James William Colvile
{{Short description|British judge and administrator in India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2018}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = The Right Honourable
| name = Sir James William Colvile
| honorific-suffix = FRS
| image = James_William_Colvile_CU.jpg
| caption =
| office = Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
| term_start = November 1865
| term_end = 6 December 1880
| birth_date = {{birth date|1810|1|12|df=y}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{death date and age|1880|12|6|1810|1|12|df=y}}
| death_place = London
| father = Andrew Wedderburn Colvile
| spouse = {{marriage|Frances Elinor Grant |1857}}
| relatives = Eden Colvile (brother)
Margaret Colvile (sister)
| education = Eton College
| alma_mater = Trinity College, Cambridge
}}
Sir James William Colvile (12 January 1810 – 6 December 1880) was a British lawyer, civil servant and then judge in India, and a judge on the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the court of last resort for the British colonies.
Life
He was born the eldest son of Andrew Wedderburn Colvile of Ochiltree and Crombie, Fife and educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated MA in 1834. He trained as a barrister and was called to the bar in 1835.{{sfn|Hamilton|1887}}
He practised at Lincoln's Inn for ten years before being appointed Advocate General to the East India Company in 1845. He went to Calcutta and was appointed Puisne Judge to the Supreme Court of Bengal in 1848 and Chief Justice of Bengal in 1855. He was knighted in 1848.{{sfn|Hamilton|1887}}
He was the first vice-chancellor of the University of Calcutta. He served in this office for two years, from 24 January 1857 to 24 January 1859.[http://www.caluniv.ac.in/About%20the%20university/university_frame.htm List of Vice Chancellors of the University of Calcutta] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110808224127/http://www.caluniv.ac.in/About%20the%20university/university_frame.htm |date=2011-08-08 }}
He was president of The Asiatic Society.{{sfn|Hamilton|1887}}
He retired and returned to England in 1859. He was made a Privy Councillor, initially as an Assessor to the Judicial Committee of the Council of India appeals, and eventually as a full member of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.{{sfn|Hamilton|1887}} He gave the decision of the Judicial Committee in two constitutional cases from Canada dealing with federal jurisdiction over railways: Dow v. Black (1875), and Bourgoin v La Compagnie du Chemin de Fer de Montréal, Ottawa & Occidental, and Ross (1880).
In April 1875, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society.{{cite web | url= http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=0&dsqSearch=%28Surname%3D%27colvile%27%29 | title= Library and Archive Catalogue | publisher= royal society | access-date= 23 December 2010 }}{{Dead link|date=September 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
He died in London, of heart failure on 6 December 1880.{{sfn|Hamilton|1887}}
Family
He married in 1857 Frances Elinor, daughter of Sir John Peter Grant, K.C.B., G.C.M.G., of Rothiemurchus, lieutenant-governor of Lower Bengal.
They had one son, Andrew John Wedderburn, born in 1859, who died in 1876.{{sfn|Hamilton|1887}}
References
{{Reflist}}
;Attribution
{{DNB|wstitle=Colvile, James William|first= John Andrew|last= Hamilton|volume=11|page=417}}
External links
- {{Internet Archive author |sname=James William Colvile}}
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{{succession box | before=Sir Lawrence Peel | title=Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William | years=1855–1859 | after=Sir Barnes Peacock}}
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{{University of Calcutta Vice chancellors}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Colvile, James William}}
Category:19th-century English judges
Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
Category:Fellows of the Royal Society
Category:Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Category:People educated at Eton College