COCKBURN, Sir ALEXANDER JAMES EDMUND (1802-80). Baronet. Lord Chief Jus tice of England. Born December 24, 1502, the son of Alexander Cockburn, who was at one time British ;Minister to Colombia, he was brought up on the Continent, and in 1822 entered at Trinity Ball, Cambridge. and was called to the bar in 1829. He was very successful as a practitioner, and in 1841 was made a Queen's counsel. His early practice was largely in connection with election petitions, in which he was very success ful. in 1847 he was elected to Parliament as a Liberal from Southampton, and distinguished himself by the ardor and eloquence with which he supported the vigorous foreign policy of Palmerston. From this time on his promotion was rapid. In 1850 he was appointed Solicitor General, and in the next year was promoted to the Attorney-Generalship. In 1854 he was made re corder of Bristol ; in 1856 he was appointed Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, and in .June. 1859. he became Lord Chief Justice of
England. In 1858 he succeeded to the baronetcy of his uncle, the Dean of York. It fell to his lot, as a judge of the Queen's Bench, to conduct the trial of the celebrated Tichborue case (q.v.). His distinguished position as the head of the British bench was emphasized by his appoint ment in 1871 to represent Great Britain in the international court of arbitration convened for the settlement of the long-standing controversy between that country and the United States over the Alabama claims (q.v.). For a sketch of his life. consult the Law llagaziae for 1851, page 193, and 4th series, vol. vi., pale 191; also Law Times, vol. xx., pages 68-88.