Hardinge Stanley Giffard, 1st Earl of Halsbury, PC (3 September 1823 – 11 December 1921) was a British barrister and Conservative politician.

[1] The son of a newspaper editor, Giffard was called to the English bar in 1850 and acquired a large criminal practice, defending the likes of Governor Eyre and Arthur Orton, the Tichborne claimant.

[1] During the constitutional crisis over the Parliament Act 1911, Halsbury was one of the principal leaders of the rebel faction of Tory peers—labelled the "Ditchers"—that resolved on all out opposition to the government's bill limiting the House of Lords' veto whatever happened.

He was educated by his father at home, before entering Merton College, Oxford, where he obtained a fourth-class degree in literae humaniores in 1845.

Afterwards he had a large practice at the Central Criminal Court and the Middlesex sessions, and he was for several years junior prosecuting counsel to the Treasury, and working treasurer in 1881.

[2] Giffard twice contested Cardiff for the Conservatives in 1868 and 1874,[2] but he was still without a seat in the House of Commons when he was appointed Solicitor-General[2] by Disraeli in 1875 and received the customary knighthood.

[2][4] In 1885, Giffard was appointed Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain[2] in Lord Salisbury's first administration, and was created Baron Halsbury, of Halsbury in the County of Devon, thus forming a remarkable exception to the rule that no criminal lawyer could ever reach the woolsack.

Halsbury was an opponent of the British trade union movement and used his position to appoint anti-union justices in the judicial system, leading to decisions such as Taff Vale Rly Co v Amalgamated Society of Rly Servants and Quinn v Leathem which restricted the unions' right to strike.

The legal threats to trade unions at this time drove them to form the Labour Party to seek parliamentary representation.

[5] During the crisis over the Parliament Act 1911, Halsbury was one of the principal leaders of the rebel faction of Tory peers—labelled the "Ditchers"—that resolved on all out opposition to the government's bill limiting the House of Lords' veto whatever happened.

[citation needed] According to Herbert Stephen, "Halsbury's features were good, and expressive of power and resolution; his short and stoutly built figure lent itself to caricature."