Sir John Barnard Byles (11 January 1801 – 3 February 1884) was a British barrister, judge and author of books on law and the economy. He published an influential text on bills of exchange in 1829, commonly referred to as "Byles on Bills".
Early life
Byles was the a grandson of Mr Jeremiah Byles (1733–1790), a timber-merchant from Stowmarket, Suffolk, England.
Career
Byles studied law and became a member of the Inner Temple, where he was a pupil of the renowned Joseph Chitty, and became a special pleader.
In 1829, he published a seminal work on bills of exchange, A Treatise on the Law of Bills of Exchange, Promissory Notes, Bank-Notes, and Cheques, which is commonly referred to as Byles on Bills. He is even said to have named his horse "Bills", so that when approaching, people would utter "Here comes Byles on Bills". He was called to the Bar in November 1831. He joined the Norfolk circuit and in 1840 he was appointed recorder of Buckingham, and then in 1843 became a Serjeant-at-law. In 1857, he was appointed Queen's Serjeant. Byles once ran as a candidate for Parliament in the Aylesbury constituency, but lost.
In January 1858 he was promoted to the bench and was later made a Knight Bachelor and Justice of the Common Pleas. He often oversaw cases at the Central Criminal Court in London. He was described by the contemporary press as being a judge of the "old school", reminiscent of lawyers from Elizabethan times in his predilection for employing old-fashioned sayings and "saws". He was also a stickler for proper (black) clothing in court, once remarking to Lord Coleridge "I always listen with little pleasure to the arguments of counsel whose legs are encased in light gray trousers". In January 1873 he resigned as a judge due to his failing health. He then became, on 3 March, a member of the Privy Council but he died soon after on 3 February 1884, aged 83. He resided in Hatfield House, Uxbridge.
Personal life
Byles married, firstly, Hannah Foster in August 1828, the daughter of John Foster, a merchant of Biggleswade; she died shortly after the marriage. He married in August 1836 Emma Nash Wedd, the daughter of Joseph Pattisson Wedd, a solicitor of Royston; she died in July 1872. Of their children, the eldest son, Walter Barnard, was called to the Bar in 1866 and the second eldest, Maurice Barnard, was called in 1866.
Notable cases
Daniel Good - sentenced to death for murder in 1842. Before his trial, he escaped from custody and the ensuing chase caused the police to set up the Detective Branch for pursuing criminals on the run. Caught and hanged. James Bloomfield Rush - Hanged for the murders of Isaac Jermy, the Recorder of Norwich, and his son, Isaac Jermy Jermy, in 1849. Catherine Wilson - found guilty of poisoning in 1862 and hanged. Byles told defence lawyer, Montagu Williams, Q.C., directly after the trial ended: "I sent for you to tell you that you did that case remarkably well. But it was no good; the facts were too strong. I prosecuted Rush for the murder of Mr. Jermy, I defended Daniel Good, and I defended several other notable criminals when I was on the Norfolk Circuit; but, if it will be of any satisfaction to you, I may tell you that in my opinion you have to-day defended the greatest criminal that ever lived." William Roupell - found guilty of fraud in 1862. Frances Kidder - found guilty of murder in 1868, hanged. Rev. John Selby Watson - classical translator who killed his wife. Sentenced to death in 1872 but later commuted to life in prison.
Byles the protectionist as seen in Sophisms of Free Trade
In Sophisims of free trade, John Byles championed protectionism and refuted the "let it alone," i.e., laissez faire system. Industries do not spring up out of nowhere, and home markets needs protectionism to stave off foreign competition. Byles said, "But in truth the natural course of commercial affairs uninfluenced by legislation is impossible." He could not conceive where England could have been at in 1851 without protectionism. He was convinced that new nations as well as old nations needed protectionism. He knew individuals and the private sector did not have the resources to create an immense future. Public wisdom had to do this monumental feat. Moreover, Byles called humanity the most profoundest cause. He stated that those who regard man in high esteem should not be subjected to unbridled foreign commerce. In sum, Byles saw protection as not a source of calamity and peril as free traders depicted it, but as a policy that spread industry and brought water, economic life where there was none.