affairs and had little interest in the Welsh national movement. Judicial career On 2 January, 1869, James was appointed a Vice-Chancellor of the Court of Chancery, receiving the customary knighthood. The next year, 1870, he was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal of the Court of Appeal in Chancery. He was also sworn to the Privy Council. He had a reputation as an eminent and shrewd judge, learned in the law, with a talent for concise but clear enunciation of principles. While on the Court of Appeal in Chancery, he decided several cases under the new Companies Act and Bankruptcy Act of 1869. Lambe v Eames, which is a leading case on the construction of declarations of trust, and Ex parte Mackay, a foundational case in bankruptcy law. In Tamplin v James he gave the decision concerning the availability of specific performance for a breach of contract induced by mistake. In 1874, James gave the decision of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in a significant constitutional case from Canada, Maher v Town Council of Portland. The case concerned the interpretation of s. 93 of the British North America Act, 1867 (now the Constitution Act, 1867), dealing with publicly funded religious separate schools, and has been cited by the Canadian courts in subsequent cases dealing with separate schools. Interest in India In addition to sitting on the commission relating to Indian legal matters, James had a personal interest in India and its position in the Empire. Prior to his appointment to the bench, he began writing a planned two-volume text on India, but did not complete it due to his judicial workload and ill-health. His daughter, Mary Salis Schwabe, completed the editorial work on the first volume, which was published the year after James's death. Later life and death James died in 1881 at his London residence, 47 Wimpole Street, and is buried at Highgate Cemetery. Judgments Lambe v Eames (1871) LR 6 Ch App 597 Ex parte Mackay (1873) LR 8 Ch App 643 Maher v Town Council of Portland (1874) Wheeler's Confederation Law of Canada (London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1896), pp. 362-366 Tamplin v James (1880) 15 Ch D 215 (CA) Publications Sir William Milbourne James, "The British in India" (London: MacMillan and Co., 1882); edited by Mary J. Salis Schwabe. Arms References Bibliography 1807 births 1881 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery 19th-century English judges Members of