CAMDEN, CHARLES PRATT, Earl of, a younger son of sir John Pratt, chief justice of the court of king's bench in the reign of George I., was b. in 1714. Educated at Eton and Cambridge, he studied for the law, and was called to the bar in 173S. Not until 1752, however, when he defended a bookseller successfully against a government prose cution for libel on the house of commons, did C.'s prospects appear very promising; from this time his success was certain. In 1757, he was appointed attorney-general, and four years afterwards, accepted a seat on the bench in the court of common pleas. Judge in the trial of Wilkes, he declared his opinion emphatically that the action of gov ernment in this case, by general warrants, was altogether illegal—au opinion which, chiming in with public sentiment at the time, made him the most popular of judges. In 1765, he was created baron C. of Camden place, Kent, by the Rockingham adminis tration; to whose American policy, and to their treatment of Wilkes, notwithstanding, he offered constant opposition. The following year, when he was made lord chancellor,
he did not abandon his principles; and four years after—the duke of Grafton being then prime minister—he supported an amendment made by Chatham on the government address, and resigned his place. His judicial career ended here; henceforth, he was entirely a political character, and for more than 20 years took an active part against the ill-advised American policy pursued by lord North, and in discussions on the law of libel, in which he maintained the popular view. As a judge, he is held in high estima tion, though his manner was somewhat undignified. He filled the office of president of the council in the Rockingham administration in 1782, and also from the following year until his death, under Pitt. He died April, 1794.