The Custos Brevium was an official in the English court system: in the Court of Common Pleas and Court of King's Bench. The post was abolished by Act of Parliament in 1830. [1]
In the Court of Common Pleas the Custos Brevium served as Chief Clerk, in charge of the officials that supported the Justices of the Common Pleas in their business. [2] In practice the position was a royal favour, and the actual clerking was done by the Custos Brevium's Deputy. [2]
The Custos Brevium of the King's Bench is a much more obscure figure because he was not appointed by the King. The office of Custos Brevium of the King's Bench was combined with the Clerk of the Treasury and Clerk of the Warrants by the 17th century, and there is enough evidence to suggest this had probably occurred by the middle of the 15th century. [3]
In the reign of Edward IV, the post was held by John Fogge. [4]
Term as Custos Brevium | Name |
---|---|
23 September 1501 – 23 April 1509 | Richard Decons |
2 June 1506–July 1521 | Richard Decons and Thomas Bonham |
July 1521–18 June 1532 | Thomas Bonham |
24 June 1532 – 11 April 1548 | John Wellysbourne |
6 May 1548 – 27 January 1562 | William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley |
27 January 1562 – 12 March 1591 | John Lennard |
2 February 1562 – 20 April 1586 | Thomas Cecil |
22 April 1586–1629 | Thomas Spencer and Richard Spencer |
c.1630 | Henry Compton [5] |
On the English Restoration of 1660, the remuneration was set at £80. [6] The post was given to William Thursby, who held it to his death in 1701. [7] During much of the 18th century, to 1776, the custos was from the Lee family of the Earl of Lichfield, Edward Lee, 1st Earl of Lichfield having been given the post in 1700 (?). The second, third and fourth Earls occupied the position, which had been attached to the title, and which typically brought in £1000 annually. [8] [9] [10] [11]
The post was later held by Sir William Eden, 6th and 4th Baronet (1803–1873). [12]
Term as Custos Brevium | Name |
---|---|
1543 – 26 April 1573 | John Payne [13] |
? – 27 December 1606 | Richard Payne [14] |
? – 21 December 1608 | William Davison [14] |
21 December 1608 – ? | George Byng and Henry Byng [14] |
1626–1645 | Robert Dewhurst and Justinian Paget [15] |
Earl of Lichfield is a title that has been created three times, twice in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom (1831). The third creation is extant and is held by a member of the Anson family.
Sir Orlando Bridgeman, 1st Baronet, was an English common law jurist, lawyer, and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1640 to 1642. He supported the Royalist cause in the Civil War.
Sir John Holt was an English lawyer who served as Lord Chief Justice of England from 17 April 1689 to his death. He is frequently credited with playing a major role in ending the prosecution of witches in English law.
Plea rolls are parchment rolls recording details of legal suits or actions in a court of law in England.
The Court of Common Pleas, or Common Bench, was a common law court in the English legal system that covered "common pleas"; actions between subject and subject, which did not concern the king. Created in the late 12th to early 13th century after splitting from the Exchequer of Pleas, the Common Pleas served as one of the central English courts for around 600 years. Authorised by Magna Carta to sit in a fixed location, the Common Pleas sat in Westminster Hall for its entire existence, joined by the Exchequer of Pleas and Court of King's Bench.
George Henry Lee II, 3rd Earl of Lichfield PC (1718–1772) was a British politician and peer. He was made a Privy Councillor and Captain of the Gentlemen-at-Arms in 1762, holding both honours until death. Previously, he had served as member of parliament for Oxfordshire from 1740 until acceding to the peerage in 1743.
Edward Henry Lee, 1st Earl of Lichfield was an English peer, the son of a baronet, who at 14 years of age married one of the illegitimate daughters of King Charles II, Charlotte Lee, prior to which he was made Earl of Lichfield. They had a large family; Lady Lichfield bore him 18 children. He was a staunch Tory and followed James II to Rochester, Kent after the king's escape from Whitehall in December 1688. His subsidiary titles were Viscount Quarendon and Baron Spelsbury.
George Henry Lee I, 2nd Earl of Lichfield (1690–1743) was a younger son of Edward Henry Lee, 1st Earl of Lichfield and his wife Charlotte Fitzroy, an illegitimate daughter of Charles II by his mistress, the celebrated courtesan Barbara Villiers. On 14 July 1716 George Henry Lee succeeded his father as the 2nd Earl of Lichfield.
