52 Because part of Lord Mansfield’s earnings as Chief Justice depended upon the number of cases tried, case load figures appeared in his personal financial accounts. Most of the accounts for the post-Gordon-riot years survive at Scone Palace, and they contain entries such as: “212 Causes Entered Michaelmas Term 2 of which paupers”.^' Collectively, the accounts yield case figures for the judicial years 1780-81 through 1785—86, as follows: Total Michaelmas Hilary Trinity Easter Year 356 241 249 1.060 1.043 1.179 1.143 1.102 1.090'' 1780-81 1781-82 1782-83 1783-84 1784-85 1785-86 214 285 259 287 212 309 245 339 286 255 270 328 292 296 263 283 260 Figures for each Termdo not appear in the accounts for 1785—86. The Total is given and is repeated here for comparison, even though Lord Mansfield ceased his trial sittings after Hilary Term 1786. Sketchy figures indicating the number of trials conducted by Lord Mansfield in earlier years can be extracted fromthe newspapers, viz: Trinity, 1762—63: 54 cases, Westminster Hall only Michaelmas, 1771—72: 67 cases, Westminster Hall only Easter, 1771—72: 84 cases, Westminster Hall only Easter, 1772-73: 83 cases, Westminster Hall only Trinity, 1772—73: “upwards of 60” cases, Westminster Hall only Michaelmas, 1776-77: 143 cases, Westminster Hall and Guildhall combined Hilary, 1777—78: “upwards of 100” cases, Guildhall only These figures confirman accelerating case load during Lord Mansfield’s years on the bench. By comparison, Dudley Ryder (Mansfield’s predecessor as Chief Justice of the Court of King’s Bench) indicated in his diary that, for Trinity Term 1754, he conducted 85 trials in Middlesex and London combined.” But the sharper contrast was with the Court of Common Pleas. At the end of Trinity Term 1763, Chief Justice Pratt was reported to have heard 18 cases at Scone Palace MSS, Bundle 51 (figures relate to the second half of 1781). Lord Mansfield collected no fee for the indigent cases. There were never more than one or two in a Term. Ryder Diary,. 14 December 1754. The diary transcriptions that I use were made by K. L. Perrin. They were directly commissioned by Arthur T. Vanderbilt, an American jurist and scholar, and except as noted, are not among those at Lincoln’s Inn Library or otherwise in circulation. I use them with the kind permission of William Vanderbilt, Arthur T. Vanderbilt’s son, and of The Harrowy MSS Trust. The London Chronicle, ]u\y 1, 1763.
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