and MA on 13 April 1825.[5] Greaves was called to the bar by the Society of Lincoln's Inn on 22 November 1827,[7] entered the Inner Temple ad eundem in 1828,[8] and attended the Oxford Circuit and Gloucester Sessions.[7] He became Queen's counsel on 28 February 1850,[1] but by then he had for many years ceased to practise.[9] He became a bencher of Lincoln's Inn[8] on 15 April 1850.[2] He was a magistrate and deputy lieutenant for Staffordshire, and also a magistrate for the county of Derby.[3][10][11] He was the draftsman of the Criminal Procedure Act 1851[12] and the Criminal Law Consolidation Acts 1861.[13] He became a Secretary to the Criminal Law Commission in 1878. He died at 11 Blandford Square,[1] London, on 3 June 1881.[2]

On 11 February 1841 he married Emma Frances Tyson[14] (d. 1880),[10] daughter of William Tyson of Ashbourne by his wife Lucia-Elizabeth.[14]

Greaves edited the third and fourth editions of Russell on Crime[1] and was, in this capacity, "a distinguished writer" on the subject of criminal law.[15] He was the author of:

  • The Act for Conviction of Juvenile Offenders, 11 Vict. c. 82, London, 1847, 12mo.[16] By 1870, Greaves' Treatise on the Juvenile Offenders Act was not only out of print, but had to some extent been rendered obsolete by the passing of Jervis' and other Acts.[17][18]
  • Lord Campbell's Acts for the further improving the Administration of Justice, London, 1851, r 8vo[16]
  • The Criminal Law Consolidation and Amendment Acts of the 24 and 25 of Victoria, London, 1861, 12mo, 2nd ed, 1862, Post 8vo[1][19]
  • The Proper Time for the Publication of Banns of Matrimony, in the Morning Service, London, 1867, 8vo[16][20]
  • A Review of the Statutes, Rubrics and Cannons relating to Clerical Vestments, London, 1867, 8vo.[16]

Greaves was, with James John Lonsdale, joint author of A Letter to the Lord Chancellor, London, 1854, 8vo.[1][21]

Greaves was a man "of high legal attainments"[22] and was "known as a gentleman of great learning, ability, and research".[23][24]

Greaves was a "splendid polymath".[25] He was an antiquarian.[26] He was a member of the Archaeological Institute[27][28] and the Derbyshire Archaeological and Natural History Society.[29]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Rupert Simms. Bibliotheca Staffordiensis. Printed for the compiler by A C Lomax. Lichfield. 1894. Page 197.
  2. ^ a b c Frederic Boase. "Greaves, Charles Sprengel". Modern English Biography: A – H. Netherton and Worth. 1892. Page 1872. [1]
  3. ^ a b John Burke. A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Commoners of Great Britain and Ireland. Published for Henry Colburn by R Bentley. London. 1834. Volume I. Page 386.
  4. ^ Temple, Frederick. Rugby School Register: From 1675 to 1867 Inclusive. Rugby: W Billington. London: Whittaker and Co. 1867. Page 75.
  5. ^ a b University of Oxford. A Catalogue of all Graduates. 1851. Page 271.
  6. ^ The Oxford Ten-Year Book: A Register of University Honours and Distinctions, completed to the End of the Year 1870. Oxford. 1872. Page 504. The abbreviations are explained on page 449.
  7. ^ a b James Wishaw. A Synopsis of the Members of the English Bar. Stevens and Sons. A Maxwell. London. 1835. Page 57. The listing is explained on pages ix and x.
  8. ^ a b Joseph Foster. Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715–1886. 1887. Volume 2. Page 544.
  9. ^ (1881) 25 Solicitors Journal and Reporter 622 at 623 [2] [3]
  10. ^ a b (1881) 71 Law Times and Journal of Property 105
  11. ^ Parliamentary Papers
  12. ^ (1851) 15 Law Magazine (New Series) 226; (1851) 15 Jurist 361; (1948) 63 British Columbia Reports 49 [4]; (1946) 86 Canadian Criminal Cases Annotated 340 [5]; Law Reform Commission of Canada, The Charge Document in Criminal Cases (1987) p 8 [6].
  13. ^ R v Burstow, R v Ireland [1998] AC 147 at 234, HL, per Lord Steyn
  14. ^ a b Sir Bernard Burke. "Greaves, Charles Sprengel" in A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland. Fifth Edition. Harrison. London. 1871. Volume 1. Page 540.
  15. ^ John Hostettler. Criminal Jury Old and New. Waterside Press. 2004. Page 117.
  16. ^ a b c d Kirk, John Foster. "Greaves, Charles Sprengel". A Supplement to Allibone's Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British and American Authors. J B Lippincott Company. Philadelphia. 1899. Volume 1. Page 707.
  17. ^ Lascelles, Francis Henry. The Laws Affecting Juvenile Offenders. Henry Sweet. London. 1870. Page v.
  18. ^ For a review of this book, see "Short Notes of New Books" (1848) Law Magazine, or Quarterly Review of Jurisprudence, New Series, volume 8 (Old Series, volume 39) p 159. For a copy, see Google Books. This book is also called Greaves' Juvenile Offenders Act: Law Magazine, New Series, volume 8, p ii.
  19. ^ For reviews of this book, see (1861) 37 The Law Times 39; (1863) 15 Law Magazine and Law Review, or, Quarterly Journal of Jurisprudence 179 [7] [8]; (1862) 6 Solicitors Journal and Reporter 582; The Jurist, (New series) Volume 8, Part 2, (Old series) Volume 26, Part 2, p 34 (25 January 1862)
  20. ^ For a review of this book, see (1867) 42 Law Times 391. For a copy, see Google Books.
  21. ^ For a copy of this book, see Google Books.
  22. ^ Charles A W Rocher. The Tasmanian Criminal Law Consolidation and Amendment Acts of the 27th Victoria. J Walch & Sons. Hobart Town and Launceston. Tasmania. Simpkin, Marshall & Co. London. 1864. Page xi.
  23. ^ R v Curgerwen (1865) LR 1 CC 1 at 3, per Pollock CB
  24. ^ Cf. Kenny, A Selection of Cases Illustrative of English Criminal Law, Cambridge, 1901, p 324 ("learned"); 30 Journal of the Statistical Society of London 384 ("well known to be a high authority in matters of criminal law")
  25. ^ Bernadette McSherry, Alan William Norrie, Simon Bronitt (editors). Regulating deviance: the redirection of criminalisation and the futures of criminal law. Hart. 2009. ISBN 9781841138893. Page 263.
  26. ^ Susan Hueck Allen. Finding the Walls of Troy: Frank Calvert and Heinrich Schliemann at Hisarlík. University of California Press. Page 66.
  27. ^ Walford, Edward. "Greaves, Charles Sprengel". The County Families of the United Kingdom Or, Royal Manual of the Titled and Untitled Aristocracy of Great Britain and Ireland. Fifth Edition. Robert Hardwicke. London. 1869. Page 427.
  28. ^ Proceedings at Meetings of the Royal Archaeological Institute. Volume 37. Issue 1. Page 329. 1 April 1880. C S Greaves Esq QC in the Chair. Taylor and Francis Online.
  29. ^ (1891) Journal of the Derbyshire Archaeological and Natural History Society. Volume 13. Page 221. [9]