Forty Years at the Bar: Being the Memoirs of Edward Abinger, Barrister of the Inner Temple

“An excellent collection of amusing stories and witty pen pictures of leading lights at the Bar, with interesting revelations concerning famous trials, make a most readable volume.” Daily Mirror
“A breezy and entertaining record of an interesting career.” Daily Herald

Edward Abinger’s reminiscences of more than forty years at the English Bar.

Abinger followed his father and grandfather into practicing law. He joined the Inner Temple as a student in 1883 and was called to the Bar in 1887. He spent most of his career in the criminal courts. He was involved in numerous high-profile cases of murder and other serious crimes.

Practising as a barrister in the criminal courts brought Abinger into contact with many interesting and well-known people and in this volume he recalls a wealth of marvellous stories about these characters.

Abinger was counsel for Stinie Morrison, who was accused of the murder of Leon Beron, whose body was found on Clapham Common New Year’s Day 1911 and whose case aroused tremendous public interest. Morrison was found guilty of the killing and sentenced to death, though the Home Secretary did give him a reprieve to penal servitude for life. Abinger outlines in detail many extraordinary and unsatisfactory features of this case and argues passionately that Stinie Morrison did not get a fair trial and should have been found ‘not guilty’.

As an interesting aside, Abinger was involved in a remarkable number of accidents during his lifetime. He details how he has been three times wrecked at sea, in a hotel fire, innumerable cab accidents and three railway accidents. These accidents include the S.S. Stella disaster of 1899 in which many men, women and children perished.

First published in 1930. This special edition is published by Lewisham Press, 2021.

Edward Abinger (1859-1929) was a well-known English barrister. He was a proud Jew, though, to his regret, his mother had changed his surname from Abraham to Abinger as an child, out of concern that her children would be disadvantaged by anti-Semitism.

“The late Edward Abinger’s book of reminiscences will be read with a lively interest by both lawyers and general readers who will relish well-told stories about the more eminent pleaders who have figured during the last forty or fifty years at the English Bar.” The Scotsman
“A number of very good stories of legal celebrities.” Weekly Dispatch

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