Henry de Hambury (fl. 1330), was an English judge who held high judicial office in Ireland, being briefly Lord Chief Justice of Ireland.
Henry was a son of Geoffrey de Hambury of Hambury or Hanbury, Worcestershire. Early in life, he became an adherent of Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, but received a royal pardon with the consent of Parliament at York for all felonies in that regard on 1 November 1318. In 1324 he was appointed a justice of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland).
He was promoted in the following year to be a judge of the Court of King's Bench (Ireland), and almost immediately afterwards to be Lord Chief Justice of Ireland; but in 1326 Richard de Willoughby was appointed Chief Justice, and Hambury returned to the Common Pleas. In 1327 he appears to have been Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas, when he was transferred to England, and in 1328 became a judge of the English Court of King's Bench [1] He also was appointed to hold pleas of forest in Gloucestershire, Somersetshire, Dorsetshire, Wiltshire, and South Hampshire.
He seems to have retired before 1338, as the 'Liberate Roll' does not mention him as a judge in that year, but he was still alive in 1352, when he is named in the herald's visitation of Worcestershire, in which county he had become possessed of the abbey of Bordesley in 1324. He founded a chantry at Hambury in 1346.
The Lord or Lady Chief Justice of England and Wales is the head of the judiciary of England and Wales and the president of the courts of England and Wales.
The Exchequer of Pleas, or Court of Exchequer, was a court that dealt with matters of equity, a set of legal principles based on natural law and common law in England and Wales. Originally part of the curia regis, or King's Council, the Exchequer of Pleas split from the curia in the 1190s to sit as an independent central court. The Court of Chancery's reputation for tardiness and expense resulted in much of its business transferring to the Exchequer. The Exchequer and Chancery, with similar jurisdictions, drew closer together over the years until an argument was made during the 19th century that having two seemingly identical courts was unnecessary. As a result, the Exchequer lost its equity jurisdiction. With the Judicature Acts, the Exchequer was formally dissolved as a judicial body by an Order in Council on 16 December 1880.
Thomas Charlton was Bishop of Hereford, Lord High Treasurer of England, Lord Privy Seal, and Lord Chancellor of Ireland. He is buried in Hereford Cathedral in Hereford, Herefordshire, England.
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Hervey de Stanton was an English judge and Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Sir Henry le Scrope was an English lawyer, and Chief Justice of the King's Bench for two periods between 1317 and 1330. He was the eldest son of Sir William le Scrope, who was bailiff to the earl of Richmond in Richmondshire. Henry's younger brother Geoffrey was also a lawyer who probably advanced through the influence of his older brother. Geoffrey served as Chief Justice four times between 1324 and 1338.
Sir John Stonor SL (1281–1354) was an English judge and the first notable member of the influential Stonor family. He was the son of Richard Stonor, an Oxfordshire freeholder, with the family name coming from the village of Stonor. After training as a lawyer he was called to the Common Bench as a Serjeant-at-law in 1311, being made a King's Serjeant in 1315 and a justice of the Common Bench on 16 October 1320. He held this position until 1329, other than a period as a justice for the King's Bench between July 1323 and 4 May 1324; in 1324 he was also knighted. On 22 February 1329 he was made Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer and was made Chief Justice of the Common Pleas on 3 September. He was removed from this position on 2 March 1331, however, possibly due to Edward III, who replaced important officers after he was crowned; there is, however, no evidence that Stonor was politically active.
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The Court of Common Pleas was one of the principal courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror image of the equivalent court in England. Common Pleas was one of the four courts of justice which gave the Four Courts in Dublin, which is still in use as a courthouse, its name. Its remit as in England was to hear lawsuits between ordinary citizens.
Sir Elias de Asshebournham, or Ellis de Ashbourne was an Irish judge who held the office of Lord Chief Justice of Ireland, and fought a long battle with a rival candidate, Thomas Louth, to retain it. Despite frequent allegations of corruption, and a reputation for violence, for many years he retained the confidence of the English Crown, although he also suffered periods of imprisonment.
William de Rodyard, de Rodiard, or de Rudyard was an English-born judge and cleric in fourteenth-century Ireland. He held office as Chief Justice of the Irish Common Pleas. He was also Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, and briefly Deputy Lord Treasurer of Ireland. He was the first Chancellor of the Medieval University of Dublin.
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : "Hambury, Henry de". Dictionary of National Biography . London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.