Charles Beavan (1805-1884) was a British barrister and
law reporter.
He was born in March 1805, the son of Hugh Beavan of
Llowes, Radnorshire and educated at
Aldenham and
Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, graduating 22nd wrangler in 1829, B.A. in 1829, and M.A. in 1832. He became a barrister of the
Middle Temple on 25 June 1830, and a bencher on 6 May 1873. He practised in Chancery courts and was an official examiner of
Court of Chancery from June 1866 to January 1884 when that office was abolished. He was author of Reports of cases in Chancery argued and determined in the Rolls Court (1840–69), published in 36 volumes, the longest series of authorized reports ever published.[1]
He died at 91 St. George's Road,
Pimlico, London on 18 June 1884.[1] On 21 June 1884, the Solicitors Journal said that Beavan 'might probably claim the distinction of being in legal circles and publications the "most mentioned" man of his day'.[2]
Beavan's Reports are reprinted in volumes 48 to 55 of the
English Reports.[3] They have also been reproduced in
microform.[4] The Law Times published a digest of these reports.[5] Beavan's report are often abbreviated as Beav when cases are cited in later rulings.[6][7]
The National Portrait Gallery has a photograph of Beavan taken in the 1860s by Leonida Caldesi.[8] Beavan had one son, Charles Albert Beavan.[9]
^Foster. "Beavan, Charles Albert". Men at the Bar. 2nd Ed. 1885.
p 30.
Further information
Charles Shaw. "Beavan, Charles" The Inns of Court Calendar: A Record of the Members of the English Bar. Butterworths. Fleet Street, London. 1877.
Page 65.
John Venn and J A Venn (eds). "Beavan, Charles". Alumni Cantabrigienses. Cambridge University Press. 1940. Reprinted 2011. Volume 2 (1752-1900). Part 1.
Page 208.
John Venn. "Beavan, Charles". Biographical History of Gonville and Caius College 1349-1897. Volume 2 (1713–1897). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. C J Clay and Sons, London. Glasgow. 1898.
Page 191
"Legal Obituary of the Quarter" (1884) 9 Law Magazine and Review (Fourth Series) 478
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"Obituary" (1884) 19 The Law Journal 396 (21 June)
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Van Vechten Veeder,
"The English Reports 1292-1865. II." (1901) 15 Harvard Law Review 109 at 116; reprinted at 2 Select Essays in Anglo American Legal History 123
Julius J Marke (ed), A Catalogue of the Law Collection at New York University with Selected Annotations, Law Center of New York University, 1953, Library of Congress Catalog card 58-6489, Reprinted by The Lawbook Exchange Ltd (Union, New Jersey) 1999,
p 31.
Charles Beavan. Ordines Cancellariae. 1842.
Google Books. Supplement. 1845.
William George Thorpe. The Still Life of the Middle Temple: With Some of Its Table Talk. Richard Bentley and Son. 1892. Page 356.
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Arthur Robert Ingpen (ed). Master Worsley's Book on the History and Constitution of the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple. Chiswick Press. 1910. Page 329.
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