James Bacon (judge)

He left school at twelve and worked for some years in the same attorney's firm, Rhodes and Cook, as he relates in his unpublished memoirs.

John Murray decided not to sue because copyright in works of doubtful moral character had become precarious following the case of William Lawrence.

This work was illustrated by George Cruikshank and Bacon knew him and many literary and artistic personalities, including Charles Lamb and Mary Shelley.

He also became a vice-chancellor in 1870 and was knighted and appointed to the Privy Council the following year; the post was abolished by the Court of Judicature Act of 1875 but he retained the title until he retired in 1886 at the age of 88.

An example is that when a decision of his was appealed, the only thing on his notes sent to the higher court was a cartoon of the appellant and the words "This man is a liar.