ELLENBOROUGH, EDWARD LAW, 1ST BARON (1750-1818), English judge, was born on Nov. 16, 1750, at Great Salkeld, Cumberland, where his father, afterwards bishop of Car lisle, was rector. He was educated at the Charterhouse and at Peterhouse, Cambridge, and afterwards was entered at Lincoln's Inn. He spent five years as a special pleader and was called to the bar in 1780. He was unexpectedly chosen to lead the defence of Warren Hastings before the House of Lords, in 1787, Erskine having declined for political reasons. This most famous trial in English history lasted until 1795, when a verdict of acquittal was given. Law did not open the defence till 1792. At the end of it he was second only to Erskine at the bar. During the French Revolution he joined Pitt, was made attorney-general in 1801, and chief justice of the King's Bench with the title of Lord Ellen borough in 1802. He was the judge in the famous case of Ash ford v. Thornton, the last case of Appeal of Battle in England. In 1806, on the formation of Lord Grenville's ministry "of all the talents," Lord Ellenborough declined the offer of the great seal, but accepted a seat in the cabinet while retaining the chief justiceship. This action was much criticized and, though not without precedent, was open to such obvious objections on con stitutional grounds that the experiment has not been repeated. As a judge his decisions displayed profound legal knowledge, and in mercantile law especially were reckoned of high authority. He was harsh and overbearing to counsel, and in political trials showed an unmistakable bias. In the trial of William Hone (q.v.) for blasphemy in 1817, Ellenborough directed the jury to find a verdict of guilty, and their acquittal of the prisoner is generally said to have hastened his death. He resigned his judi cial office in Nov. 1818, and died the following month. He had married in 1789 Miss Towry, and had a large family.