Justice of the King's Bench, or Justice of the Queen's Bench during the reign of a female monarch, was a puisne judicial position within the Court of King's Bench, under the Chief Justice. The King's Bench was a court of common law which modern academics argue was founded independently in 1234, having previously been part of the curia regis. The court became a key part of the Westminster courts, along with the Exchequer of Pleas and the Court of Common Pleas ; the latter was deliberately stripped of its jurisdiction by the King's Bench and Exchequer, through the Bill of Middlesex and Writ of Quominus respectively. As a result, the courts jockeyed for power. In 1828 Henry Brougham, a Member of Parliament, complained in Parliament that as long as there were three courts unevenness was inevitable, saying that "It is not in the power of the courts, even if all were monopolies and other restrictions done away, to distribute business equally, as long as suitors are left free to choose their own tribunal", and that there would always be a favourite court, which would therefore attract the best lawyers and judges and entrench its position. The outcome was the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873, under which all the central courts were made part of a single Supreme Court of Judicature. Eventually the government created a High Court of Justice under Lord Coleridge by an Order in Council of 16 December 1880. At this point, the King's Bench formally ceased to exist.
Richard Vaughan, 2nd Earl of Carbery KB, PC, styled The Honourable from 1621 to 1628 and then Lord Vaughan until 1634, was a Welsh soldier, peer and politician.
Robert Lee, 4th Earl of Lichfield (1706–1776) was an English politician and peer, the last of the Earls of Lichfield.
Gentleman of the Bedchamber was a title in the Royal Household of the Kingdom of England from the 11th century, later used also in the Kingdom of Great Britain. A Lord of the Bedchamber was a courtier in the Royal Household; the term being first used in 1718. The duties of the Lords and Gentlemen of the Bedchamber originally consisted of assisting the monarch with dressing, waiting on him when he ate, guarding access to his bedchamber and closet and providing companionship. Such functions became less important over time, but provided proximity to the monarch; the holders were thus trusted confidants and often extremely powerful. The offices were in the gift of The Crown and were originally sworn by Royal Warrant directed to the Lord Chamberlain.
Sir John Willes was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1724 to 1737. He was the longest-serving Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas since the 15th century, serving 24 years.
James Bertie, 1st Earl of Abingdon, styled Hon. James Bertie until 1657 and known as the 5th Baron Norreys from 1657 until 1682, was an English nobleman.
Henry Frederick Carteret, 1st Baron Carteret PC (1735–1826), of Haynes, Bedfordshire, was Member of Parliament for Staffordshire (1757–1761), for Weobley in Herefordshire (1761–1770) and was Master of the Household to King George III 1768–1771. He was hereditary Bailiff of Jersey 1776–1826.
The Court of King's Bench, formally known as The Court of the King Before the King Himself, was a court of common law in the English legal system. Created in the late 12th to early 13th century from the curia regis, the King's Bench initially followed the monarch on his travels. The King's Bench finally joined the Court of Common Pleas and Exchequer of Pleas in Westminster Hall in 1318, making its last travels in 1421. The King's Bench was merged into the High Court of Justice by the Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873, after which point the King's Bench was a division within the High Court. The King's Bench was staffed by one Chief Justice and usually three Puisne Justices.
Sir Francis Gawdy was an English judge. He was a Justice of the King's Bench, and Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. His country seat and estates were in Norfolk.
William Wingfield KC, MP, was an attorney, judge, and Member of Parliament in 19th century England.
Sir Henry Compton KB was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1601 and 1640.
Sir Charles Cotterell, was an English courtier and translator knighted in 1644, after his appointment as master of ceremonies to the court of King Charles I in 1641, a post he held until the execution of Charles in 1649. During the early English Interregnum (1649–1652) he resided in Antwerp. From 1652 until 1654 he was steward at the Hague to Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia. In 1655 he entered the service of Henry, Duke of Gloucester as secretary, a post he held until the Restoration in 1660. He then served until 1686 as master of ceremonies under Charles II and from 1670 to 1686 as master of requests, while a member of the Cavalier Parliament for Cardigan from 1663 until 1678. He translated French romances and histories and The Spiritual Year, a Spanish devotional tract. He belonged to a group of poets called the Society of Friendship and was literary executive and adviser to one member: Katherine Philips. The group used pseudo-classical, pastoral names, his being Poliarchus.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires |journal=
(help)