ABINGER, JAMES SCARLETT, ist BARON (1769 1844), English judge, was born on Dec. 13, 1769 in Jamaica, where his father, Robert Scarlett, had property. He was educated at Trinity college, Cambridge, and the Inner Temple. From 1816 when he became a K.C., to 1834 he was the most successful lawyer at the bar. He entered parliament in 1819 as member for Peterborough and was attorney-general under Canning in 1827; and though he resigned when the Duke of Wellington came into power in 1828, he resumed office in 1829 and went out with the Duke of Wellington in 183o. His opposition to the Reform bill caused his severance from the Whig leaders. He was ap pointed lord chief baron of the exchequer in 1834, and presided in that court for nine years. He died at Bury St. Edmunds on April 7, 1844. The qualities which brought him success at the bar were not equally in place on the bench ; he was partial, dictatorial and vain; and complaint was made of his domineering attitude towards juries.
See P. C. Scarlett Memoir of James, 1st Lord Abinger (1877) ; Foss, Lives of the Judges; E. Manson, Builders of our Law (2904)•