William Sampson (attorney)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William Sampson (26 January 1764 – 28 December 1836) was an Irish Protestant lawyer known for his defense of religious liberty in Ireland and America.
He was born in Derry, Ireland, and studied law in London. He married Grace Clark in 1790; they had two sons, William and John, and a daughter, Catherine Anne.
Active in providing legal defenses for members of the United Irishmen, he was arrested at the time of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, imprisoned, and compelled to leave Ireland for exile in Europe. Shipwrecked at Pulhelly in Wales, he made his way to exile in Oporto, where he was again arrested, imprisoned in Lisbon, and then expelled. Settling in France, and then Hamburg, he fled Napoleon's armies and, after unsuccessfully petitioning for a return to Ireland, arrived in New York on 4 July 1806.
Sampson was then disbarred in Ireland, which caused him some bitter amusement, as it didn't affect his work in the United States. He continued his career in the law, winning a seminal case establishing the confessional privilege in American law, and died in New York.
Contents |
[edit] Writings
- Memoirs of William Sampson
- The Catholic Question in America
- A faithful report of the trial of Hurdy-Gurdy, tried and convicted of a seditious libel in the court of King's Bench, on the testimony of French Horn
[edit] Accounts of Trials
- Trial of Capt. Henry Whitby, for the murder of John Pierce, with his dying declaration: Also, the trial of Capt. George Crimp, for piracy and manstealing
- The case of George W. Niven, Esq., attorney and counsellor at law, charged with mal-practices and suspended by order of the court of common pleas
- Mr. Sampson's reply, on the trial of James Cheetham for a libel on Mrs. Margaret Brazier Bonneville
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- E-texts of Sampson's works
- Memoirs of William Sampson, 2ed. (1817)
- A Portrait of Counsellor William Sampson, by E. J. Best (Lisburn Historical Society)
