SIR,—Towards the end of his interesting reVieV 'of Lord Birkenhead's
new book, Brian Inglis refers to `FE's' attitude on the subject of the succession of. Gordon Hewart to the Chief Justiceship. Lloyd George, he remarks, sought to appoint a new Chief Justice on the understanding that he should resign as soon as the Attorney-General, Hewart, 'felt ready to take his place.'
This is not quite an exact description of the position. As I showed in Hewart's biography The Chief, there was no office he coveted more in his life than the Chief Justiceship. The trickery con- cerning the appointment was divided between Lloyd George and Reading, and Birkenhead supported Hewart strongly in his claim for the office. It might be argued that Birkenhead should have resigned when Mr. Justice A. T. Lawrence was put in as a stop-gap, but certainly not when Hewart finally stepped up.
Since the publication of my book I have been interested in the statement made in many quarters and repeated by Mr. Inglis that Hewart was wrong to regard the Chief Justiceship as his of right' when he was Attorney-General and it fell vacant.
Perhaps he was wrong, but the fact remains that in 1921 nobody said a word in dispute. King George V, Lloyd George, Birkenhead, Carson and Hewart himself all accepted without question Hewart's assumption that if the Chief Justiceship fell vacant while he was Attorney-General his succession was automatic.—Yours faithfully,
ROBERT JACKSON
49 Cumberland Mansions, Bryanston Square, WI
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