Manisty was born at Vicarage House, Edlingham, Northumberland, the second son of James Manisty, BD, vicar of Edlingham, and his wife Eleanor, only daughter of Francis Forster of Seaton Burn Hall, Northumberland.

He was educated at Durham Cathedral grammar school, and was articled when still young in the offices of Thorpe & Dickson, attorneys, of Alnwick, Northumberland.

In 1876, when Mr Justice Blackburn was made a law lord, Manisty was appointed to the High Court (Queen's Bench Division) at the unusually advanced age of 67, and was knighted.

Among his decisions were judgments in Regina v. Bishop of Oxford (1879), Belt v. Lawes (1881), Wennhak v Morgan (1888),[2] Adams v. Coleridge (1891), and O'Brien v. Lord Salisbury (1889).

[1] His fourth son, Herbert Francis Manisty, was Attorney-General of the County Palatine of Durham from 1915 to 1939.