Sir Richard Cayley (1833–1908) was a British lawyer who served as Chief Justice of Ceylon.
Richard Cayley was born on 22 April 1833, the son of Edward Cayley and Frances Twopenny. He was educated at Stamford School between 1842 and 1851 before going up to St John's College, Cambridge in 1851.[1]
He married Sophia, daughter of David Wilson, a member of the Legislative Council of Ceylon, on 17 April 1866. After serving for a period as Queen's Advocate, he succeeded Sir Anthony Oliphant as Chief Justice.
As such he heard before the Supreme Court the case of Jayawardena v. Queen's Advocate. Up to the time of Jayawardena's case, the right to sue the Crown had the character of a "taken for granted law", but here the serving Queen's Advocate argued that suing the Crown was an "attempt to impugn the royal prerogative". In giving his ruling on this case, Chief Justice Cayley said, "To hold at this date, for the first time, that a practice, which has so long been sanctioned by the Courts and acquiesced in by the Government, is bad in law,...would [lead to] widespread confusion and ...in many cases to injustice."
He was succeeded as Chief Justice by Sir Richard Morgan.
On his return to England, he subsequently held the office of Justice of the Peace for the counties of Northamptonshire and Rutland.[2] He was a member of the original committee responsible for the foundation, in 1889, of the Old Stamfordian Club for old boys of his alma mater.[3] The club remains a thriving concern to this day.
He died on 5 April 1908 aged 74.