James Plaisted Wilde, 1st Baron Penzance, PC (12 July 1816 – 9 December 1899) was a noted Britishjudge and rose breeder who was also a proponent of the Baconian theory that the works usually attributed to William Shakespeare were in fact written by Francis Bacon.
In 1866, he presided over Hyde v. Hyde, a polygamy case.
In his ruling, Lord Penzance stated:
What, then, is the nature of this institution as understood in Christendom?...If it be of common acceptance and existence, it must have some pervading identity and universal basis. I conceive that marriage, as understood in Christendom, may for this purpose be defined as the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman, to the exclusion of all others.
This remained the common-law definition of marriage throughout the British Empire and successor states.
In Canada, it was overruled by an explicit statutory definition in the Civil Marriage Act 2005, which allowed for same-sex marriage.
Shakespeare
Wilde argued, following Lord Campbell and others, that the works of Shakespeare are extremely accurate in matters of law. In The Bacon-Shakespeare Controversy (1890)
he wrote of "Shakespeare's perfect familiarity with... English law... so perfect and intimate that he was never incorrect and never at fault", arguing that this was evidence that the plays were the work of a legal expert such as Bacon.[8] Several other authors followed Wilde's arguments about the legal expertise used in Shakespeare, including Sir George Greenwood. Opponents of Wilde's view argued that Shakespeare's knowledge of the law was not exceptional.[8]
Dewar, Mary. (1964). Sir Thomas Smith: A Tudor Intellectual in Office. London: Athlone.
Strype, John. (1698). The Life of the Learned Sir Thomas Smith, T. D.C.L. New York: Burt Franklin, 1974. ISBN0-8337-3447-4.
Wilde, J.P. (1902) Lord Penzance on the Bacon-Shakespeare Controversy - A Judicial Summing-Up
Wilde, J.P. (ed.) M.H. Kinnear (1992) Lord Penzance's Trial of Shakespeare: Verdict for BaconISBN1-85571-308-X
Arms
Coat of arms of James Wilde, 1st Baron Penzance
Crest
A hart lodged holding in its mouth a rose Proper.
Escutcheon
Ermine on a cross Sable a plate a chief of the second charged with three martlets Argent.
Supporters
On either side a bull regardant Argent gorged with a collar Vair and chain reflexed over the back.
^Sir John Sainty (comp.) The Judges of England, 1272-1990: a list of the judges of the Superior courts (Selden Society: Supplementary Series 1993, 10), 132.
