{{Short description|British judge (1832–1897)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} [[File:Lewis Cave Vanity Fair 1893-12-07.jpg|thumb|right|{{center|"That won't do you know"<br />Cave as caricatured by Spy (Leslie Ward) in Vanity Fair, December 1893}}]] '''Sir Lewis William Cave''' (3 July 1832 – 7 September 1897) was a British judge on the Queen's Bench during the reign of Queen Victoria.

==Biography== He was born in Desborough, Northamptonshire, the eldest son of William Cave, a local landowner, and his wife, Elizabeth. After attending Rugby School, he went to Lincoln College, Oxford, from where he graduated in 1855 with a degree in humanities.<ref name=odnb>Rigg, James McMullen (2004). [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/4923 "Cave, Sir Lewis William (1832–1897)"], revised by Hugh Mooney, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press. Accessed 15 July 2008.</ref>

Shortly after graduating, Cave started studying law, and married Julia Watkins, the daughter of the vicar of Brixworth on 5 August 1856. Cave was called to the bar on 10 June 1859 and built up a large general practice in the English Midlands.<ref name=odnb/>

In 1873 he was appointed Recorder of Lincoln, Lincolnshire, and two years later became a Queen's Counsel. He edited several legal texts, including Stone's ''Practice of Petty Sessions'' (1861), ''Reports of the Court for the Consideration of Crown Cases Reserved'', Addison's ''Treatise on the Law of Contracts'' (1869; 1875) and Addison's ''Law of Torts'' (1879).<ref name=odnb/>

Despite being well known in the Midlands, Cave was not well known in London. His appointment as a Justice of the Queen's Bench in 1881, and his coincident knighthood, came as something of a surprise.<ref name=odnb/>

As a judge, he gained a reputation as bluff and concise, often cutting short arguments which he considered too lengthy.<ref name=odnb/> However, at the major trial of the poisoner Kate Dover at Leeds Winter Assizes in 1882, his summing-up took one hour.<ref name="Sheffield Ind 8 Feb 1882" >{{cite news|title=The Sheffield poisoning case, the trial of Kate Dover, defence and verdict |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000181/18820208/003/0002 |via=British Newspaper Archive |newspaper=Sheffield Independent |date=8 February 1882 |page=2, col. 1 |access-date=13 July 2019 |url-access=subscription}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

== External links == * {{Commons category-inline|Lewis Cave}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cave, Lewis}} Category:1832 births Category:1897 deaths Category:Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford Category:19th-century English judges Category:Knights Bachelor Category:Members of the Inner Temple Category:People educated at Rugby School Category:Queen's Bench Division judges