Travers Twiss

British legal scholar

Sir Travers Twiss QC FRS (19 March 1809 in London14 January 1897 in London) was an English jurist. He had a distinguished academic and legal career culminating in his appointment as Queen's Advocate General. Twiss was particularly noted for his contribution to the theory of international law. He was widely consulted, and was asked to draw up the constitution of the Congo Free State. A prolific author, Twiss wrote many influential textbooks on legal matters. His public career came to a sudden end in 1872 after a scandal involving his wife Marie. He continued to research and publish on aspects of international law.

Twiss was born in Marylebone in London. He was the eldest son of the Rev. Robert Twiss. At University College, Oxford, he obtained a first class degree in mathematics and a second in classics in 1830, and was elected a Fellow of his college, of which he was afterwards successively bursar, dean and tutor. During his connection with Oxford, he was, inter alia, a public examiner in classics and mathematics, Drummond Professor of Political Economy (1842), and Regius Professor of Civil Law (1855). In 1862 he married Marie von Lynnseele. Marriage required him to forfeit his fellowship. In compensation he was elected to an Honorary Fellowship of University College. He published while at Oxford an epitome of Niebuhr's History of Rome, an annotated edition of Livy and other works, but his studies mainly lay in the direction of political economy, law, chiefly international law, and international politics.

In 1871, Twiss became involved in a scandal, which brought his career to an end. In 1862 he had married the 22 year old Marie van Lynnseele, who he presented as the daughter of a Polish aristocrat. A solicitor named Alexander Chaffers claimed that Marie was in reality a French former prostitute who went by the name "Marie Gelas", and had been Twiss's mistress before their marriage. Chaffers, who also claimed to have been one of her lovers, was allegedly blackmailing her, sending her bills for imaginary "services rendered", which she initially paid. When she refused to pay any more, Chaffers made a statutory declaration about her, which he sent to various bishops and to the Lord Chamberlain. Charges of libel were brought against Chaffers, but were dropped when Marie Twiss broke down under ruthless cross examination by Chaffers and then fled the country. Twiss was humiliated. He resigned from all his appointments and lived in retirement in London until his death. He never again saw his wife. 1847: View of the Progress of Political Economy in Europe since the Sixteenth Century. London : Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans. 1871: Monumenta juridica : the black book of the admiralty. London : Longman & Co.
1879: On international conventions for the maintenance of sea lights. Paper presented at the Seventh Annual Conference of the Association for the Reform and Codification of the Law of Nations. 1884: The law of nations considered as independent political communities : on the rights and duties of nations in time of peace. Oxford : Clarendon Press.