ROMILLY, Sir SAMUEL, English lawyer and law reformer; b. Mar. 1, 1757; was • descended from a family of French ProtestantS, who, after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, emigrated to England. At the age of 16 Romilly was articled to Kr. Lally, one of the sworn clerks in chancery; and at 21 he entered himself at Gray's tun. At first he made little progress in his profession; but after a time he began to apply himself to the study of criminal law; and in 1789 entertaining. like many other English liberals, a sanguine expectation of the happy effects of the French revolution, he published a short pamphlet on the subject. In 1792, and again in 1795. he declined lord Lansdowne':; offer of a seat for Caine. In 1806 he was, at the instance of Mr. Fox, appointed solicitor general in the Grenville administration. He unwillingly received the honor of knight hood; but the king having, for the last 20 years, knighted all his attorneys and solicitors-general on their appointment, would take no refusal. Ile was afterward returned for Queenborough, was one of the manager's of lord Melville's trial, and passed a bill to amend the bankrupt laws. In 1S07 lie went out of office, and was elected for Horsham, but being unseated, was returned for Wareham. Ile now devoted himself to ameliorate the severity of the criminal law, and proposed the abolition of the ment of death in various cases of theft. lIe also published it pamphlet On the Criminal Law as it relates Ito Capital Punishments. His bilis were, session after session, opposed by the government of the day, the judges, and many of the bishops, as dangerous inno vations; but ltomilly nevertheless persevered, and lost no opportunity of protesting against the severity and frequency of capital punishments. The measures he proposed
f31* mitigating the severity of the criminal law were, for the most part, carried by others; but lie framed an act for rendering the punishment of high treason less barbarous, and another for taking away corruption of blood, as a consequence of attainder of felony. He took an active part in the anti-slavery agitation, and in opposing the suspension of • the habeas corpus act, the spy system, and the despotic acts of the government. In 1816 lie was spontaneously chosen by the electors of Westminster as their representative. The death of his wife, following upon prolonged mental exertion, preyed upon his mind, and three days afterward (Nov. 2, 1818), he died by his own hand. lIe lied at this time attained the foremost rank at the chancery bar, and his professional gains were said to average £14,000 a year. His death excited profound sympathy, and was considered it public calamity. His Speeches in Parliament have been published in two vols.; and his autobiography, with a selection from his correspondence, admirably edited try his sons, has also been published in two vols.—His second son, BARON ROMILLY, educated at Trinity college, and called to the bar at Gray's inn, 1827, was made solicitor-general in 1818, attorney-general in 1850, master of the rolls in 1851, and created a baron in 18C6. As master of the rolls Romilly incidentally rendered great services to his count ry, .by super intending the publication of public records tending to throw much light upon English history and events. He died on Dec. 23, 1874.