After practising for some years as a
conveyancer, Sugden was called to the bar at
Lincoln's Inn in 1807, having already published his well-known
Concise and Practical Treatise on the Law of Vendors and Purchasers of Estates. In 1822 he was made
King's Counsel. He was returned at different times for various boroughs to the
House of Commons, where he made himself prominent by his opposition to the
Reform Bill of 1832. He was appointed
Solicitor General in 1829, receiving the customary
knighthood. As Solicitor-General he took a narrow view of
Jewish emancipation, arguing that "They had possessed nothing; they held nothing. They had no civil rights; they never had any." In 1834–5 Sugden was made
Lord Chancellor of Ireland in
Peel's
first ministry, and was sworn of the
Privy Council on 15 December 1834. Sugden was again the Irish Lord Chancellor in Peel's
second ministry, serving from 1841 to 1846. In 1849, Sugden published
A Treatise on the Law of Property as administered in the House of Lords, in which he criticised the decisions given in the
House of Lords. In
Lord Derby's first government in 1852 he became
Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain and was raised to the
peerage as
Baron Saint Leonards, of
Slaugham in the
County of Sussex. In this position he devoted himself with energy and vigour to the reform of the law (note his important dissenting opinion in
Jorden v Money (1854) 5 HL Cas 185); Lord Derby on his return to power in 1858 again offered him the same office, which from considerations of health he declined. He continued, however, to take an active interest especially in the legal matters that came before the House of Lords, and bestowed his particular attention on the reform of the law of property. He championed the fulfilment of the will of
J. M. W. Turner with regard to his art bequests in 1857–70. ==Publications==