Campbell at once began to report cases decided at
nisi prius (
i.e. on jury trial). Of these reports he published four volumes; they extend from
Michaelmas 1807 to
Hilary 1816. Campbell also devoted himself to criminal business, but failed to attract much attention behind the bar. It was not until 1827 that Campbell
took silk and began to develop political aspirations. He had unsuccessfully contested the borough of
Stafford in 1826, but was returned for it in 1830 and again in 1831. He stood as a moderate
Whig, in favour of the connection of church and state and opposed to triennial parliaments and the secret ballot. His main object, like
Lord Brougham, was the amelioration of the law by the abolition of cumbrous technicalities rather than the assertion of new principles. To this end his name is associated with the
Fines and Recoveries Abolition Act 1833; the
Inheritance Act 1833; the
Dower Act 1833; the
Real Property Limitation Act 1833; the
Wills Act 1837; the
Copyhold Tenure Act 1841; and the
Judgments Act 1838. The second was called for by the preference which the common law gave to a distant collateral over the brother of the half-blood of the first purchaser; the fourth conferred an indefeasible title on
adverse possession for twenty years (a term shortened by
Lord Cairns in 1875 to twelve years); the fifth reduced the number of witnesses required by law to attest wills, and removed the distinction which existed in this respect between freeholds and copyholds; the last freed an innocent debtor from imprisonment only before final judgment (or on what was termed mesne process), but the principle stated by Campbell that only fraudulent debtors should be imprisoned was ultimately given effect to for England and Wales in 1869. Perhaps his most important appearance as a member of parliament (MP) for Stafford was in defence of
Lord John Russell's first
Reform Bill (1831). In a speech, based on
Charles James Fox's declaration against constitution-mongering, he supported both the enfranchising and the disfranchising clauses. The following year (1832) found Campbell
Solicitor General, a
knight and member for
Dudley.
Dudley had been enfranchised under the
Reform Act 1832 and so Campbell became the first MP to represent the town in modern history. However, his appointment to the post of
Attorney General in 1834 led to a by-election, which he lost to
Thomas Hawkes. John Campbell returned to Parliament swiftly, however, as he was returned by
Edinburgh in 1835, which seat he represented until his ennoblement in 1841. One of his first acts as Attorney General was the prosecution of a bookseller called
Henry Hetherington on the charge of
blasphemous libel. In this case Campbell gave his opinion that morality depended on
divine revelation: the vast majority of the population believe that morality depends entirely on revelation; and if a doubt could be raised among them that the ten commandments were given by God from Mount Sinai, men would think they were at liberty to steal, and women would think themselves absolved from the restraints of chastity. In 1840 Campbell conducted the prosecution against
John Frost, one of the three
Chartist leaders who attacked the town of Newport, all of whom were found guilty of high treason. Next year, as the Melbourne administration was near its close, Plunkett, the
Lord Chancellor of Ireland, was forced to resign, and was succeeded by Campbell, who was raised to the
peerage as
Baron Campbell, of St Andrews in the County of Fife. The post of chancellor Campbell held for only sixteen days, and then resigned it to his successor
Sir Edward Sugden. It was during the period 1841–1849, when he had no legal duty, except the self-imposed one of occasionally hearing Scottish appeals in the
House of Lords, that Lord Campbell turned to literary pursuits. He bought
Hartrigge House in
Jedburgh during this period. However, he did take up the cause of the families of railway accident victims in introducing and steering through the Commons, the
Fatal Accidents Act 1846, known as Lord Campbell's Act. ==Literary endeavours==