author
Travers Twiss
1809–1897
A leading Victorian jurist and scholar of international law, he moved between Oxford, the courts, and public office. His career was distinguished and influential, though later generations have also remembered the controversy that touched his private life.
1 Audiobook
The Oregon Territory, Its History and Discovery
by Travers Twiss
About the author
Born in London on March 19, 1809, Travers Twiss became one of the better-known English legal scholars of the 19th century. He studied at University College, Oxford, where he earned high honors, later serving there as a fellow, tutor, and professor. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1838, a sign of the reputation he built early in his career.
Twiss wrote and taught on political economy, civil law, and especially international law. He held posts at both Oxford and King's College London, and his legal career culminated in his appointment as Queen's Advocate-General. His work helped shape Victorian discussions of maritime law and the law of nations, and he published widely on these subjects.
His life was not remembered only for scholarship. In the 1870s, scandal surrounding his wife, Theresa Longworth, damaged his standing and cut short part of his public career. Even so, he remains an important figure in the history of British jurisprudence and 19th-century international legal thought.