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A Serjeant-at-Law (SL), commonly known simply as a Serjeant, was a member of an order of barristers at the English and Irish Bar. The position of Serjeant-at-Law, or Sergeant-Counter, was centuries old; there are writs dating to 1300 which identify them as descended from figures in France before the Norman Conquest, thus the Serjeants are said to be the oldest formally created order in England. The order rose during the 16th century as a small, elite group of lawyers who took much of the work in the central common law courts.
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.
Sir John Bridgeman, SL was a barrister of the Inner Temple, serjeant-at-law and local magnate in the West of England during the early 17th century.
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.
Sir Roger Hillary was an English judge. He was one of five sons of William Hillary and his wife Agnes, a landowning family which held properties in Lincolnshire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, and Leicestershire, and appear to have been related to Sir William Bereford, the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas; a useful connection for a nascent lawyer. In 1310 Hillary was recorded as a court attorney, and in 1324 he was made a Serjeant-at-law. In the later years of Edward II's reign Hillary kept a low profile. In spring 1320 he married Katherine, and added to his property portfolio the Manor of Fisherwick near Lichfield in 1327 and a life-grant of a mill at Bentley at around the same time.
Sir Robert Thorpe KS JP was a British justice. He was the son of another Sir Robert Thorpe, and is occasionally confused with another Robert Thorpe who was second master of Pembroke College, Cambridge at around the same time. The Thorpe family produced many prominent lawyers, including William de Thorpe, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, who may have been influential in guiding Robert towards a judicial career. In 1339 he was made a Serjeant-at-law, and between 1345 and 1356 served as a King's Serjeant. He served as a Justice of the Peace in Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, and was also involved in Assize, Gaol delivery and Oyer and terminer. On 27 June 1356 he was appointed as Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and knighted, and on 1 October he was awarded a grant of £40 to support his new position. He was a member of the councils of both the Black Prince and John of Gaunt, and was appointed a Trier of Petitions at every Parliament between 1362 and 1371.
Sir John Juyn, SL, was an English judge who served as Chief Justice of the King's Bench (1439–40).
His Worship Richard Norton KS JP was a British justice.
William Thirning KS was a British justice. He served as a commissioner of the peace in 1377 in Northamptonshire and as a commissioner of Oyer and terminer in Bedfordshire in the same year, as well as a Justice of Assize for Yorkshire, Northumberland, Cumberland and Westmorland in June 1380 before becoming a Serjeant-at-law in 1383. He was made a King's Serjeant in 1388, and a justice of the Court of Common Pleas on 11 April of the same year, becoming Chief Justice on 15 January 1396. Thirning took a leading role in the deposition of Richard II 1399, obtaining his renunciation of the throne on 29 September and announcing it in Parliament the following day, before personally announcing the sentence to Richard on 1 October. He continued to be Chief Justice throughout the reign of Henry IV and was reappointed by Henry V when he took the throne in 1413; he died soon after, as his successor was appointed on 26 June.
Sir Robert Charleton SL JP was an English Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and a member of several parliaments.
Sir Richard Newton KS was a British justice. He was educated as a lawyer at Middle Temple, and created a Serjeant-at-law in 1425, followed by a promotion to King's Serjeant in 1430. By December of the same year he had also become Recorder of Bristol, where he had close ties; he also had links with Wales, where by September 1426 he had been appointed as an Itinerant justice to Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester at his court in Pembrokeshire. In 1438 he led a commission of Oyer and terminer in Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire, and in November of that year he was appointed a justice of the Court of Common Pleas. Less than a year later on 17 September 1439 he was made Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, being granted £93 6s. 8d. as well as the usual fee. By July 1440 he had been knighted, and in 1441 he acted as an arbitrator to decide the dispute over the inheritance of Thomas Berkeley. He died on 13 December 1448 and was buried in St Mary's, Yatton, leaving money to finance a bell for the church.
His Worship Sir John Prysot JP KS was an English justice.
Sir Thomas Bryan KS KB was a British justice of obscure origin. It is suggested by J.H. Baker that he descended from a John Bryan, fishmonger of London, whose son, also John, owned land in Buckinghamshire & London, as did Sir Thomas.
Sir Thomas Wood KS, in archaic spelling Wode, of Childrey in Berkshire, was an English landowner, lawyer, administrator and politician who became Chief Justice of the Common Pleas.
Sir Thomas Frowyk KS was an English justice.
Sir Robert Norwich KS JP was a British justice. He was a member of Lincoln's Inn, and is first mentioned practicing in the Court of Requests in 1516, followed by service in his home county of Essex as a commissioner in 1518. The same year he became a Bencher of his Inn, also giving his first reading, and acted as the Treasurer from 1519 to 1520. He was created a Serjeant-at-law in 1521, followed by a promotion to King's Serjeant a year later and, in 1525, an appointment as a Justice of the Peace, again for Essex. In 1529 he was knighted and appointed Surveyor of the King's Liveries, along with Sir Thomas Nevill, an office he held until his death. He was made Chief Justice of the Common Pleas on 22 November 1530, although there are few records of his character or career as Chief Justice. He died in April 1535, and was buried in St Nicholas's Chapel near Serjeant's Inn.
Sir John Bernard Bosanquet KS PC was a British judge.
Sir Thomas Abney was an English barrister and later judge. He was baptized at Willesley, Derbyshire on 30 April 1691 and was the younger son of Sir Edward Abney, by his second wife, Judith, daughter and co-heir of Peter Barr, of London.
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 Robert I Hill, sometimes written Hull, was an English politician and judge from the West Country.