| The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07. |
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| Eyre, Sir James |
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| 1734–99, English jurist. As a young lawyer he was counsel (1763) for John Wilkes in the suit against the government that established the illegality of general warrants (warrants for the arrest of any or all persons, no names being specified, involved in an offense). He later became president of the Court of Exchequer (1787) and chief justice of common pleas (1793). He presided (1794) over the famous state trials of John Horne Tooke and others for alleged subversion of the government. |
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| | | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright © 2007 Columbia University Press. |
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