James Fitzjames Stephen

Sir James Fitzjames Stephen was an English lawyer, judge, writer and philosopher who lived from 3 March 1829 to 11 March 1894. He served as a judge of the High Court from 1879 to 1891 and earlier held office as legal member of the Council of India, where he drafted the Indian Evidence Act of 1872, standardizing rules of evidence across India's many communities and religions. He attempted to codify English criminal law, and although his own bill was not enacted in England, it became the basis for the criminal codes later adopted by Canada, Australia and New Zealand. He was also one of the most prominent Victorian critics of John Stuart Mill, attacking what he called Mill's sentimental liberalism and arguing that the law had a legitimate role in enforcing morality and social order.