James Wilde, 1st Baron Penzance

In the law of real property, its rules of tenure and descents, its entails, its fines and recoveries, their vouchers and double vouchers, in the procedure of the courts, the method of bringing writs and arrests, the nature of actions, the rules of pleading, the law of escapes and of contempt in court, in the principles of evidence, both technical and philosophical, in the distinction between the temporal and spiritual tribunals, in the law of attainder and forfeiture, in the requisites of a valid marriage, in the presumption of legitimacy, in the learning of the law of prerogative, in the inalienable character of the Crown, this mastership appears with surprising authority.

To all this testimony, and there is much more which I have not cited, may now be added that of a great lawyer of our own times, viz., Sir James Plaisted Wilde, Q.C., created a Baron of the Exchequer in 1860, promoted to the post of Judge Ordinary and Judge of the Courts of Probate and Divorce in 1863, and better known to the world as Lord Penzance, to which dignity he was raised in 1869.

Lord Penzance, as all lawyers know, and as the late Mr. Enderwick, K.C., has testified, was one of the first legal authorities of his day, famous for his remarkable grasp of legal principles and endowed by nature with a remarkable facility for marshalling facts and for a clear expression of his views.

Lord Penzance speaks of Shakespeare's perfect familiarity with not only the principles, axioms, and maxims, but the technicalities of English law, a knowledge so perfect and intimate that he was never incorrect and never at fault.